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

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Detached mountain pastoralism
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Figure 4: Detached mountain pastoralism
Livestock products are exported from the high pastures <strong>and</strong> exchanged
in market towns <strong>and</strong> cities for all kinds of necessities needed for life on the
Tibetan Plateau. Clarified butter, meat, wool, felts, hides <strong>and</strong> hair are among
the dominant products that are exchanged in animal husb<strong>and</strong>ry. The previous
market access was replaced by a strictly regulated system of delivery <strong>and</strong> receipt.
Pastoral products were delivered to administrative headquarters that further
processed <strong>and</strong> distributed the goods. In exchange, pastoral communities were
supplied with all items at more highly subsidised rates than were available to
all other citizens. Collectivisation was regarded as a means to bring the same
amenities to the mountain dwellers in remote locations as were available to
members of collective farms <strong>and</strong> peoples’ communes in other rural areas. The
comm<strong>and</strong> economy regulated all kinds of exchange, tributes <strong>and</strong> subsidies.
Permanent settlements restricted the flexibility of movement <strong>and</strong> the potential
for adaptation, while at the same time infrastructure assets were brought to
focal habitations that functioned as central places in remote locations.
In recent years two new forms of organising pastoralists have been tested
<strong>and</strong> implemented that can be regarded as a further step in “developing” <strong>and</strong>
“modernising” peripheral communities. Under the heading of “resettlement”
two approaches are followed: (i) Resettlement in high pastures (Figure 5). In
furthering the modernisation attempts of previous interventions in pastoral
communities, schemes have been designed that bring features of urbanisation
to pastures <strong>and</strong> their inhabitants.