A reindeer herder's perspective on caribou, weather and socio-economic change on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska

Non-climate variables shape vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change. Here, we describe how recent environmental and socio-economic developments have transformed reindeer herding and perceptions of weather on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. The reindeer industry has shrunk considerably since the early 1990s, when the winter range of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd expanded, and over 17 000 reindeer mixed with migrating caribou and left the region. Socio-economic and environmental repercussions make the continuation of herding tenuous, and erode the ability of herders to cope with weather variability, among other perturbations. We present a case study of one herder's annual cycle, and juxtapose physical drivers of herding activities, including weather-station and herder observations of local weather variability, with socio-economic factors. There is an increased urgency to access and monitor reindeer with caribou present, but herding plans are constrained by lower economic returns and the need to spend more time in non-herding jobs. Although weather is a greater concern now for immediate herd access, standard weather data are largely irrelevant to the mechanics of herding, whereas variables pertaining to the timing of biotic events (e.g., synchrony of spring break-up and calving) and visibility are attributed to lost herding opportunities. Short-term responses to weather conditions stem from more long-term vulnerability associated with caribou presence, reduced herd size, difficulties affording snowmobile maintenance or crew assistance, and dwindling market opportunities. We emphasize the environmental and socio-economic interactions that affect vulnerability and adaptive capacity for modern herding.     

Trust Matters – Social Capital in Herding Cooperation in Finland

Reindeer herding is a nature-based livelihood of the indigenous Sámi people in northern parts of Europe and Russia. During the last decades, reindeer herding has become a more significant issue in the context of the market economy: the livelihood has transformed toward entrepreneurship, and the subsidies demand growth in the scale of herding. According to the national administration, the market values are highlighted. However, for herders, market economies are only one part of their livelihood. Another important part is their experience of reindeer herding as a way of life; for many reindeer herders trust in their livelihood and the social relations associated with their way of life are of equal or greater importance than economic aspects. In this paper, the role of social trust in the changing process of reindeer herding is discussed. Inherited tacit and cultural knowledge, as a part of social capital, strengthen reindeer herders’ experience of trust.     

Chukotkan reindeer husbandry in the post-socialist transition

Reindeer herding in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as in many other regions across the Russian North, has been experiencing a progressive collapse since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The collapse is typically blamed on Russia's privatization programme, which broke up collectivized reindeer farms into supposedly privatized enterprises. While this process did indeed bring significant changes to the practice of reindeer herding in Chukotka, this paper argues that a more fundamental issue is the political and economic change at the local level that most likely makes the collapse irreversible. Áccording to the rhetoric of the new "democratic" framework, the majority rules, and their priorities take precedence. As a result, the indigenous peoples and their priorities - chief among which is reindeer herding - have been squeezed into the political margins. This has been exacerbated by the development of a relationship of internal colonialism between dominant urban Russians and village-dwelling indigenous reindeer herders, which has led to greater inequalities between the two groups as the Russians monopolize both resources and power in the region.     

The relationship between herders and trees in space and time in northern Cameroon

Extensive herding is an important activity in northern Cameroon, in terms of both the local social economy and local land management. However, this activity is strongly linked to the availability and accessibility of fodder resources. Due to territorial processes, such as land clearance and wood harvesting, this resource is receding and pasturelands are becoming fragmented. Herders are facing new challenges to secure their livelihoods, and, in this context, fodder trees are emerging as a key resource, allowing herds to subsist up to the end of the dry season. Increasingly, trees are playing a significant part in the herders' strategies to feed their herds in time and space and to 'root' their activities to particular lands. This trend requires an analysis of the importance of fodder trees in the definition of territorial strategies operated by herders in northern Cameroon, in the context of various herding systems (nomadic herding, agro herding using transhumance, and settled agro herding). A discussion of herding strategies needed to address the decreasing access to fodder resources highlights the problems of current extensive herding systems and leads to proposed alternatives.     

