Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

it “accessible” to vehicles, but the wheels caused serious damage to the grass
<strong>and</strong> other vegetation around the lake. After the construction of an asphalt road
in 2001, we began to set up fences on both sides of the new road to protect
the rangel<strong>and</strong>s so that motor vehicles can no long enter. This has effectively
curbed further environmental degradation. Nowadays, on Tashi Isl<strong>and</strong> where
most visitors go, the government has built six toilets, <strong>and</strong> hired thirteen garbage
cleaning staff workers. Here we have divided the entire scenic area into different
“plots of responsibility”, with specific tasks of cleaning up <strong>and</strong> pollution control.
According to recent statistics, garbage collected each day weighs about five tons
<strong>and</strong> is transported to the l<strong>and</strong>fill 20km away. This year, we are building a new
l<strong>and</strong>fill with a total capacity of 140,900 m2 in a location that is five kilometers
away from Damxung County. Currently in the entire scenic area, there are no
permanent buildings, only temporary housing.
2 Status of Rangel<strong>and</strong>s in Namtso Scenic Area
To take Namtso Town as an example, it is under the jurisdiction of Damxung
County. The eastern Namtso lakeside area is under development <strong>and</strong> administered
by Namtso Town. It was first established as a township in1960, became
a people’s commune in 1970, reestablished in 1984, <strong>and</strong> merged with Natso,
Sede, <strong>and</strong> Qiage in1988 to be the new Namtso Town. The local economic
development relies mainly on animal husb<strong>and</strong>ry, namely goats, sheep, yaks,
pian niu (the cattle-yak hybrids) <strong>and</strong> horses. Other niche products include
fungus, Fritillaria <strong>and</strong> other valuable herbs. The total l<strong>and</strong> area is 27.15ha,
including 16.90 ha of rangel<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> accounting for 62.2 % of the total area of
Damxung County. It has the largest rangel<strong>and</strong>s in Damxung, accounting for
24.4 % of the total rangel<strong>and</strong>s. The number of households in 2009 was 887,
with a population of 4553. They are all Tibetans. In 2009, the livestock of
the town numbered at 100,494, including 31,118 yaks, 58,366 sheep, 10,098
goats <strong>and</strong> 912 horses. The GDP was 12,578,100 Yuan, with the output value of
primary industry at 9.7302 million Yuan, accounting for 77.35 % of the total;
the secondary industry 98,400 Yuan, or 0.78 % of the GDP, <strong>and</strong> the tertiary
industry 2.7495 million Yuan, or 21.86 %. Per capita income was 3,000.84
Yuan, with big income disparity among pastoralists. According to the 2009
statistics, 21.64 % of the population had a per capita annual income of less than
1,000 Yuan, 40.21 % between 1,000 Yuan <strong>and</strong> 2,500 Yuan <strong>and</strong> 39.18 % above
2,500 Yuan. A few households had a family income of nearly 100,000 Yuan.
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> > > 3. Eco-tourism <strong>and</strong> Nature Protection in Relation to <strong>Pastoralism</strong> <strong>and</strong> Rangel<strong>and</strong> <strong>Management</strong>