Drylands under pastoral land use are considered one of the most vulnerable social-ecological systems to global climate change,but the herders'abilities to adapt to the different extreme weather events have receive...Drylands under pastoral land use are considered one of the most vulnerable social-ecological systems to global climate change,but the herders'abilities to adapt to the different extreme weather events have received little attention in the drylands.Herders on the Mongolian Plateau(MP;including Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China and Mongolia),have had a long history of adapting climatic variability and extreme weather events.However,it is unclear how changes such as increased levels of infrastructure and market integration affect the ability of herders to achieve the key livelihood objectives:the minimisation of the death and abortion rates of livestock in the winter.Here,we used remotely sensed and household survey data to map,model and explore the climate exposure and sensitivity of herders in the settled area(Inner Mongolia of China)and nomadic area(Mongolia)in the winter of 2012–2013.We aimed to quantify the multi-scaled characteristics of both climate exposure and sensitivity through the lens of key adaptive strategies utilized by herders.Our results showed that the higher levels of infrastructure and market integration,and the lower levels of remoteness on the MP did not increase the herders'ability to achieve the key livelihood objectives.Our results also suggested that exposure to the snow that is comparatively greater than the long-term average(cumulative exposure)may be more important in determining the social-ecological vulnerability than absolute exposure.We suggested that neither the risk management strategies available to these herders,nor the demographic variables,could compensate for the mode of production governing the pastoral systems.Our study could provide further evidence for the complex and scaled nature of climate exposure and sensitivity,and the results imply that any analysis of the relationship among exposure,sensitivity and vulnerability of pastoral households to climate change in the drylands will require a multi-scaled and interdisciplinary approach.展开更多
Recent researches have primarily focused on the relationship between livelihood strategies and livelihood capital,with few empirical studies on the sensitivity of livelihood strategies to livestock production and mark...Recent researches have primarily focused on the relationship between livelihood strategies and livelihood capital,with few empirical studies on the sensitivity of livelihood strategies to livestock production and marketization in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.This study used an income distribution approach to categorize livelihood strategies of the respondents(n=394)into three types,i.e.,herder livelihood strategy(LS1),petty-herder livelihood strategy(LS2),and non-herder livelihood strategy(LS3).Using the multinomial logistic regression model,we compared livestock production and marketization across the three livelihood strategies.Our findings showed that(1)livestock production and marketization tended to favor LS1;(2)an increase in the land asset(contracted and rented grassland)and off-take rate increased the probability of households choosing LS1;(3)stocking rate was higher for LS1;and(4)the higher critical market-related risks perceived by herders were animal price and hay and corn price.Moreover,higher livestock price acted as a deterrent to diversifying into other livelihood strategies(LS2 and LS3).Finally,this study advocates for policies that will promote the land transfer market,adopt modern techniques in animal husbandry,improve the medium for disseminating market information to herders,and provide incentives for long-term livelihood transformation.展开更多
基金This research was funded by the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS-ASTIP-2020-IGR-04)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(71774162)the International Science and Technology Program of China(2016YFE0116400).
文摘Drylands under pastoral land use are considered one of the most vulnerable social-ecological systems to global climate change,but the herders'abilities to adapt to the different extreme weather events have received little attention in the drylands.Herders on the Mongolian Plateau(MP;including Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China and Mongolia),have had a long history of adapting climatic variability and extreme weather events.However,it is unclear how changes such as increased levels of infrastructure and market integration affect the ability of herders to achieve the key livelihood objectives:the minimisation of the death and abortion rates of livestock in the winter.Here,we used remotely sensed and household survey data to map,model and explore the climate exposure and sensitivity of herders in the settled area(Inner Mongolia of China)and nomadic area(Mongolia)in the winter of 2012–2013.We aimed to quantify the multi-scaled characteristics of both climate exposure and sensitivity through the lens of key adaptive strategies utilized by herders.Our results showed that the higher levels of infrastructure and market integration,and the lower levels of remoteness on the MP did not increase the herders'ability to achieve the key livelihood objectives.Our results also suggested that exposure to the snow that is comparatively greater than the long-term average(cumulative exposure)may be more important in determining the social-ecological vulnerability than absolute exposure.We suggested that neither the risk management strategies available to these herders,nor the demographic variables,could compensate for the mode of production governing the pastoral systems.Our study could provide further evidence for the complex and scaled nature of climate exposure and sensitivity,and the results imply that any analysis of the relationship among exposure,sensitivity and vulnerability of pastoral households to climate change in the drylands will require a multi-scaled and interdisciplinary approach.
基金the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Scholarship(2017Y90100124)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(71774162)the National Key Basic Research Program of China(2014CB138806).
文摘Recent researches have primarily focused on the relationship between livelihood strategies and livelihood capital,with few empirical studies on the sensitivity of livelihood strategies to livestock production and marketization in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China.This study used an income distribution approach to categorize livelihood strategies of the respondents(n=394)into three types,i.e.,herder livelihood strategy(LS1),petty-herder livelihood strategy(LS2),and non-herder livelihood strategy(LS3).Using the multinomial logistic regression model,we compared livestock production and marketization across the three livelihood strategies.Our findings showed that(1)livestock production and marketization tended to favor LS1;(2)an increase in the land asset(contracted and rented grassland)and off-take rate increased the probability of households choosing LS1;(3)stocking rate was higher for LS1;and(4)the higher critical market-related risks perceived by herders were animal price and hay and corn price.Moreover,higher livestock price acted as a deterrent to diversifying into other livelihood strategies(LS2 and LS3).Finally,this study advocates for policies that will promote the land transfer market,adopt modern techniques in animal husbandry,improve the medium for disseminating market information to herders,and provide incentives for long-term livelihood transformation.
