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Characteristics of Pastoralism in Karakul, Tajik Pamirs in the North-Eastern Part of Tajikistan

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Characteristics of Pastoralism in Karakul, Tajik Pamirs in the North-Eastern Part of Tajikistan 地理空間 12 - 2 97 - 115 2019 Characteristics of pastoralism in Karakul, Tajik Pamirs in the North-eastern part of Tajikistan SHIRASAKA Shigeru＊ and WATANABE Teiji＊＊ ＊ Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan ＊＊ Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan E-mail: [email protected]＊ This paper details the pastoralism practised in the Karakul area, northeast Tajikistan. The families in Karakul graze their livestock in jailoo (summer pastureland) far away from the Karakul village and move their livestock to kyshtoo (winter pastureland) around the village. In addition to jailoo and kyshtoo, they also use two other kinds of pasture: küzdöö (spring pasture) and bäärlöö (autumn pasture). The pastoralism in the study area is characterised by the dominance of vertical migration, and low water availability due to the topographical conditions. Keywords: pastoralism, subsistence, vertical livestock migration, Tajikistan, The Pamirs Watanabe (2013, 2016) examined the relationship Ⅰ Introduction between seasonal grazing activities and the degree The Pamirs, one of the least economically of the degradation of the pastureland in the same developed regions in the world, has been regarded area. Watanabe and Shirasaka (2016) described the as marginal and for many years produced livestock diversified daily grazing systems in the Alai Valley meat and wool for the Soviet Union. The region as an adaptation strategy to the changing socio- has been greatly affected by the socio-political economic conditions after independence in 1991. changes that have occurred since the beginning of The Tajik Pamirs is characterised by a compli- the 1990s. As a result, the world’s researchers have cated aggregate topography with mountain ranges, started to pay attention to the Pamirs and its sur- basins, and gorges ranging from 2,000 m to more rounding regions, and studies on livestock grazing than 7,500 m in altitude. There are some studies on in the region are rapidly increasing. For example, the transforming pastoralism in the eastern Tajik Robinson et al. (2016) discussed the site selection Pamirs (e.g., Kreutzmann et al., 2011; Vanselow et of the pastureland among livestock owners in al., 2012a, 2012b; Kreutzmann, 2015). Kraudzun southern Kazakhstan. Dörre (2012) examined the (2012) studied the transformation of pastureland challenges in pasture legislation in Kyrgyzstan, tenue from common resource to private property. conducting a case study on the central part of the However, there are no descriptions of the cur- country. Pastoralism above the cultivation limit was rent state of pastoralism in the north-eastern part described in the eastern Alai Valley of southern of the Tajik Pamirs except Watanabe and Shirasaka Kyrgyzstan (Shirasaka et al., 2013, 2016). Liu and (2018). This paper aims to first detail some impor- －97－ 28 tant aspects of the current status of pastoralism in is extremely limited (771,000 ha), most of which the Karakul village, north-eastern Tajik Pamirs, is seen in the western Tajik Pamirs. The Karakul after overviewing the historical transformation of village (Karakul AA; Aiyl Aimak), which is situated pastoralism. at an altitude of 3,930 m on the eastern side of the Karakul Lake (3,915 m), belongs to the Murghab Ⅱ Study area district (Murghab Rayon), part of the GBAO. The The Tajik Pamirs roughly correspond to the village is the only settlement in the Karakul area administrative area of the Gorno-Badahshan (Fig. 1). As of 2010, the population of the Karakul Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). The area of the village is 804 people (163 families). Almost all of GBAO is 6,410,000 ha, occupying 45% of the terri- the inhabitants are Kirghiz people; only one family tory of Tajikistan. The cultivated area of the GBAO was Tadzhik. Approximately 130 families (80% of Fig. 1 Study area. －98－ 29 inhabitants) rely mainly on livestock farming, and about 20% are public employees (staff of the village Ⅲ Brief history of pastoralism office and school teachers). The most prosperous １．