Herder observations of rangeland change in Mongolia: Indicators, causes, and application to community-based management

Rangeland Ecology and Management

Volumn 67, Issue 2, 2014, Pages 119-131

  Bruegger, Retta A ^a   Jigjsuren, Odgarav ^b   Fernández Giménez, Maria E ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

^b Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology   (Mongolia)

^c Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences   (United States)

Author keywords

Adaptive capacity; Local knowledge; Nomad; Participatory monitoring; Pastoralist; Traditional ecological knowledge

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT; AGRICULTURAL WORKER; COMMUNITY RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; GRAZING; PARTICIPATORY APPROACH; PASTORALISM; POLICY APPROACH; QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY; RANGELAND; SPECIES RICHNESS; STEPPE; TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE;

MONGOLIA;

EID: 84896459451     PISSN: 15507424     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2111/REM-D-13-00124.1     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. ADDISON, J., J. DAVIES, M. FRIEDEL, AND C. BROWN. 2013. Do pasture user groups lead to improved rangeland condition in the Mongolian Gobi Desert? Journal of Arid Environments 94:37-46.
2. ADDISON, J., M. FRIEDEL, C. BROWN, J. DAVIES, AND S. WALDRON. 2012. A critical review of degradation assumptions applied to Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Rangeland Journal 34:125-137.
3. AGRAWAL, A. 1995. Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific knowledge. Development and Change 26:413-439.
4. ANGERER, J., G. HAN, I. FUJISAKI, AND K. HAVSTAD. 2008. Climate change and ecosystems of Asia with an emphasis on Inner Mongolia and Mongolia. Rangelands 30(3):46-51.
5. ASH, A., P. THORNTON, C. STOKES, AND T. CHULUUN. 2012. Is proactive adaptation to climate change necessary in grazed rangelands? Rangeland Ecology & Management 65:563-568.
6. BATIMA, P., J. NATSAGDORJ, P. GOMBLUUDEV, AND B. ERDENETSETSEG. 2005. Observed climate change in Mongolia. AIACC Working Paper No. 12. 25 p.
7. BATKHISHIG, B., AND M. E. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ. 2012. Meaningful learning for resiliencebuilding among Mongolian pastoralists. Nomadic Peoples 16:52-77.
8. BEGZSUREN, S., J. E. ELLIS, D. S. OJIMA, M. B. COUGHENOUR, AND T. CHULUUN. 2004. Livestock responses to drought and severe winter weather in the Gobi Three Beauty National Park, Mongolia. Journal of Arid Environments 59:785-796.
9. BERKES, F. 2008. Sacred ecology. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA, USA: Taylor & Francis. 313 p.
10. BERKES, F., AND M. K. BERKES. 2009. Ecological complexity, fuzzy logic and holism in indigenous knowledge. Futures 41:6-12.
11. BERKES, F., J. COLDING, AND C. FOLKE. 2000. Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecological Applications 10:1251-1262.
12. CHENG, Y., M. TSUBO, T. Y. ITO, E. NISHIHARA, AND M. SHINODA. 2011. Impact of rainfall variability and grazing pressure on plant diversity in Mongolian grasslands. Journal of Arid Environments 75:471-476.
13. DANIELSEN, F., D. BALETE, M. K. POULSEN, M. ENGHOFF, C. M. NOZAWA, AND A. E. JENSEN. 2000. A simple system for monitoring biodiversity in protected areas of a developing country. Biodiversity and Conservation 12:1671-1705.
14. DANIELSEN, F., A. E. JENSEN, P. A. ALVIOLA, D. S. BALETE, M. MENDOZA, A. TAGTAG, C. CUSTODIO, AND M. ENGHOFF. 2005. Does monitoring matter? A quantitative assessment of management decisions from locally-based monitoring of protected areas. Biodiversity and Conservation 14:2633-2652.
15. DAVIS, A., AND J. R. WAGNER. 2003. Who knows? On the importance of identifying "experts"when researching local ecological knowledge. Human Ecology 31:463-489.
16. DE SOYZA, A. G., W. G. WHITFORD, J. E. HERRICK, J. W. VAN ZEE, AND K. M. HAVSTAD. 1998. Early warning indicators of desertification: examples of tests in the Chihuahuan Desert. Journal of Arid Environments 39:101-112.
17. ELLIS, J. E., AND D. M. SWIFT. 1988. Stability of African pastoral ecosystems: alternate paradigms and implications for development. Journal of Range Management 41:450-459.
18. ELZINGA, C. L., D. W. SALZER, AND J. W. WILLOUGHBY. 1998. Measuring and monitoring plant populations. Denver, CO, USA: Bureau Land Management, Department of Interior, 1730-1. 477 p.
19. FASSNACHT, S. R., T. SUKH, M. E. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, B. BATBUYAN, N. B. H. VENABLE, M. LAITURI, AND G. ADYABADAM. 2011. Local understandings of hydro-climatic changes in Mongolia. In: Proceedings of the Cold Region Hydrology in a Changing Climate Symposium as part of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Conference; 28 June-7 July 2011; Melbourne, Australia. Wallingford, UK: International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication 346, pp. 120-129.