Many a little makes a mickle: Cumulative land cover changes and traditional land use in the Kyrö reindeer herding district,northern Finland

Traditional land use systems are threatened by land use intensification and resulting land cover transitions in northern areas. This article examines cumulative land cover changes and their impacts on reindeer grazing grounds in the Kyrö reindeer herding district in northern Finland. Land cover transitions were studied using Landsat TM and OLI images and topographic maps. The results showed that the herding district has experienced notable land cover changes during the past decades, and most of these changes were directly related to forestry. The proportion of continuous coniferous forests of the total forest cover declined from 92% to 78% between 1987 and 2013. Approximately one third of the forests outside current conservation areas were disturbed by forest management by 2013, and remaining forests were notably more fragmented than forests within conservation areas. The extent of the road and path networks expanded considerably between 1960s and 2010 as a result of increasing logging and tourism. Accumulation of disturbances gradually results in loss of key resources and declined quality of the landscape mosaic from the reindeer herding perspective, which can pose a serious threat to long-term sustainability of the livelihood. Rapid land cover changes in non-protected areas highlight an increasingly important role of conservation areas in maintaining resources for reindeer husbandry in the face of intensifying land use. Sustainable management of resources outside conservation areas requires careful participatory planning and efficient cumulative impact assessment of different land use activities.     

Farmer–herder conflicts, pastoral marginalisation and corruption: a case study from the inland Niger delta of Mali

This study aims to explain a farmer–herder conflict in the inland Niger delta of Mali. We focus on the interests and motivations of the actors involved in the conflict and the rent seeking of the local administration in handling the conflict. Since independence, the customary pastoral leaders (the jowros ) have gradually lost power and wealth to the benefit of previously underprivileged farmers (the rimaybé ). We argue that this process is mainly the result of national policies and laws giving priority to agricultural development at the expense of pastoralism. The result has been large-scale conversions of dry season pastures to rice fields. This pastoral marginalisation also results in increased land use conflicts between herders and farmers. In addition, rent seeking by local officials is perpetuating land use conflicts in the area. Hence, officials are benefiting from conflicts, while especially pastoralists, but also farmers, are losing out. The droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, leading to a more rapid encroachment of rice fields on pastures, as well as the power vacuum that emerged in the early days of the decentralisation process, further aggravated land disputes. Finally, we use this case study to call for an inclusion of issues of rent seeking and corruption more centrally in political ecology.     

Ecological constraints on and consequences of land use heterogeneity: A case study of the Mongolian Gobi

Mongolian herders are transhumant and therefore follow a specific land use pattern. To understand their movements through a case study, we mapped and superimposed their seasonal camps on a vegetation map and a digital elevation model. We also questioned them about the reasons justifying the locations of their camps, and how they use the surrounding land. It appears that vegetation quality may play a role only in summer, whereas topography is a key driver during 3 seasons. In winter, herders seek shelter against cold winds in rugged places exposed to the south, while in spring and summer, they seek flat places. In spring, to have a clear view of their newborns and in summer, to allow wind to reduce the insect discomfort. Moreover, most of the livestock species stay within a certain distance of the camps depending on the season, but which never exceeds 5.1 km. This leads to a land use pattern where livestock is restrained to specific areas according to the season. Interestingly, during the growing season, when plants are most sensitive to defoliation, most livestock is concentrated on 30.92% of the site surface. Such information is important for range scientists working on grazing impacts at large scales.     

耕地撂荒研究进展与展望

20世纪后半叶以来许多发达国家发生明显的耕地撂荒现象,并逐渐演变为全球性土地利用现象,深刻地改变了广大农村地区土地景观.本文以"土地利用变化--驱动机制--环境效应--政策响应"的框架系统梳理耕地撂荒主要研究进展.研究表明:① 全球耕地撂荒仍主要发生在欧美发达国家,但发展程度的区域差异很大;② 社会经济要素变化是耕地撂荒最主要驱动力,务农机会成本上升等原因引起的耕地边际化是撂荒发生的根本原因,而劳动力析出是造成耕地撂荒的直接原因;③ 耕地撂荒与否,撂荒程度以及撂荒地空间分布受村镇,农户,地块三个尺度的自然条件,劳动力特征,农业生产条件和区域社会经济条件等多方面因素的综合影响;④ 生态环境效应是当前撂荒效应研究的焦点,但该效应是以积极还是消极为主仍存争议;⑤ 增加农业补贴是当前减缓耕地撂荒的主要措施,但并非唯一和最合理的措施.未来,快速城镇化进程将促使中国耕地撂荒现象愈演愈烈,所以当前研究有待加强,本文认为应加强大范围耕地撂荒信息提取和监测,撂荒趋势预测和风险评估,社会经济效应评估及政策设计等方面研究.     

