Changing Pastoralism and Pastoral Livelihoods Under Climate Change in Northwestern China

Abstract

The livelihood of pastoralists is strongly influenced and partially determined by regulatory grazing limitations and global climate change. It was assumed that the challenges associated with the latter factor would invariably obligate and motivate herders to practice sustainable animal husbandry. However, the former factor also incentivizing adaptive changes in the agricultural practices of herders and pastoralists as well. The present study investigated changes in the management practices that rural pastoralists have made to ensure the sustainable maintenance of their livelihood in the face of strict public policy and climate risks. Surveys were conducted in two pastoral counties of northwestern China in a region subjected to frequent annual drought events and low wintertime temperatures. This region has already undergone numerous institutional changes within the last few decades. The results of the field research indicated that farmers in both counties have modified their livelihood patterns and nomadic practices in response to regulatory and climate change. Five new adaptive livelihood patterns were identified among the agricultural workers in the study area. The novel adaptive farming practices assumed by herders were intended to cope with the tension between the requirement for environmental protection and the need for socioeconomic development. The specificity of this research helps clarify how local communities change their livelihood patterns in response to ecosystem degradation and policy modifications resulting from climate change, and enrich the understanding of the actions for dealing with climate change under the individual perspective.