Grasslands and Resettlement

There is a very good review by Emily Yeh, assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, at China Dialogue entitled Restoring the grasslands? concerning the Chinese program “retire livestock and restore grassland” (tuimu huancao). Introduced in 2003 the program called for “grazing removal in order to halt and reverse severe grassland degradation.”

I have written here and here about the resettlement of nomadic pastoralists on the Qinghai Tibetans Plateau, so it is a subject that I am somewhat familiar with. Ms. Yeh’s review of the program is a much more thorough and studied approach to the problem. Highly recommended.

Studies to date of those who have been resettled through ecological migration also suggest that the benefits of resettlement for improving the livelihoods of herders are overstated. Some who have voluntarily resettled have expressed regrets about doing so, saying they did not realise the extent to which everything in their new town-based lives must be purchased with cash. For many families, government compensation has been inadequate, especially as inflation drives up costs while subsidies remain the same. In one study conducted in Golok, the annual income of those resettled in towns was reportedly lower than their earlier subsistence income, while expenditures were higher; those interviewed also stated that their health conditions had declined after resettlement, because of changes in living conditions as well as diet.

Originating link.

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