Local perceptions of grassland degradation in China: a socio-anthropological reading of endogenous knowledge and institutional credibility

Abstract

As the third contribution in the ‘Land’ section, this paper explores the interactions between institutional credibility and epistemic diversity within grassland management in China’s Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It proceeds in two steps. First, a literature review ascertains that privatization of grassland use rights in Inner Mongolia is contested by a local predisposition for pastoral mobility. Advances in rangeland ecology validate the need for mobility, thus highlighting how pastoralists and policymakers have been evaluating the grasslands not only from unequal positions of power but also on epistemologically contradictory terms. Secondly, through a case study of two villages in Ningxia, it is demonstrated that – under equal circumstances of a Grazing Ban – the rural community that uses grassland primarily as a resource to be converted to agricultural production (thus posing a heavier use on grassland) perceives ecological improvement. Contradictorily, the community that is grassland-dependent for herding or opportunistic dryland farming, and is hampered in that use by land degradation prevention policies, does not perceive improvement. The diverging perceptions of degradation among semi-pastoralist communities examined in this study suggest a more participatory approach towards institution-making can bring closer the knowledge and environmental perceptions of various actors, thus opening up opportunities for more credible institutional arrangements.