Nenets reindeer heders on the lower Yenisei River: traditional economy under current conditions are responses to economic change

The article is dedicated to the problems of survival and development among the aboriginal peoples of northern Russia in the context of current conditions. Data collected in the western art of the Taimyr Autonomous District allowed us to divide the non-sedentary population of this territory into three groups differentiated by overall way of life, land use and economic "calendar." These groups are: the nomadic reindeer herders of the tundra (about 250–300 people), the semi-nomadic fishermenherders of Yenisei delta (about 500), and the nomadic herders of the forest-tundra (300–350). The economy and ways of life of the three non-sedentary groups are are described. Communities whose traditional subsistence base is reindeers have entered a crucial period. In response to the pressure of the dominant society, these peoples have three ossible strategies: isolation, passive adaptation and active adaptation. Only the last strategy can preserve their culture, and create a "neoculture". Now, however, passive adaptation predominates. The mutual, bi-directional process of cultural integration needs to reinforce positive aspects of acculturation and promote active, rather than passive, adaptation. A necessary condition for this is the appearance among the Nenets of an intermediate social stratum which maintains close links to nomadic reindeer-husbandry and is simultaneously integrated into the dominant society.     

Reindeer pastoralism in modern Siberia: research and survival during the time of crash

In many areas across Siberia, the reindeer herding economy of the native people went into a deep recession during the post-Soviet transition of the 1990s. However, as a larger cross-section of data indicates, the reindeer stock decline is not a universal phenomenon. Nor is the present-day crisis in native Siberian herding economies an unprecedented event, as pastoralists did suffer tremendously in "traditional times", due to the devastating epizootics and other natural disasters, and even more so, during the Soviet-induceed collectivizsation. While such a historical review by no means diminishes the scale of the present-day crisis in native herding economies, it helps to identify both the experience and traditional adaptations once used by the native Siberians during the previous times of hardship. Of those, the most efficient were: maintaining cultural and ecological diversity in local herding systems; the ability to shift quickly between nomadic population as the invaluable source of cultural knowledge, technological expertise, and of domestic reindeer stock for ultimate recovery. The modern situation in Siberia, in fact, favours increased local diversity and helps to produce a steady stream of new "winners" as well as new "losers." This new experience has to be comprehensively documented, to produce both a reliable general overview and a detailed summary of the specific regional and local transitions.     

Status, directions and priorities of reindeer husbandry research in Sweden

Emerging out of small-scale reindeer farming, large-scale reindeer husbandry in Sweden and Norway was developed to counteract resource scarcity caused by depleted wild reindeer numbers and human population growth above what the former subsistence economy could sustain. Current numbers of reindeer are likely lower and fluctuate less than before wild reindeer were depleted and reindeer husbandry started on a large scale. Productivity is about 7-8 kg of meat per head in winter stock. Current problems arise from a multitude of circumstances, some of them related to the problems of practising a subsistence type of living in close connection with a modern industrialized society. Problems include: low production, typical for harsh conditions and use of an unimproved animal stock; the inability to support a modern standard of living solely from reindeer; the collective access to grazing grounds which makes internal management difficult; unclear legal rights resulting in conflicting interests with other land users and formal owners; and the relatively low number of people directly involved in reindeer husbandry. Possible long-term consequences are marginalization and the loss of land use rights, with negative consequences for the Saami as an indigenous people. Reindeer husbandry research addresses these problems by integrating human-ecological and socio-economic aspects with traditional natural science orientated research on reindeer husbandry problems. This research is funded by a multitude of sources. Independently of this, research is conducted on Saami life and culture in relation to reindeer husbandry at various universities, especially within social sciences and arts.     

Identifying Environmental and Natural Resource Management Conflict Potential Using Participatory Mapping

Methods have been proposed for identifying land use conflict potential using participatory mapping data and models. In a case study from Finland, we extend conflict mapping research by evaluating the capacity for participatory mapping to identify conflict for land uses that include mining, tourism development, commercial forestry, recreation, and nature protection. We evaluated two conflict models using reference sites where conflict was expected and assessed whether conflict potential was influenced by participant social group (resident, visitor, holiday home owner). The conflict models correctly identified the locations of current and proposed mining projects and major tourism locations (ski areas) in the region, while conflict for commercial forestry and reindeer herding was spatially distributed. Preferences for land use by social group were more similar than different across the study region. Identification of conflict potential using participatory mapping can provide a useful planning diagnostic but would benefit from additional research for validation.     

