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

thous<strong>and</strong> hectares have been degraded, accounting for 50 % of the total. The
annual carrying capacity has declined from 1 million heads to 100,000. The
Bayinbuluke Pasture covers an area of 2.2 million hectares, ranking second
only to the Hulunbeier Pasture. It is the origin of the Kaidu River <strong>and</strong> home to
the beautiful Swan Lake, a national nature reserve. However, overgrazing <strong>and</strong>
destruction due to other reasons have imposed serious losses on the rangel<strong>and</strong>s,
with a significant decline in the grass yield. 50 % of the pastures have shown
signs of degradation <strong>and</strong> 20 % of the pastures suffer varying degrees of desertification
<strong>and</strong> salinization.
4.2 Protection <strong>and</strong> development strategy of Xinjiang’s rangel<strong>and</strong>
resources
4.2.1 The rangel<strong>and</strong> ecological replacement programme
In the face of increasing degradation of rangel<strong>and</strong>s, guided by the “go West”
strategy, Xinjiang has adjusted the ecological construction plans, streamlined
projects, <strong>and</strong> gradually implemented the rangel<strong>and</strong> ecological replacement
programme. The rangel<strong>and</strong> ecological replacement programme is guided by a
new concept of ecological resources <strong>and</strong> prioritizes the specific resources <strong>and</strong>
their environment advantages. It is driven by a new ecological economy, <strong>and</strong>
combines issues of the environment, resources, industry, <strong>and</strong> profit-making. It
is a rangel<strong>and</strong> ecological management strategy to regulate ecological patterns
in a macro way. First, it is essential to recognize the self-renewal, self-repair
capabilities of rangel<strong>and</strong>s. Second, the strategy will form new productive
forces <strong>and</strong> material bases, <strong>and</strong> establish a replacement compensation system
in order to achieve self reparation of degraded rangel<strong>and</strong>. Third, it will adjust
the industrial structure, change the mode of production, increase economic
efficiency, improve the farming system <strong>and</strong> support the self-healing of degraded
rangel<strong>and</strong>s.
The rangel<strong>and</strong> ecological replacement programme includes:
(i) Grazing breaks on natural rangel<strong>and</strong> (complete, moderate or reduced),
reducing animal husb<strong>and</strong>ry <strong>and</strong> timely <strong>and</strong> orderly grazing in combination
with the maintenance <strong>and</strong> substitution of over-grazed rangel<strong>and</strong>s
(ii) Encouraging high-quality-<strong>and</strong>-high-yield forage production from agropastures,
complemented by measures necessary for rangel<strong>and</strong> improvements,
compensation for reduced grass feed caused by grazing breaks,
protection <strong>and</strong> sustainable utilization of grass <strong>and</strong> the prevention of
further destruction
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