Grasslands and Grassland Sciences in Northern China (1992) / Chapter Skim
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14 Key Issues in Grassland Studies
14 Key Issues in Grassland Studies
Pages 183-198
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From page 183... ...
At the same time, the members of the panel would like to advance the dialogue with their Chinese colleagues by commenting on some of the key issues raised in the preceding chapters, including how these issues have been treated in China and abroad, and what this means for the challenge that grassland science and scientists inside and outside China face in the years ahead. The panel's comments on these issues make up this concluding chapter.
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From page 184... ...
Steppe pastoralists and Han farmers engaged in significant, mutually beneficial trade of grain, metals, medicines, and luxury goods for livestock, furs, and other animal products. Demographic equilibrium among the pastoral peoples depended on slow, steady settlement, which drew off surplus population and kept a favorable balance between people and resources on the steppe.
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From page 185... ...
Such imagery demonstrates, first, that there is a large seasonal response of the grasslands to the changing weather; and second, that there is considerable spatial structure in this landscape. Pielke and Avissar (1990)
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From page 186... ...
Yet in China, as elsewhere, the integration of social and natural scientific research has been impeded by both organizational divisions between academic disciplines and the intellectual assumption that views human beings as separate from their natural environment. The result has been for scholars to neglect such issues as the effects of pastoral systems on grassland ecology, the dynamics of herd growth and risk taking in pastoral economies, and the impact of mass migration of Han settlers into grassland areas previously dominated by indigenous minority groups.
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From page 187... ...
, Han farmers were forbidden to settle in the northern grasslands, a region the ruling Manchus sought to preserve for other minority peoples who were their natural allies. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, these restrictions had lapsed, and Han farmers began to move into Manchuria and southern Mongolia, putting grasslands under cultivation and pressing indigenous pastoralists and their livestock into smaller, less-productive areas.
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From page 188... ...
Yet if done properly, the introduction of modern ranching techniques to produce animals for sale to national markets could lead to stocking rates far above the level that can be sustained by traditional means. In either case, researchers must analyze the organization and dynamics of animal husbandry before drawing conclusions about their impact on the grasslands ecosystem.
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From page 189... ...
Hellden conceded that crop yields and probably rangeland productivity were severely reduced during a 10-year drought, but maintained that the end of the drought was followed by rapid recovery of both rangeland and cropland productivity. Dregne and Tucker (1988)
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From page 190... ...
The first challenge to this view came from empirical studies of grassland users, especially traditional herding societies, and other customary users of common forests and fisheries. These studies showed that far from being the object of abuse by private owners, common pool resources such as pastures are often subject to well-defined access and management rules enforced by effective customary institutions.
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From page 191... ...
Common pool resource management theory and experience under conditions similar to the Chinese grasslands can illuminate several issues important to Chinese policymakers. These include the role of pastoral land tenure structures; the effect of these structures on various types of resources, especially valuable, small-scale resource patches (such as wetlands)
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From page 192... ...
There is no doubt that improper rangeland management has contributed to environmental damage and economic loss in China as elsewhere. However, the record also shows that traditional pastoral people may be no more likely to cause these problems than are scientists and development personnel who make easy but incorrect assumptions about unfamiliar ecosystems or modern ranchers who find themselves in an economic squeeze.
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From page 193... ...
In northwestern Tibet and southwestern Qinghai, both remote and almost uninhabited areas, the Tibetan antelope, wild ass, and other unique upland fauna survive in moderate abundance. More than 200,000 Mongolian gazelles migrate between the eastern steppes of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia.
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From page 194... ...
More research is needed, however, to provide an adequate understanding of these questions and a sounder basis for rangeland management practices. Given the rate of environmental destruction in China and other parts of the world, rangeland research in all countries should incorporate a conservation component, whether it involves concern for the protection of rare species, such as the wild Bactrian camel, or of unique ecosystems, such as the eastern Mongolian steppe.
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From page 195... ...
This phenomenon has been attributed to various factors: an organizational structure that places resources in the hands of research institutes concerned only with their distinct, separate missions; a personnel system that allows for little mobility of students and scholars from one institution or part of the country to another; a centrally planned economy that offers few incentives for communication between researchers and producers; or cultural traits that mitigate against the free and open sharing of information. Whatever the reasons, fragmentation of scholarship along disciplinary and institutional lines remains a feature of grassland science in China and is evident in the findings of this study.
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From page 196... ...
The Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station at Xilingele is demonstrating how a common research site, open to scholars from throughout China and the world, can produce greater synergy and better results than the all too often insulated research institute, that has been the standard form for the conduct of science in China. Panel members were impressed by the commitment to such changes expressed by scholars in other Chinese universities and research institutes as well.
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From page 197... ...
This is a challenge that unites scientists inside and outside China in a common quest to understand nature and man's relationship to it. Members of this panel look forward to joining our Chinese colleagues in this adventure.
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From page 198... ...
1940. Inner Asian Frontiers of China.
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