Resource information
The paper begins by outlining Chinese grassland policy in the reform period and then describes key aspects of actual local level arrangements for grassland management. This description is based on the authors’ field studies at different sites on the Tibetan plateau (within Sichuan and Yunnan Province and the Tibetan Autonomous Region) and Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Region1. A considerable difference between grassland policy and local-level arrangements is found, and the next section justifies these arrangements in terms of the social, ecological and economic context. The case is put that although the existing forms of community based management are not without problems, institutional change should be based on their improvement, and the results of a pilot programme in Gansu Province is used to illustrate this. Finally, recent developments in the legislative framework for grassland tenure are examined.The paper concludes that given the social and ecological context of pastoralism in western China, the continuation of collective and group tenure arrangements and, more broadly, community-based management, is appropriate. However key aspects of grassland policy in the reform period that have not been consistent with this context have failed to be implemented on the ground. The introduction of new land related laws and revision of old ones, offers an opportunity to afford de facto institutional arrangements greater formal legitimacy. Whether this is seized remains to be seen. The best possible outcome is if reforms provide local space for institutional innovation, thus potentially enabling institutional change in a direction that preserves the benefits, and addresses the problems, of existing arrangements.[adapted from authors]
