Chuan Liao

Insufficient research on land grabbing.

Over the past decade, an unprecedented boom in land transactions—commonly referred to as land grabbing—has occurred globally. At least 45 million hectares of land have changed hands through concessions, long-term leases, and ownership transfers ([ 1 ][1], [ 2 ][2]). Driven by volatility in

Socioenvironmental Threats to Pastoral Livelihoods: Risk Perceptions in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China

Subjective risk perceptions give rise to unique policy implications as they reflect both the expectation of risk exposure and the ability to mitigate or cope with the adverse impacts. Based on data collected from semistructured interviews and iterative ranking exercises with 159 households in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, this study investigates and explains the risks with respect to a seriously understudied population and location. Using both geostatistical and econometric methods, we show that although fear of environmental crisis is prevalent among our respondents, recently implemented pastoral conservation, sedentarization, and development projects are more likely to be ranked as the top concerns among affected households. In order to reduce these concerns, future pastoral policy must be built on the livestock economy, and intervention priority should be given to the geographic areas identified as risk hot spots. In cases where pastoralists have to give up their pastures, the transition to other comparable livelihood strategies must be enabled by creating new opportunities and training pastoralists to acquire the needed skills.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of cattle behavior and resource selection patterns on East African rangelands: evidence from GPS-tracking

ABSTRACT Characterizing cattle behavior is crucial to inferring fine-scale resource selection patterns and improving rangeland management. However, our understanding of cattle behavior and resource selection on the extensive African rangelands suffers from a lack of quantitative, continuous and inter-seasonal monitoring of cattle movement. Based on integration of GPS-tracking and field observations, this study links cattle behavioral types with statistical parameters of movement, analyzes spatiotemporal dynamics of behavior and predicts resource selection patterns in Borana Zone of southern Ethiopia. We find that different cattle behavioral types were associated with distinct ranges of movement velocity. Distribution of identified cattle behavior varied substantially within the day and along the distance gradient from camp locations. Vegetation greenness, topography, study site, herding strategy and season were dominant factors influencing foraging areas selection by cattle. Research findings suggested that extensive herding through camp relocation can promote forage uptake while reducing energy spent on traveling. Future modeling of cattle resource selection needs to be based on longer-term GPS-tracking data and incorporate additional social, environmental, institutional and cultural factors to better interpret the complexity associated with cattle behavior in extensive grazing systems.

Pastoralist adaptation practices under non-governmental development interventions in Southern Ethiopia

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been playing important roles in facilitating pastoralist adaptation; however, focussed studies have yet to examine whether and how NGO interventions generate viable opportunities for adaptation and development in pastoral communities. This paper analyses how Boran pastoralists cope with various socio-environmental risks under NGO interventions in southern Ethiopia. We find that pastoralist adaptation practices under NGO development interventions enhanced diversification, communal pooling, storage, and market access, but compromised mobility. Changes in pastoralists’ pursuit of livelihoods facilitated alternative adaptation, but such changes risked exacerbating rangeland degradation, reinforcing dependence on external aid, and weakening indigenous institutions. We thus conclude by arguing for more conscious interventions that can mitigate risks without negatively influencing the wellbeing of human subjects and ecosystems.

Bush encroachment dynamics and rangeland management implications in southern Ethiopia

Abstract Rangelands in southern Ethiopia have been undergoing a rapid regime shift from herbaceous to woody plant dominance in the past decades, reducing indigenous plant biodiversity, altering ecosystem function, and threatening subsistence pastoralism. Despite significant rangeland management implications, quantification of spatial encroachment extent and transitional pathways that result in encroachment remain largely under‐explored. This paper develops a phenology‐based approach to map rangeland vegetation states in southern Ethiopia, and examines transition pathways among states using the state‐and‐transition model. The results indicate that nearly 80% of landscape was dominated by woody plants in 2013. While stable encroached states have been established in both high and low lands through different transition pathways between 2003 and 2013, we identified spatial locations where bush encroachment occurred rapidly. The multiplicity in the transition pathways indicates opportunities for positive transformation in the entire rangeland system in southern Ethiopia and other semi‐arid regions of Africa.

