The diversity of species in this little corner of the Tibetan Plateau is impressive, but under threat.
A naturalist today would be hard pressed to name a truly wild paradise, yet the rugged mountains, isolated valleys and steppes of the Kunlun Mountains, on the Tibetan plateau, are exactly thajtj The accounts of 19th-century travellers speakofthe fabulous wealth of wildlife on die plateau. On his first visit to Tibet in 1872, the Russian explorer Przewalski estimated that the southern slopes of the Kunlun Mountains may have supported millions of wild yak. After travelling across the Kunlun range in the 1880s, the American explorer Rockhill described the upper Yellow River as “the most wonderful hunting ground in Asia”. Sadly, wildlife has since diminished drastically but for the most isolated areas on the plateau. Worse still, the survival of these few sanctuaries are threatened.
The Kunlun range, nearly as high and Ion ger than the Himalaya, defines the northern edge of the Tibetan plateau as does the Himalaya its southern border. Stretching almost 2000 km, from the Pamirs in the west to Mount Amnye Machin in the east, the Kunlun Mountains separate the Tibetan plateau from the desert expanses of the Tarim and Qaidam Basins. This immense mountain landscape is one of Asia´s largest wilderness and one of the plateau´s last refuges for wildlife.
Today, the best refuges for the great herds of wild yak, wild ass, Tibetan antelope and argali are in the Kunlun Mountains, west of the Golmud-Lhasa highway. This is the highest, most remote and inaccessible part of the Tibetan plateau, the so-called Changtang, or “northern plains”, of Tibet. The Changtang steppe is a cold, arid grassland with a backdrop of rugged mountain ranges. Most of the region is above 4000 metres. It is virtually impossible for the urban eye to comprehend the magnitude and wildness of these grasslands. The Changtang covers some 600 000 sq. km, an area the size of France. There are no roads and habitation is limited to a few thousand herders living on the fringe of the wilderness.
There are Tibetan antelope, which can migrate hundreds of miles between their winter and summer ranges. There are lush meadows where herds of hundreds of wild yak graze and rolling grasslands that sustain large bands of wild ass, or kyang, and graceful Tibetan gazelle. Huge flocks of argali, the world´s largest and rarest species of sheep, graze undisturbed in this pristine mountain landscape.
In Qinghai province, to the west of the Kunlun Pass and the Golmud-Lhasa highway, lies Wild Yak Valley, one of the most important refuges for wild yak on the plateau. The main valley is drained by the Kunlun River which flows northward for 150 km into the Qaidam Basin. Mountains to the south of the valley rise to 6000 m and are covered with glaciers whose melt-waters nourish extensive, lush, sedge meadows on the lower slopes. The valley floor, evenat elevations of 3500 to4200metres´, contains areas of productive grassland. Wildlife thrive on the diverse vegetation of Wild Yak Valley.
As part of a cooperative wildlife research project between the University of Montana, in the US, and the Northwest Plateau Institute of Biology at Xining, in Qinghai Province, I worked on wildlife surveys of Wild Yak Valley in 1990 and 1991. Given that even a few years agopeople were unsure of whether wild yak still existed on the plateau, we were amazed to count more than 1000 wild yaks in an area of 500 sqkm. We saw herds of up to 400 wild yaks. The Valley is an exceptional sanctuary for other wildlife, too. In addition to wild ass, Tibetan gazelle, Tibetan antelope, blue sheep, and argali, there are white-lippeddeer, lynx, wolves, marmots, pikas, Tibetan fox, red fox, snow leopard and browabear. The diversity of species in this little cbrner of the Tibetan Plateau is truly impressive. But this remarkable refuge is under increasing threat.
Although unregulated hunting is now illegal in Tibet, poachers still take significant numbers of antelope, gazelle, and blue sheep. But wild yak are also being killed. The main threat is from meat hunters who, armed with high-powered rifles, penetrate hundreds of kilometres into remote areas. They kill large numbers of animals to supply the meat markets of outlying towns.
Tibetan antelope, prized for their cashmere-like wool, are also prime targets for hunters. There is a large market for animal products, which form a significant part of the Chinese traditional pharmacopoeia. Such unregulated hunting-can destroy this precious resource and should be brought under strict control. Gold miners and petroleum geologists pose yet another threat to wildlife and habitat.
