Article scientifique Sécheresse 2006 ; 17 (1-2) : 142-51 Transformation of traditional pastoral livestock systems on the Tibetan steppe Dennis P. Sheehy1 Abstract Daniel Miller2* 3 The rangelands of the Tibetan steppe cover an extensive area of Asia, which is Douglas A. Johnson comprised of a diversity of cold deserts, semiarid steppes, shrublands, alpine steppes, and moist alpine meadows. The climate of these rangelands is strongly 1 International Centre for the Advancement of continental, and most of the steppe is arid to semiarid. The Tibetan steppe is the Pastoral Systems, source of many of the major rivers of Asia, and has a rich flora and fauna with many 69086 Allen Canyon Road, endemic species. This unique region has been traditionally used for transhumant Wallowa, grazing by yak, sheep, and goats. During the last 50 years, management of these Oregon, 97885, rangelands has undergone major shifts from feudalism to collectivism to privatisation USA of livestock with individual grazing rights. Characteristics of the Tibetan steppe are <[email protected]> 2 United States Agency for International described and discussed in relation to these management changes with emphasis on Development (USAID), impacts on the land resources and herders’ livelihoods. 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Key words: rangelands, desert, steppe, Tibet, Central Asia, animal production, Washington, DC, 20036, USA pastoralism, animal husbandry. <[email protected]> 3 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Résumé Agricultural Research Service, Forage and Range Research Lab, Transformation des systèmes de production animale dans les steppes tibétaines Utah State University, Logan, Les parcours de la steppe tibétaine occupent une vaste superficie en Asie centrale. Ils Utah 84322-6300, comprennent une variété de déserts froids, des steppes arbustives semi-arides et des USA steppes et des prairies humides alpines. Le climat régional est fortement continental. <[email protected]> La plus grande partie de la région est couverte de steppes arides et semi-arides. La région est aussi la source de plusieurs fleuves asiatiques ; elle possède de riches flore * The views in this article are the author’s and et faune avec de nombreuses espèces endémiques. Cette région a été traditionnelle- do not necessarily reflect those of the USAID. ment utilisée pour le pacage de troupeaux transhumants de yaks, de moutons et de chèvres. Au cours des 50 dernières années, la gestion de ces parcours a subi des changements considérables depuis le féodalisme jusqu’au collectivisme et la privati- sation du bétail, avec des droits de pacage individuels. La caractérisation de la steppe tibétaine est décrite et discutée en relation avec les changements intervenus dans les méthodes de gestion. L’accent est mis sur l’impact des ressources foncières sur les moyens d’existence des éleveurs. Mots clés : parcours, désert, steppe, Tibet, Asie centrale, production animale, pastoralisme, élevage. razing animals and grazing- grazing rather than cultivation, occupies based livestock production sys- 40% of the 13.7 billion hectares compris- G tems remain an important compo- ing the earth’s land surface. On the Tibe- nent of the world’s food supply [1]. tan steppe of Asia, almost all animal feed Rangeland, which produces forage for is obtained as forage by grazing livestock grazing animals and is more suited for in traditional or modified pastoral livestock 142 Sécheresse vol. 17, n° 1-2, janvier-juin 2006 production systems. Successful pastoral Region [3]. Some Kobresia-dominated ing the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, livestock production systems on the Tibe- communities in alpine meadows of the Salween, Indus, Sutlej, Ganges, and Brah- tan steppe (similar to anywhere else in the Tibetan steppe have deteriorated to such a maputra Rivers. world) must have: degree that most of the sedges and asso- In China, the Tibetan steppe covers an – access to natural resources (forage, ciated grasses have disappeared, leaving area of about 165 million hectares, or feed, shelter, water, etc.) needed to sup- annual plant species and bare soil 42% of China’s grazing lands [8]. A pro- port livestock to produce off-take products; termed “black beach”. Overgrazing and vincial breakdown of the steppe area – livestock that convert forage and other burrowing by pikas (Ochotona spp.) have within China includes: 118.4 million hec- feeds into products (i.e., meat, milk, fibre, been implicated as major causal factors of tares in the Tibetan Autonomous Region manure, hides, etc.) that are directly this degradation, although climate change and Qinghai, 15 million hectares in the consumable by the producer’s family or and increasing aridity may also play a northern portion of the Kunlun Mountains that can be exchanged for other products role [4]. This degradation calls into ques- in southern Xinjiang, 14 million hectares or cash in the market-place; tion the long-term sustainability of the Tibe- in western Sichuan, 5 million hectares in – relatively few people dependent on tan steppe under current use [2]. northwestern Yunnan, and 12 million hec- natural resource use for their immediate In this paper, the authors characterize the tares in western Gansu. Less than 1% of livelihoods. rangeland resources of the Tibetan steppe the steppe is cultivated with crops that The Tibetan steppe with its strong continent- in China. They also highlight the major include barley, wheat, peas, rape, and al climate is one of the most severe environ- challenges that exist in trying to balance potatoes; however, cropping areas have ments in the world where pastoral livestock the needs for ensuring that this unique expanded in recent decades, especially in production continues to be practised. Most landscape continues to maintain critical the Qaidam Basin. In the eastern portion rangelands on the Tibetan steppe are water sources, provide habitat and forage of the steppe, cropland is found in the above 4,000m in elevation, and some for domestic livestock and wildlife, and lower valleys (below 3,300m), whereas in herders maintain permanent camps at ele- maintain biological diversity. The hope is western Tibet cropping areas are found vations as high as 5,100m. Despite this that this discussion will shed light on the along the valley and tributaries of the harsh climate, rangelands on the Tibetan ongoing decline in livestock productivity Yarlung Tsangpo River (below 4,400m). steppe provide forage for an estimated and ecological stability of natural resourc- The Tibetan steppe has several distinct 12million yak and 30 million sheep and es on the Tibetan steppe, and assist in topographic regions determined by water goats that support the livelihoods of about devising meaningful solutions to problems drainage patterns and the parallel moun- 5 million pastoralists and agropastoral- affecting the sustainability of households tain ranges that divide it [7]. Much of the ists. Through thousands of years, pastoral and production systems on the steppe. This steppe consists of large lake basins sur- livestock production on the Tibetan steppe paper draws heavily on information rounded by mountains with no outlets. has continually involved decision-making contained in studies by Sheehy [5] and Only the eastern and southern portions of by the pastoralists to mitigate risks and Miller [6]. the steppe have outlets to the ocean, with avert disasters. Risk imposed by environ- rivers originating in the Kunlun Mountains mental conditions is always a factor in flowing north to the Taklimakan and Qai- meeting animal demand and livelihood Geographical dam Deserts. Forests only occur on the needs in a pastoral system, and is an eastern edge of the steppe in western especially critical constraint on the Tibetan and topographical characteristics Sichuan, northwestern Yunnan, southeast- steppe. The needs of grazing animals to ern Qinghai, eastern Tibet, and in some be productive and survive must continually General features valleys on the northern slopes of the Hima- layan Mountains. be balanced with the availability of feed, The Tibetan steppe encompasses a vast water, and shelter across several different, area in Asia located between about Climate but consecutively occurring, time-frames. 260 50’ and 390 11’ North latitude The surest way of reducing risk in livestock (figure 1). The majority of the steppe is The Tibetan steppe has a continental cli- production and ensuring sustainable liveli- contained within China, but it also mate that is influenced by the southeastern hoods is to maintain flexibility of decision- extends into northwestern Bhutan, north- monsoon in summer, and western air circul- making in animal production activities, ern Nepal, and northwestern India. The ation patterns and high Mongol-Siberian mobility of adapted animals, and access Tibetan steppe stretches for almost air pressures in winter [9]. With the steppe to a variety of spatially and temporally 1,500 km from north to south and about sloping to the southeast, moisture from the distributed resources. 3,000 km from east to west, encompas- southwest monsoons comes up gorges The traditional forage-based, extensively- sing about a quarter of China’s land from the east and south. Summer precipit- managed pastoral livestock production area. The Himalayan Mountains ation decreases in a gradient from east to systems that have existed for millennia on demark the southern boundary of the west and from south to north. The east of the Tibetan steppe, however, are showing steppe, while the Kunlun, Arjin, and the steppe is humid, the south is semiarid, declines in overall productivity. For exam- Qilian Mountains delineate its northern and far western Tibet is arid. The central ple, about a third of the rangelands on the boundary. The western boundary of the steppe is subfrigid in a broad band from Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are currently steppe is the juncture of the Himalayan, Gansu and Qinghai Provinces west considered moderately to severely degrad- Karakoram, Kunlun, and Pamir Moun- through Tibet, and it is humid in the east ed [2]. In the Tibetan Autonomous Region, tains. The eastern boundary of the and semiarid in the west.