20. FAZEY, I., J. A. FAZEY, J. G. SALISBURY, D. B. LINDENMAYER, AND S. DOVERS. 2006. The nature of experimental knowledge for environmental conservation. Environmental Conservation 33:1-10.
21. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E. 1993. The role of ecological perception in indigenous resource management: a case study from the Mongolian forest-steppe. Nomadic Peoples 33:31-46.
22. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E. 2000. The role of Mongolian nomadic pastoralists' ecological knowledge in rangeland management. Ecological Applications 10:1318-1326.
23. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E. 2002. Spatial and social boundaries and the paradox of pastoral land tenure: a case study from postsocialist Mongolia. Human Ecology 30:49-78.
24. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E., AND B. ALLEN-DIAZ. 1999. Testing a non-equilibrium model of rangeland vegetation dynamics in Mongolia. Journal of Applied Ecology 36:871-885.
25. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E., AND B. BATBUYAN. 2004. Law and disorder: local implementation of Mongolia's land law. Development and Change 35:141-165.
26. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E., B. BATKHISHIG, AND B. BATBUYAN. 2012. Cross-boundary and cross level dynamics increase vulnerability to severe winter disasters (dzud) in Mongolia. Global Environmental Change 22:836-852.
27. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E., AND F. FILLAT ESTAQUE. 2012. Pyrenean pastoralists' ecological knowledge: documentation and application to natural resource management and adaptation. Human Ecology 40:287-300.
28. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, M. E., A. KAMIMURA, AND B. BATBUYAN. 2008. Implementing Mongolia's land law: progress and issues. In: Final report to the Central Asian Legal Exchange. Nagoya, Japan: Central Asian Legal Exchange, Nagoya University. 45 p.
29. HERRICK, J. E., B. T. BESTELMEYER, S. ARCHER, A. J. TUGEL, AND J. R. BROWN. 2006. An integrated framework for science-based arid land management. Journal of Arid Environments 65:319-335.
30. HERRICK, J. E., J. W. VAN ZEE, K. M. HAVSTAD, L. M. BURKETT, AND W. G. WHITFORD. 2005. Monitoring manual for grasslands, shrublands and savanna ecosystems. Volume II. Las Cruces, NM, USA: USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range. 200 p.
31. HILKER, T., E. NATSAGDORJ, R. H. WARING, A. LYAPUSTIN, AND Y. WANG. 2013. Satellite observed widespread decline in Mongolian grasslands largely due to overgrazing. Global Change Biology. doi:10.1111/gcb.12365
32. HUMPHREY, C., AND D. SNEATH. 1999. The end of nomadism? Society, the state and the environment in Inner Asia. Durham, NC, USA: Duke University Press. 355 p.
33. HUNTINGTON, H. P. 2000. Using traditional ecological knowledge in science: methods and applications. Ecological Applications 10:1270-1274.
34. HUNTINGTON, H. P., T. CALLAGHAN, S. FOX, AND I. KRUPNIK. 2004. Matching traditional and scientific observations to detect environmental change: a discussion on Arctic terrestrial ecosystems. Ambio Special Report 13:18-23.
35. [IPCC] INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE. 2007. Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007. Available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications-and- data/ ar4/syr/en/spms1.html. Accessed 18 July 2012.
36. JIGJIDSUREN, S., AND D. A. JOHNSON. 2003. Forage plants of Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: Admon Publishing. 563 p.
37. KAKINUMA, K., T. OZAKI, S. TAKATSUKI, AND J. CHULUUN. 2008. How pastoralists in Mongolia perceive vegetation changes caused by grazing. Nomadic Peoples 12:67-73.
38. KAKINUMA, K., AND S. TAKATSUKI. 2012. Applying local knowledge to rangeland management in northern Mongolia: do 'narrow plants' reflect the carrying capacity of the land? Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 2:23.
39. KARL, J. W., J. E. HERRICK, AND D. M. BROWNING. 2012. A strategy for rangeland management based on best available knowledge and information. Rangeland Ecology & Management 65:638-646.
40. KNAPP, C. N., AND M. E. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ. 2009. Understanding change: integrating rancher knowledge into state-and-transition models. Rangeland Ecology & Management 62:510-521.
41. KNAPP, C. N., M. E. FERNáNDEZ-GIMÉNEZ, AND E. KACHERGIS. 2010. The role of local knowledge in state-and-transition model development. Rangelands 32(6):31-36.
42. KRISTJANSON, P., R. S. REID, N. DICKSON, W. C. CLARK, D. ROMNEY, R. PUSKUR, S.MACMILLIAN, AND D. GRACE. 2009. Linking international agricultural research knowledge with action for sustainable development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:5047-5052.
