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Rangelands of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (QTP), although sparsely populated and contributing little to
China’s overall economy, play an important environmental role throughout Asia. They contain high
biodiversity values and can also potentially provide China with a source of cultural and geographic
variety in the future. Chinese government reports paint a gloomy picture, considering vast portions of the
QTP degraded and blaming irrational overstocking of livestock as the principal culprit. Global climate
change, population increases, and ‘‘rodent’’ damage are also invoked as causes of rangeland degradation.
In contrast, some Western observers claim that traditional pastoral practices were sustainable, and
identify either previous or more recent state policies as the cause of degradation. Chinese governments at
national and provincial levels have initiated a number of sometimes-conflicting and confusing policies
aimed, at least nominally, at restoring rangeland productivity. On the basis of a comprehensive literature
review, I argue that the extent and magnitude of rangeland degradation on the QTP remains largely
unknown because monitoring programs have been subjective and poorly documented. Further, I argue
that causes of degradation remain uncertain, often because hypotheses have been articulated too vaguely
to test. No phenomena that have been hypothesized as contributing to rangeland degradation on the QTP
currently enjoy unequivocal support. Where over-stocking is clearly causing damage, we lack sufficient
understanding of current socio-ecological systems to identify ultimate and proximate drivers of pastoralist behavior, and thus policy initiatives aimed at sustainability may well fail.
(source: Abstract)