Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

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Grasslands of the world
landscape management , now that information collection and manipulation
technology are available.
Central Asia was traditional transhumant herding country until the early
twentieth century but, with collectivization, mobile herding ceased in the
1930s. Fine-wool sheep were encouraged during the soviet era but these are
much less hardy than local breeds. Later the usefulness of seasonal movement
was recognized and land in different seasonal zones was allocated to cooperatives
and state farms . Heavy grazing and firewood collection have seriously
reduced vegetation cover and the natural grazing has become degraded, with a
loss of productivity and desertification; destruction of forests and shrubs has
led to wind erosion. The impact of decollectivization on livestock production
systems , grassland management and herder’s livelihoods has been dramatic and
negative. Large agro-food complexes were dismantled and cooperative farms
were privatized. Marketing systems collapsed and many traditional markets
were lost. There has been a sharp decline in stock numbers in some of the
countries. The reforms led to a massive shift from collective to household
herds; often household stock numbers are too few to warrant independent
herding and communal or family herding has not yet developed; this often
leads to stock remaining, unsupervised, close to homesteads: nearby pastures
are overgrazed while distant ones are hardly used.
Mongolia is almost entirely pastoral ; small areas that were cleared for
cropping during the collective period have mostly been abandoned for
economic reasons. Decollectivization distributed the livestock to cooperative
members without clarifying grazing rights , which led to considerable confusion
and lack of overall management of the pastoral resource. The people returned
to mobile herding – as hardy local breeds had been maintained throughout
Plate 12.1
Pastoral scene near Arkhangai, Mongolia .
S.G. REYNOLDS