The Chinese government has introduced a grassland Household-Contracted Responsibility System (HCRS) to contract out pasture use rights to households. This aims to strengthen exclusive use and to achieve sustainable management through privatization of user rights. The author undertook a case-study in the alpine grasslands of Hongyuan County on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to document the initiation and impact of these changes. Herders in this location have traditionally utilized complex user-right arrangements to manage their grassland common pool resources. Analysis of changes brought about through the HCRS process indicate that sustainable management of alpine grasslands aims at the establishment and maintenance of cooperative management institutions and mechanisms that can (a) negotiate between the Tibetan communities and the state, and (b) recognize and support the existing, traditional, management capacity of these communities.
Journal articles from the Grassland Society of Southern Africa (GSSA) African Journal of Range and Forage Science as well as related articles and reports from throughout the southern African region.