Chinese–African encounters in high-tech sectors: Comparative investigation of Chinese workplace regimes in Ethiopia

Studies on China–Africa co†operation have revealed increasing diversification of Chinas on†the†ground practices in Africa. However, engaged research has yet to examine the situated experiences of Chinese and African individuals whose activities shape and are shaped by Chinese multinationals, especially those in the growing yet underexplored high†tech sectors. To address this gap, this article investigates the workplace regimes of two Chinese companies in Ethiopia. Using a mixed†method approach, it articulates the contradictory nature of Chinese investment and its diverse manifestations in work relations between Chinese expatriates and local Ethiopians. Our findings suggest that Chinese and Ethiopian employees are proactive yet constrained agents in exploiting work opportunities for their own economic interests and professional development.

Resilience of what to what? Evidence from pastoral contexts in East Africa and Central Asia

Abstract This article draws upon comparative case studies of pastoral societies in East Africa and Central Asia to operationalise the theory of socio-ecological resilience. We first derive a local and subjective definition of resilience based on focus group discussions with pastoralists in Borana, Ethiopia and Altay, Xinjiang, China. Pastoralists generally believe that pastoral resilience means the maintenance of decent household welfare, i.e. a viable number of livestock and freedom for livelihood diversification. Hence, three surrogate indicators for pastoral resilience are proposed, which are livestock mobility, land use patterns and livelihood diversification. We further explore the challenges to pastoral resilience in the two contexts, including environmental stresses and external development interventions. By investigating ‘resilience of what’ and ‘resilience to what’, we show that the operationalisation of pastoral resilience must be context specific. In addition, we argue that careful balance between livestock herding and livelihood diversification is necessary to enhance socio-ecological resilience in the pastoral context.

Sociocultural and Ecological Systems of Pastoralism in Inner Asia: Cases from Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia in China and the Pamirs of Badakhshan, Afghanistan

In pastoral societies, economic and ecological aims are not necessarily in conflict. These societies, through mobility, engage different ecological niches as a livelihood strategy. Specific case studies from Inner Asia indicate that instead of seeking to replace pastoralism as an ecological profession through forced sedentarization, governments should seek to enhance its historically proven potential for food and livelihood security. The case from the Altay Mountains and the Tian Shan documents the effect of sedentarizing pastoral communities, resulting in the removal of sociocultural and ecological diversity, with profound consequences on income. It is an example of the central government asserting administrative authority in the name of ecological restoration while pursuing strictly an instrumental agenda of economic extraction of key renewable and nonrenewable resources. The case from Inner Mongolia shows increased economic and ecological vulnerability of pastoral societies caused by government-induced sedentarization programs but also illustrates the adaptive capacity of pastoral institutions under such policies. The final case, from the Pamirs, shows that under conditions of political and economic stress, interactions between diverse ecological professions such as farmers and herders is central to livelihood and food security through mutual dependence. It is the basis for survival.

Does Diversification Translate into Improved Livelihoods? Evidence from Pastoral Households in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China

Diversification is routinely promoted to improve poor rural peoples’ livelihoods. However, policy recommendations for livelihood diversification developed based on evidence from crop-cultivating sedentary rural societies may not work for the mobile pastoral communities, where socio-ecological conditions predetermine livestock herding as the preferred livelihood strategy. Using survey and semi-structured interview data collected from 159 households in the Altay and Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang, China, this study applies cluster analysis to identify six distinct livelihood strategies: pastoralists, agropastoralists, crop farmers, wage labourers, hired herders, and mixed smallholders. Although pastoralism is least diverse by considering sources of income, it is significantly more diverse in ecological dimensions in terms of spatial movement, land use pattern, and livestock portfolio. Patterns of livelihood diversification and their relationship with household incomes indicate that pastoralism, although preferred, is unattainable for 55 per cent of households given their meagre asset endowments and government policy pressures toward sedentarisation. The results strongly suggest that livelihood diversification does not improve welfare for pastoral households. Future development interventions should promote policies that enable households to regain flexible access to pastures and to help correct the imbalance of opportunities that exists in northern Xinjiang.