This research project investigates a major government program launched in 2003, the grazing removal project, which calls for the removal of grazing from large areas of rangeland in Tibet for the purpose of restoring purportedly degraded pastures. The project works by creating fenced zones in which grazing is to be banned for several months annually to ten years. Graduate student Yundan Nima, under the supervision of PhD advisor Dr. Emily Yeh, will investigate the rationales for this grazing removal project. Specifically, this research asks why has the Chinese central government initiated the grazing removal project in pastoral Tibet and to what extent is it being implemented by sub-national and local governments as intended by the central government?; how are pastoralists accepting, rejecting, modifying or adapting to the project, and why?; to what extent do traditional forms of grassland management system and Tibetan pastoralists' local knowledge articulate with what would be expected for non-equilibrium ecosystems and how does this affect pastoralists' response to the project?

The framework for analyzing the grazing removal project as a state intervention is informed broadly by political ecology, an approach that analyzes the ways in which environmental problems and their proposed solutions are shaped by political-economic, social, and cultural factors, at multiple scales. Field research will use a mix of methods that include detailed household surveys, in-depth, semi-structured interviews, oral histories, transect walks, and participation observation. Individuals to be interviewed include herders and governmental officials at all levels (from central government down to village). Intensive ethnographic study will be conducted in two villages in Nagchu. By investigating the on-the-ground implementation of the grazing removal project and the ways in which its targets come to identify with or reject it, the project contributes to understandings of state development and environmental projects, including their social and environmental consequences as well as the ways in which they may produce new identities.

This project contributes to political ecology through a multi-scalar analysis of how state interventions into pastoral livelihoods are formulated, translated into implementation, and contested. The project also makes a substantial contribution to studies of pastoralism, contributing knowledge about how rapid change and government interventions are affecting range management patterns and livelihoods in developing countries. Through the project Tibetan herders will have an opportunity to express their experiences with and perceptions of government environment and development policies, as well as their assessments of their own current and future livelihood conditions.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
0903049
Program Officer
Antoinette WinklerPrins
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2009-06-01
Budget End
2011-05-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$12,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Colorado at Boulder
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boulder
State
CO
Country
United States
Zip Code
80309