高代价的中国草地生态政策需要根本性的策略转变（英文）

过度放牧加剧了中国草地的退化程度,破坏了草地生态系统重要的生态和经济价值。“草畜平衡”政策在中国全面实施已超过十年,旨在平衡饲草产量与牲畜消耗之间的关系。本文梳理了政策评价的统计资料和相关文献,指出以草畜平衡为主导的生态补偿政策不仅对草地的恢复效果存在很大的不确定性,而且阻碍了部分超载地区的减畜,甚至还对牧民生计产生负面影响。为解决当前困境,本文基于生态学理论提出了从控制牲畜数量到维持和改善草地健康的根本性策略性转变的理论框架和实现途径,以期推动我国草地的可持续发展。研究结果表明,“草畜平衡”政策失灵的根本原因在于其干预了牧民自主使用承包草场的行为,而且基础理论和方法也存在缺陷。相比而言,以草地生态系统健康为衡量标准实施奖惩政策,不仅能够激发牧民自主经营草原的积极性,而且比“草畜平衡”政策更具科学性和可行性。     

中国梯田撂荒程度及空间格局分异研究

在城镇化和工业化的驱动下,中国丘陵山区耕地逐渐被边际化,耕地撂荒范围也迅速从劣质的坡耕地延展至优质的梯田,大规模梯田撂荒将会引发一系列社会和生态效应,科学评估中国山区梯田的撂荒程度及空间分布将有助于有效地应对耕地撂荒问题。本文通过全国抽样调查的方式对中国梯田的撂荒程度进行了调查,利用获取的中国329个县的560份村问卷测算了中国梯田撂荒规模,并进一步分析了梯田撂荒空间分异特征及驱动因素。结果显示：(1)全国梯田撂荒现象分布广泛,发生梯田撂荒的村庄占总调查村庄的比例为54%,撂荒面积占梯田总面积的比例达到9.79%;(2)梯田撂荒程度呈现“南高北低”的特征,南方丘陵山区较为严重,尤以长江中下游地区为最;(3)梯田撂荒的主要因素可归结为农业劳动力外出务工、梯田耕作机械化程度、灌溉条件、耕作交通条件等。减缓梯田撂荒,应因区精准施策,提高梯田区机械化水平等措施具有普适性,针对质量较差的梯田,可有序“退耕”,对于质量较好的梯田,可采用调整种植结构、加强农业基础设施建设、鼓励流转与规模经营等方式。     

The ecologo-geographical framework for the protection and recovery of taiga reindeer populations within the Konda river basin (Western Siberia)

The key aspects of reindeer ecology within the Konda river basin are considered. The study revealed the factors governing the characteristics of calving reindeer pastures determined by the structure of forest-bog landscapes of a different generalization level. A deficit of such pastures is regarded as the factor of differentiation of reindeer groups with respect to migrants and residents. It is shown that the individual geocomplexes have a multifunctional role. Of particular significance among them are the aufeis glades with outcrops of salt-saturated groundwater, and the dark-coniferous forests along river valleys rich in epiphytic lichens (beard lichens).     

Ecological compensation for winter wheat abandonment in groundwater over-exploited areas in the North China Plain

The land fallow policy was adopted by central and local governments to encourage the abandonment of water-intensive crops, such as winter wheat, in groundwater over-exploited areas. At the same time, since the 1990s, many households in the North China Plain (NCP) have chosen to replace the winter wheat and summer maize double-cropping system with the spring maize single-cropping system. Therefore, it is crucial to identify target land parcels for winter wheat abandonment and to design reasonable and proper standards for ecological compensation prior to the implementation of the land fallow policy in the NCP. In this study, multi-level logit models were used with household survey data in order to detect determinants across land parcel, household and village levels on household cropping system decisions; the opportunity costs for winter wheat abandonment were also calculated using cost–benefit analysis. The results show that: (1) land quality and irrigation condition at parcel level are two essential elements influencing household cropping system decisions. Nearly 70% of the total area of poor land and more than 90% of the total area of unirrigated land has suffered winter wheat abandonment. Target land parcels for the land fallow policy should be those that are irrigated and of high quality. (2) There were no significant differences between net profits from spring maize and summer maize under similar farming conditions, and the opportunity cost for winter wheat abandonment should be equal to the net profit of winter wheat. (3) The primary purpose of the land fallow policy is to induce groundwater recovery and restoration as a preliminary stage. A higher level of 350 yuan/mu is recommended as subsidy for ecological compensation at this stage. Later, the primary purpose of the policy should be a transition to a balance between exploitation and supplementation of water resources, and a lower level of 280 yuan/mu is recommended as a subsidy at this stage.     

