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

MARZIO MARZOT
Grassland perspectives 489
Plate 12.14
Kreb, a mixture of grains from wild
grasses, is still used for human food
in the Lake Chad area.
sector more as a problem than an essential part of maintaining grasslands
and their biodiversity. Reserves and national parks are many and increasing;
they often reduce traditional grazing lands , with little or no attention to
their traditional users. Such reserves are for wildlife , biodiversity and often
the consequent tourism , but the grassland biome of such reserves requires
properly managed grazing for its survival. Grassland reserves as such are
rarely mentioned: China (Hu and Zhang 2003) has eleven, covering two
million hectares.
Non-livestock grassland products get little attention, but are important to
local communities . Many wild plants are harvested as fruit and vegetables.
Wild grass seeds are used as cereals (Plates 12.14 and 12.15). Many medicinal
plants for both local use and sale are gathered from grasslands, as is wood
and fuel. An interesting case study from the Lake Chad area is provided by
Batello, Marzot and Touré (2004).
In places such as in Nepal (see Plate 1.15) or in the Tibet Autonomous
Region, China, near Lake Namtso (Plates 12.16a, b), grassland sites can have
a special religious significance. At Lake Namtso the nearby grasslands are