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The Tibetan Steppe 305
Chapter 8
The Tibetan Steppe
Daniel J. Miller
SUMMARY
The Tibet Plateau is a vast area to the north of the Himalaya between roughly
26°50� and 39°11�N. The climate is severe continental, and most of the plateau is
arid to semi -arid . Snow events in winter increase risk . Its high, cold grazing lands
vary from cold deserts and semi-arid steppe and shrublands, to alpine steppe
and moist alpine meadows. Much is above 4 000 m; some camps are as high as
5 100 m. It is traditionally an area of transhumant herding , but has undergone
vast changes in the past half century – from feudalism, through a collective period,
to privatized livestock and individual grazing rights that are circumscribing the
mobility necessary for herding risk avoidance in such a climate. Yak , sheep and
goats are kept, with yak more important in the wetter east and sheep in the west.
The steppe contains the headwaters of many of the major rivers of Asia and has a
very rich flora and fauna, with many endemic species, so grazing management is
not only important for herders’ livelihoods but also for catchment maintenance
and in situ preservation of genetic resources and biodiversity .
INTRODUCTION
The Tibetan Steppe is one of the earth’s important grazing ecosystems ,
encompassing about 1.65 million km2 (Figure 8.1). The Tibetan Steppe
ecosystem actually extends into north western Bhutan , northern Nepal and
northwestern India , but this paper deals only with the land within the Tibet
Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China . Grazing lands vary
from cold deserts to semi -arid steppe and shrublands, to alpine steppe and
moist alpine meadows. It contains the highest grasslands in the world, much
is above 4 000 m; some herders maintain permanent camps at elevations as
high as 5 100 m, among the highest inhabited places in the world. With a
severe continental climate, it is one of the world’s harshest grazing environments,
yet these pastures supply forage for an estimated 12 million yak and
30 million sheep and goats (Plate 8.1), and provide livelihoods for about
5 million pastoralists and agropastoralists.
The remote, northwestern Steppe , one of the last notable examples of a grazing
ecosystem relatively undisturbed by man, is home to a unique assemblage
of wildlife . Wild yaks are still found in large herds, great concentrations of
Tibetan antelope continue to migrate between their winter pastures and sum-