From nomadism to the sedentarization family keeps 300 yaks in addition to approximately of livestock farming: Establishment of 1) 1,000 sheep/goats and employs two chabans kolkhoz and domiciliation (shepherds) for the care of the livestock. In the so-called nomadism era, Kirghiz people The Za-Alai Range, which has its highest peak, entered the Karakul area for summer pasturing Lenin Peak (7,134 m), in the north of Karakul, bor- through the Alai Range pass. The Kirghiz people ders the study area and the Alai Valley, Kyrgyzstan. had also entered through the mountains from what The eastern part of Karakul is in a wide buffer is now China. zone with barbed wire fences. Tajikistan was incorporated in the Soviet Union The measured meteorological data in the in the 1920s. There were five sovkhoz (state farms) Karakul village from August 2014 to July 2015 in the Murghab district in the Soviet Era. In addi- show that the annual air temperature was –0.1°C tion to four kolkhoz or collected farms (Murghab with the warmest month in July (14.2°C) and the Kolkhoz, Lenin Zholu Kolkhoz, Kirov Kolkhoz, coldest month in January (–14.1°C). Monthly and Bash Gumbez Kolkhoz), there was Pravda mean air temperatures exceeding 10°C occurred Kolkhoz, which was the former Karakul village. only in July and August. The annual precipitation There was no domiciled village in the area before in Karakul is estimated to be around 70–80 mm the establishment of Pravda Kolkhoz. A border (Komatsu, 2016). The measured seven-month pre- garrison was first stationed in WWJ because the cipitation excluding winter in 2014–2015 was 26.2 area is bordered by China. Pravda Kolkhoz was mm in the Karakul village, although it increased at established at WJJ (Fig. 2; 3,961 m) in 1918, which higher altitudes (Watanabe and Shirasaka, 2018). is now called Jangi-Jer (‘new settlement’). The The snow depth around the Karakul Lake is usu- kolkhoz was then developed to establish a village ally about 10–15 cm. Snow in Jalang Jailoo,2) one there. of the summer pastures (Ko6 in Fig. 2; 4,094 m), The members who had gathered in the kolkhoz disappears in June. Low temperatures and a lack of were poor. They moved mainly from the Murghab an irrigation system permit no farming in the area. area. Pravda Kolkhoz made kashars (WK1–10 in People of the Karakul village usually use Som, Fig. 2). A typical kashar at that time was composed which is the monetary unit of Kyrgyzstan. Their of residences for taking care of domestic animals relations with Kyrgyzstan are very strong in and large barns, which contained more than 400 everyday life. Therefore, we describe the price/ sheep/goats in winter. They built an office in WK1 cost of items in Kyrgyz Som, not in Tajik Somoni (Fig. 2), where people had managed those kashars. (Tajikistan’s monetary unit) in this study. One hun- A road linking Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan dred Kyrgyz Som in 2012–2015 was approximately through the Za-Alai Range was constructed along 2 US dollars. the east of the lake in the 1930s. This road was －99－ 30 Fig. 2 Locations of summer and winter pastures in Karakul (2015) Summer pasture (jailoo): Ka1: Eshan-Rabat; Ka2: Bulak; Ka3: Kyzyl-Art; Ka4: Ui-Bulak; Ak1: Kosh-Jilga; Ak2: Chat; Ak3: Zulumart; Ak4: Istik; Ak5: Sai-Konush; Ak6: Bel; Ak7: Maamat; Ak8: Kara-Chim; Ko1: Apak; Ko2: Kara Chim; Ko3: Kök-Dün; Ko4: Dangi; Ko5: Tash-Jilga; Ko6: Jalang; Ko7: Tuura-Bulak; Ko8: Kül-Airik; Ko9: Arka-Jalang; Ko10: Onoi Gösh; Mu1: Kyzyl-Jeek; Mu2: Muzkol; Mu3: Shor-Bulak; Mu4: Don-Shiber; Mu5: Chini-Suu. Winter pasture (kyshtoo): WJJ: Jangi-Jer; WTO: Tumushuk-Ötök; WMK: Döö-Ötök; WC: Chöbök; WKJ: Kara Jilga; WK1: Karakul; WK2: Karteke; WK3: Kara-Art 1; WK4: Kara-Art 2; WK5: Kara-Art 3; WK6: Kara-Art-Agin; WK7: Köyöndu; WK8: Kum-Chukur; WK9: Kara- Shilarjin; WK10: Kök-Chukur. －100－ 31 expanded and became a carriageway in 1949, kolkhoz, all members participated directly in its which is now called the Pamir Highway. Due to the management. The principal objective of most of road, they relocated their fixed residences from the kolkhoz was production for self-consumption. WJJ to WK1 on the highway (Fig. 2). The relocated However, the scale and the organisation of the settlement, named Karakul, became the base of kolkhoz gradually grew larger over time. The the kolkhoz. Jangi-Jer (WJJ) is now one of the yak kolkhoz were not able to solve various management pasturelands in winter. problems by themselves. The nation intervened The five sovkhoz leased a part of the Alai Valley to fix their organisations and most of the kolkhoz and used it for the production of feed (tabigyi chop were substituted with sovkhoz in 1977. in Tajikistan). The settlement of Sary-Mogol in the Pravda Kolkhoz was reorganised by about Alai Valley (Fig. 1) had belonged to the Kyrgyzstan 1940. Pravda Kolkhoz became Kyzyl-Chekarachi Soviet Socialist Republic as a ‘lease of 61,000 ha Sovkhoz, and the Kyzyl-Chekarachi Kolkhoz was for 50 years’ (no data on other lease conditions) maintained until 1976, and the Kyzyl-Chekarachi and had belonged to the Murghab district in the Sovkhoz continued until 1999. Life for local people GBAO of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. The in Karakul in the sovkhoz era was easier than that five sovkhoz enabled some of their members to in the kolkhoz era because all production materials emigrate to Sary-Mogol. Each sovkhoz moved its were offered to the sovkhoz by the government. brigada (a squad or branch of sovkhoz) into Sary- Mogol and cultivated forage crops. In other words, ２．Private possession of domestic animals Sary-Mogol had been an enclave of the Republic of with the collapse of the Soviet Union Tajikistan between 1957 and 2003.
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