不同类型农户撂荒及其影响因素研究——以重庆市12 个典型村为例

近年来,耕地撂荒因与耕地流失及粮食安全紧密联系而备受关注。反映撂荒现状并揭示其影响因素,有利于政府制定科学的政策、规划和计划。现有的研究多将农户作为一个整体,较少考虑到不同类型农户撂荒的差异。以重庆市12 个典型村为例,在农户类型划分的基础上,分析不同类型农户撂荒的差异,运用多元线性回归模型定量分析不同类型农户撂荒的影响因素。研究表明：① 不同类型农户撂荒的差异主要体现在撂荒户数比重、户均撂荒面积、撂荒面积占承包地面积比重随耕作半径的变化情况、撂荒地现状及不同时间段撂荒面积;② 野生动物影响和人均耕地面积是影响不同类型农户撂荒的共同原因。此外,影响基本型农户的因素包括户主外出经历、耕作半径和房屋离集镇距离;影响自然资产型农户的因素包括农业劳动力比重、户主外出经历、地块平均面积和耕地收益;影响人力资产型农户的因素包括家庭人口、非农收入、耕地转出面积和耕作半径。     

华北地下水超采区冬小麦退耕的生态补偿问题探讨

压减冬小麦种植面积是有效减少华北平原地下水用量最为有效的方法。近期,国家和地方政府均出台了土地休耕政策,拟在华北地下水超采区退耕冬小麦,实现“一季休耕、一季雨养”。然而,华北平原已经出现农户主动退耕冬小麦的现象。在此背景下,明确冬小麦退耕的瞄准目标、制订合理适度的补偿标准是土地休耕政策有效实施所面对的核心问题。本文利用农户问卷数据,构建多层次logit模型分析农户种植制度决策的影响因素,并计算冬小麦退耕的机会成本,旨在确定华北平原地下水超采区土地休耕政策的瞄准目标,并为农户补偿标准的制订提供建议。结果表明：① 地块层次的土地质量和灌溉条件是解释农户种植制度差异的关键因素,近70%的四等耕地和90%以上的旱地已退出冬小麦耕作,土地休耕政策应瞄准一、二、三等土地质量的水浇地;② 相似耕作条件的地块种植春、夏玉米的净收益大致相同,土地休耕的机会成本等于种植冬小麦的净收益;③ 仅考虑冬小麦对地下水资源的影响,土地休耕政策初期以地下水回升和地下水环境恢复为主要目标时,建议以350元/亩作为补偿标准参考值,后期目标转为维持地下水资源采补平衡时,可调整至280元/亩左右。     

Land use and climate change on the Yamal Peninsula of north-west Siberia: some ecological and socio-economic implications

Compared to climate, land use change is expected to comprise a more important component of global change in the coming decades. However, climate is anticipated to supass land use as a factor later in the next century, particularly in the Arctic. Discussed here are the implications of land use and climate change on the Yamal peninsula of north-west Siberia, homeland of the Yamal Nenets. Since the discovery of super-giant natural gas fields in the 1960s, extensive exploration has resulted in direct withdrawal of large areas for infrastructure development and associated disturbance regimes have led to cumulative impacts on thousands of additional hectares of land. The land withdrawals have pushed a relatively consistent or increasing number of reindeer onto progressively smaller parcels of pasture. This has led to excessive grazing and trampling of lichens, bryophytes and shrubs and, in many areas, erosion of sandy soils via deflation. The low Arctic tundra lies entirely within the continuous permafrost zone and ice-rich substrates are widespread. One implication of this is that both anthropogenic and zoogenic distubance regimes may easily initiate thermokarst and aeolian rosion, leading to significant further losses of pastures. Even without industrial distubance, a slight change of the climate would result in massive thermokarst erosion. This would have negative consequences equal to or greater than the mechanical distubances described above. The synergistic effects of land use coupled with climate, change therefore have profound implication for the ecosystems of Yamal, as well as the future of the Nenets culture, society and economy.     

劳动力非农转移对农户耕地撂荒的影响

以福建省长汀县农区为研究区域,依据1978-2008年社会统计资料和农户调查数据,构建农业劳动力非农转移对农户耕地撂荒影响的多项式回归分析模型,采用社会统计和比较分析方法,研究长汀县农业劳动力非农转移对于农户耕地撂荒的影响．结果表明：近30年来,长汀县农业劳动力非农转移与农户耕地撂荒之间存在非线性关系,即自改革开放至20世纪90年代中后期,农业劳动力非农转移程度虽逐渐提高,而农户耕地开垦面积却呈现上升趋势;但自2000年以来,农户从耕地净开垦转向耕地净撂荒,农业劳动力非农转移推动着农户耕地撂荒面积的不断增加．同时发现,与外出务工以及本地雇佣劳动相比,从事传统农业较高的务农机会成本是农户耕地撂荒的根本原因,也是农业劳动力非农转移对耕地撂荒产生影响的主要中介．