Nor is poaching the only problem in this unique landscape. Inappropriate management techniques have also damaged some rangelands. The steppes of northeast Tibet were long recognised as the best of Asia´s grasslands, providing a livelihood from herding where the high elevation makes agriculture impossible. Nobody knows when pastoralism first established itself on the plateau butit was certainly widespread by the 6th century. Nomadic pastoralists have coexisted on these grasslands for thousands of years, moving their herds of yaks, horses and sheep across the landscape in a pre-set pattern that carefully prevented overgrazing the pastures. Every three years the herders would take a livestock census, and reallocate grazing land to ensure that pastures could adequately recuperate. The fact that the rangelands of Tibet still support viable pastoral cultures and wildlife today bears witness to the remarkable diversity and resilience of these grasslands, as well as to the sus tainability of wise use.
This important system of reallocating pasture ended when policies introduced in the early 1960s gave communes responsibility for rangeland management. By the early 1980s, China introduced a hew system of management which viewed the household, rather than the commune, as the basic unit of production. Although households resumed responsibility for the production and marketing of livestock — as in the pre-comm une era—the practice of pasture Tcallocation was not re instituted.
Population growth in the Qaidam basin, just north of the Kunlun Mountains, has been dramatic in the past 20 years. This, coupled with better communications and transport, has contributed to raising the demand for meat and livestock products. The introduction of consumer goods and services and an open market pricing structurehas been accompanied by rapid increases in prices of livestock products such as wool and cashmere, the nomad´s main livestock products. Although most pastoralists now enjoy a better life than two decades ago, does the new system provide any incentive to conserve the rangelands and their extraordinary productivity?
Pastoral in Tibet was a surviv al strategy for life in a harsh environment. The components of the ecosystem — the people, livestock and vegetation — have been subjected to selective pressures over, perhaps, two thousand years. Consequently, the ecological characteristics of all the actors on these rangelands are the result of centuries of complex interactions. The processes that formed the unique ecosystems of the Changtang demand much more study.
In northern Tibet, an areaof 240 000 sq km was recently designated as the Changtang Reserve. This huge, largely uninhabited area is an important refuge for wildlife, especially for wild y ak ai id Tibc Uin an telope. Recommendations have also been made to extend the Changtang Reserve 50,000 sq km further west, to include critical antelope lambing and Wild Yak habitat. Along with the Arjin Reserve to the north, in Xinjiang Province, the proposed addition and the Changtang Reserve itself, an area of almost 335,000 sq km would be set aside for wildlife.
There is presently no wildlife reserve in western Qinghai province despite the fact that the Kunlun Mountains were historically sacred to the Chinese. The Changtang reserve could also be extended to include die area south of Che northern limit of the Kunluns and west of the Golmud-Lhasa Highway,, in Qinghai Province. This area would include the Wild Yak Valley, which contains exceptional biological diversity, as well as the unexplored Kolcoshili Mountains and the headwaters of the YangtzeRiver. Inventories of the wildlife and surveys of habitats would identify areas demanding special protection. Although most wild animals are protected by law, wildlife protection officials have limited resources to combat poaching. Agencies responsible for managing wildlife need considerable assistance´ and training to effectively conserve the range and wildlife resources of the plateau.
Eco-tourism offers potential jobs for local people and would help them to realize the economic value of wildlife. Trophy-hunting, if strictly controEed, helps to maintain desirable populations of large ungulates and could provide additionalincome for local herders as well. Local people co uld be recruited for jobs in conserv ation, management, and sustainable use of natural resources. Such ao environment would engender economic rationality, instil awareness´, promote a sense of responsibility and encourage local participation in development.
The recent history of the plateau, particularly the negative impact of systems of management imposed from the outside, emphasize the folly of intervening without a clear understanding of the ecosystems. Modern systems of livestock production developed in the West for the Western prairies may be just as inappropriate for the Changtang as were the introduction of recent Chinese management systems. Detailed studies of the rangelands and investigations of pastoral production systems could identify those traditional practices that are useful and suggest which modern practices were most appropriate to complement them. It is certainly clear that conserving the biological diversity on the Tibetan Plateau depends on the cooperation and support of the local pastoralists. The social and economic needs of the herders must be reconciled with management of the rangetands and conservation of wildlife.
The grasslands of Tibet need not lose their wealth of flora and fauna nor their unique pastoral cultures. Their futures lie in the hands of conservationists and development planners willing and able to devise programmes that are sensitive to this unique ecosystem.
