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

Plateau. There were 2.27 million animals that disappeared because of snow
disasters in the Northern part of Tibet between 1980 <strong>and</strong> 1990. Therefore,
preparing for natural hazards <strong>and</strong> reducing the resulting losses from natural
hazards are the main tasks for local officials <strong>and</strong> herders in the TAR.
Figure 8: Livestock population perished due to snowfall in high pastures in the
eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 1974 to 2009
6 Suggestions
6.1 Coupled valley cropping <strong>and</strong> mountain pastoral system
Almost 90 % of the alpine rangel<strong>and</strong>s in the pastoral areas of the TAR are
currently suffering degradation, to some extent, resulting from severe overgrazing,
socio-economic pressures <strong>and</strong> the impacts of global warming. At the
same time in the cropping areas of the valleys of the three rivers – the Yarlung
Zangbo River, the Lhasa River <strong>and</strong> The Nyangqu River (Figure 1) – a certain
proportion of straw <strong>and</strong> agricultural by-products are not being fully used by the
livestock. The cropping area is large, covering 180 thous<strong>and</strong> ha, which accounts
for 50.5 % of the total cropping area of Tibet (Nyima Tashi 2009). Thus, a
coupled valley cropping <strong>and</strong> alpine mountain grazing system could be achieved
in terms of space, function <strong>and</strong> benefits (Figure 9). Under this framework,
either more animals have to be evacuated from grazing l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> can be sold
to cropping areas for consumption or the surplus fodder from cropping areas
needs to be transported to the upl<strong>and</strong>s in order to alleviate the overgrazing of
the rangel<strong>and</strong>s while increasing incomes both in the upl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> valley areas. By
providing better alpine rangel<strong>and</strong> ecosystem services, the capacity for tourism
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