Rangeland Degradation and Recovery in China's Pastoral Lands

About this book

The extreme climate variability that characterizes China's arid rangelands can cause drought and degradation, resulting in dust storms, floods, animal losses, financial hardship and a decline in food availability. Faced with the possibility of even greater climate extremes in the future, communities need to learn how to manipulate the biological processes and socio-economic influences operating in these areas.

These case studies represent a failure to plan for climate variation in the management of China's arid rangelands. However, evidence from throughout China's arid landscapes has shown that several management options and interventions can stop and even reverse pasture and land degradation.

Through a discussion of new approaches and an examination of the successes and failures of past degradation and recovery episodes, this book will provide the necessary insight to develop sustainable rangeland management strategies for the future.

Contents

Part 1. Introduction
1. The context for the study of rangeland degradation and recovery in China's pastoral lands
2. Historical degradation episodes in China: socio-economic forces and their interaction with rangeland grazing systems since the 1950s
Part 2. Mechanisms of rangeland degradation and recovery
3. An analysis of the effects of climate variability in northern China over the past five decades on people livestock and plants in the focus areas
4. Mechanisms of degradation in grazed rangelands
5. The mechanisms of soil erosion processes by wind and water in Chinese rangelands
6. Processes in rangeland degradation, rehabilitation and recovery
Part 3. Case studies of degradation and recovery
7. Hulunbuir grassland, Inner Mongolia
8. Horqin sandy land, Inner Mongolia
9. Xilingole grassland, Inner Mongolia
10. Ordos plateau, Inner Mongolia
11. Hexi corridor, Gansu
12. Alashan Plateau, Inner Mongolia
13. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Rangelands
14. Northern Xinjiang
Part 4. The Future - How to prevent the next major degradation episode
15. Land tenure arrangements, property rights and institutional arrangements in the cycles of rangeland degradation and recovery 16. Monitoring and Evaluation as Tools for Rangeland Management 17. How can the next degradation episode be prevented?

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