43. LEISHER, C., S. HESS, T.M. BOUCHER, P. VAN BEUKERING, AND M. SANJAYAN. 2012. Measuring the impacts of community-based grasslands management in Mongolia's Gobi. PLoS ONE 7:e30991.
44. LIU, Y. Y., J. P. EVANS, M. F. MCCABE, R. A. M. DE JEU, A. I. J. M. VAN DIJK, A. J. DOLMAN, AND I. SAIZEN. 2013. Changing climate and overgrazing are decimating Mongolian steppes. PLoS One 8:e57599.
45. MARIN, A. 2010. Riders under storms: contributions of nomadic herders' observations to analyzing climate change in Mongolia. Global Environmental Change 20:162-176.
46. MAU, G., AND G. CHANTSALKHAM. 2006. Herder group evaluation, policy options for the government of Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: UNDP Sustainable Grasslands Program.
47. NYONG, A., F. ADESINA, AND B. OSMAN ELASHA. 2007. The value of indigenous knowledge in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies the African Sahel.Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 12:787-797.
48. OBA, G. 2001. The importance of pastoralists' indigenous coping strategies for planning drought management in the arid zone of Kenya. Nomadic Peoples 5:89-119.
49. OBA, G. 2012. Harnessing pastoralists' indigenous knowledge for rangeland management: three African case studies. Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 2:1.
50. OBA, G., E. SJAASTAD, AND H. G. ROBA. 2007. Framework for participatory assessment and implementation of global environmental conventions at the community level. Land Degradation and Development 19:65-76.
51. PELLANT, M., D. PYKE, P. SHAVER, AND J. E. HERRICK. 2005. Interpreting indicators of rangeland health. Denver, CO, USA: Bureau of Land Management. 122 p.
52. REED, M. S., A. J. DOUGILL, AND T. R. BAKER. 2008. Participatory indicator development: what can ecologists and local communities learn from each other? Ecological Applications 18:1253-1269.
53. REYNOLDS, J. F., D. M. STAFFORD SMITH, E. F. LAMBIN, B. L. TURNER II, M. MORTIMORE, S. P. J.BATTERBURY, T. E. DOWNING, H. DOWLATABADI, R. J. FERNáNDEZ, J. E. HERRICK, E. HUBERSANNWALD, H. JIANG, R. LEEMANS, T. LYNAM, F. T. MAESTRE, M. AYARZA, AND B. WALKER. 2007. Global desertification: building a science for dryland development. Science 316:847-851.
54. ROBA, H. G., AND G. OBA. 2009. Community participatory landscape classification and biodiversity assessment and monitoring of grazing lands in northern Kenya. Journal of Environmental Management 90:673-682.
55. SANKEY, T. T., J. B. SANKEY, K. T. WEBER, AND C. MONTAGNE. 2009. Geospatial assessment of grazing regime shifts and sociopolitical changes in a Mongolian rangeland. Rangeland Ecology & Management 62:522-530.
56. SNEATH, D. 1998. State policy and pasture degradation in Inner Asia. Science 281:1147-1148.
57. SOUM STATISTICS. 2011. National Statistical Office of Mongolia. Available at: http://www. nso.mn/v3/index2.php?pagemenu&m-id265&s-id0. Accessed 12 July 2012.
58. STERNBERG, T., R. TSOLMON, N. MIDDLETON, AND D. THOMAS. 2011. Tracking desertification on the Mongolian steppe through NVDI and field-survey data. International Journal of Digital Earth 4:50-64.
59. THOMAS, D. S. G., AND C. TWYMAN. 2004. Good or bad rangeland? Hybrid knowledge, science, and local understandings of the vegetation dynamics in the Kalahari.Land Degradation and Development 15:215-231.
60. UPTON, C. 2008. Social capital, collective action and group formation: developmental trajectories in post-socialist Mongolia. Human Ecology 36:175-188.
61. USUKH, B., AND H. P. BINSWANGER-MKHIZE. 2010. Fostering the sustainable livelihoods of herders inMongolia via collective action. Ulaanbaatar,Mongolia: Selenge Press. 38 p.
62. VENABLE, N. B. H., S. R. FASSNACHT, G. ADYABADAM, S. TUMENJARGAL, M. E. FERNáNDEZGIM ÉNEZ, AND B. BATBUYAN. 2012. Does the length of station record influence the warming trend that is perceived by Mongolian herders near the Khangai Mountains? Pirineos 167:71-88.
63. WARREN, C. A. B., AND T. X. KARNER. 2010. Discovering qualitative methods: field research, interviews and analysis. 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press. 306 p.
64. WHITFORD, W. G., A. G. DE SOYZA, J. W. VAN ZEE, J. E. HERRICK, AND K. M. HAVSTAD. 1998. Vegetation, soil and animal indicators of rangeland health. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 51:179-200.
65. YU, F., K. P. PRICE, J. ELLIS, AND P. SHI. 2003. Response of seasonal vegetation development to climatic variations in eastern central Asia. Remote Sensing of the Environment 87:42-54.
66. ZEMMRICH A., M. MANTHEY, S. ZERBE, AND D. OYUNCHIMEG. 2010. Driving environmental factors and the role of grazing in grassland communities: a comparative study along an altitudinal gradient in Western Mongolia. Journal of Arid Environments 74:1271-1280.