Suchergebnisse

The book is written in the backdrop of the environmental impacts of and future requirements from the natural environment for rapid economic growth that has characterized recent economic history of China and India, especially over the past few decades. The environmental impacts of such rapid economic changes have been, more frequently than otherwise, degrading in character. Environmental impacts of economic activities create degraded natural ecosystems by over utilization of nature?s provisioning ecosystem services (from Himalaya to the Ocean), as well, by the use of the natural environment as sink for dumping of unmarketable products or unused inputs of economic activities. Such processes affect wide range of ecosystem processes on which the natural environment including human population depend on. Critical perspectives cast by various chapters in this book draw attention to the various ways in which space and power interact to produce diverse geographies of sustainability in a globalizing world. They also address the questions such as who decides what kind of a spatial arrangement of political power is needed for sustaining the environment. Who stands to gain (or lose) what, when, where, and why from certain geographical areas being demarcated as ecologically unique, fragile and vulnerable environments? Whose needs and values are being catered to by a given ecosystem service? What is the scope for critical inquiry into the ways in which the environment is imagined, represented and resisted in both geopolitical struggles and everyday life? The book provides insights to both academics from diverse disciplines and policy makers, civil society actors interested in mutual exchange of knowledge between China and India.

Large dam construction has significant environmental and social impacts at different scales. As the largest developing country in the world, China has built about half of the world's large dams, and more are expected to be built over the next two decades to meet the country's rapidly growing demand for energy. This book summarizes and updates information about the history, distribution, functions, and impacts of large dams, both globally and at China's national level. It then addresses the environmental and social-economic impacts of large dams in China with particular emphasis on the impacts

1-Introduction to the Third Pole -- 2-Overview of the Third Pole's Grasslands -- 3-Third Pole's Grasslands in the Global Context -- 4-Grassland Plant-soil interfaces -- 5-Grassland biodiversity and conservation -- 6-Grassland ecosystem function and service -- 7-Grazing management and pastoral production -- 8-Grassland Social-ecological systems -- 9-Grassland degradation and restoration -- 10-Climate change and adaptation of Grassland -- 11-Future of the Third Pole's Grasslands.

This edited volume summarizes information about the situational context, threats, problems, challenges and solutions for sustainable pastoralism at a global scale. The book has four goals. The first goal is to summarize the information about the history, distribution and patterns of pastoralism and to identify the importance of pastoralism from social, economic and environmental perspectives. The results of an empirical investigation of the environmental and socio-economic implications of pastoralism in representative pastoral regions in the world are also incorporated. The second goal is to argue that breaking coupled human-natural systems of pastoralism leads to degradation of pastoral ecosystems and to create an analysis framework to assess the vulnerability of worldwide pastoralism. Our analysis framework provides approaches to help comprehensively understand the transitions and the impacts of human-natural systems in the pastoral regions in the world. The third goal is to identify the successful models in promoting coupled human-natural systems of pastoralism, and to learn lessons of breaking coupled human-cultural pastoralism systems through examining the representative cases in regions including Central Asia, Southern and Eastern Asia, Northern and Eastern Africa, the European Alps and South America. The fourth goal is to identify the strategies to build the resilience of the coupled human-natural systems of pastoralism worldwide. We hope that our book can facilitate the further examination of sustainable development of coupled human-natural systems of pastoralism by providing the summaries of existing data and information related to the pastoralism development, and by offering a framework for better understanding and analysis of their social, economic and environmental implications

Ignoring the responses of local households to ecological protection policies can not only seriously limit sustainable development of the alpine grassland ecosystem, but also not improve livelihood on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). It is of vital importance to clearly understand coupling feedback and trigger between household decision-making of local herdsmen with the implementation of ecological protection policies. We selected Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP) as the study area which was in the hinterland of the QTP and the first national park in China. We used the global rangeland (G-Range) model to simulate alpine grassland changes and DEcisions under Conditions of Uncertainty by Modeled Agents (DECUMA) model to identify household decision-making of local herdsmen. Results showed that: (1) distribution of livestock density was basically consistent with the distribution of habitat suitability of local households in the SNP; (2) more than half of the uneducated households (52 and 70%) opposed the eco-compensation and eco-migration policies; (3) most of the households (53.7%) never traded livestock for maintaining their livelihood; and (4) When local households owed 65,000 yuan (≈10,000 dollars) in debts, as the critical value (trigger), they traded livestock to support their livelihood. We suggest that feedback and trigger of household decision-making should be fully considered by managers of national park and policymakers of local governments in planning ecological protection policies to maintain sustainable development of alpine grassland, which is of practical significance to long-term conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources in the SNP.

Context
Wild yak (Bos grunniens), Tibetan wild ass (Equus kiang, also known as kiang) and Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni, also known as chiru) have been sympatric on the Tibetan Plateau for numerous generations. There is concern over potential dietary competition among them, particularly in winter when their forage resources are scarcer, but little is known about their dietary interactions.

Aim
We aimed to determine diet composition and dietary overlap of the three ungulate species, and to assess the extent of potential dietary competition among them in order to enhance our understanding of mechanisms underlying their co-existence. We predicted that the three species would widen their choice of forages in winter (December) compared with summer (June–July), and that there would be diet segregation among them, particularly in winter when food resources were scarcer.

Methods
We collected fresh faecal samples of the three species and reference forage samples from the field during our transect line surveys in the summers of 2012 and 2013, and winter of 2012 in Arjin Shan National Nature Reserve (ANNR) of Xinjiang Province, China. Slides of faecal samples were prepared for microhistological analysis, and plant fragments in faecal samples were identified under microscope. Relative percentage frequency of diet plant species, diet breadth and dietary overlap were calculated.

Key results
The three species consumed similar forage plants, but varied greatly in their percentage use of the available forages. Wild yak mainly fed on sedges in summer and graminoids in winter, supplemented with forbs. Kiang consumed mainly forbs in summer and browse in winter, and chiru mainly fed on graminoids and forbs in summer. Wild yak had the widest choice of forages, and kiang had the narrowest one in summer, but both wild yak and kiang became less selective in their food choice in winter, resulting in higher diet breadth. The dietary overlaps among them, as represented by Pianka's index, were generally low, ranging from 0.26 between chiru and kiang to 0.51 between wild yak and kiang. The dietary overlap between wild yak and kiang decreased from summer (0.51) to winter (0.35), suggesting an increased dietary divergence.

Key conclusion
Our study reveals that the three species are 'opportunistic feeders', able to cope with coarse forage resources. There is dietary segregation among them as indicated by low dietary overlap, suggesting risk of potential competition for diets. We suggest that competition may have shaped their dietary divergence, contributing to their co-existence in ANNR.

Implication
Although there is dietary segregation among the three species in ANNR, it is not possible to make definitive conclusions about interspecific competition from these results. Further studies are needed to investigate if there is spatial and habitat segregation among them, which may facilitate their dietary divergence and thus contribute further to their co-existence in ANNR. Continued efforts are also needed to monitor their population dynamics and status of forage resources in order to prevent overgrazing.