The Effect Of Climate Change On Traditional Mongolian Animal Husbandry In Alashan Area, Inner Mongolian

The impact of climate change on traditional knowledge of indigenous and local communities as well as ethnic minorities is internationally becoming a focus of scientific studies. The herdsmen who live in Alashan of Inner Mongolian have their own traditional pasture and husbandry industry and traditional livelihood. They occupy an important place in grassland husbandry in China. The traditional pasture and husbandry industry and traditional livelihoods with their special geographic locations and ecological environment to various degrees are affected by climate change. However, the research is still very weak on climate change and traditional knowledge, and the observations are also very limited. Therefore, this thesis, based on meteorological data analysis and studying the impacts of climate change on Mongolian traditional knowledge, is scientifically and practically significant.Firstly, we studied the variation of annual temperature, precipitation and evaporation as well as variation of temperature, precipitation in January and July of Alashanzuo Banner between1960and2009. This thesis also includes statistical analysis of extreme climatic events in last50years. Meanwhile, we choose pasture and domestic animal husbandry as research focus. We used participatory observation, interviews, surveys and quadrant research methods to analyze the factual quality of effect of climate change on Mongolian traditional pasture and husbandry industry. Finally, we choose herdsmen for research:we used questionnaire methods to analyze the impacts of climate change on traditional livelihoods.The main conclusions were as follows:a. Climate change in the Alashan area is characterized by a temperature increase but precipitation reduction, particularly after the1990s. The temperature of this area has increased remarkably and the drought has worsened markedly, with frequent occurrence of sandstormsb. For pasture, its species and pasture climate potential productivity in the research area has been decreased with moisture as the primary limiting factor. For domestic animals, the traditional breed structure has become simplistic and livestock numbers are decreasing. Meanwhile, extreme climatic event will cause changes in quantity, quality and reproduction of livestock, as well as the pests and diseases on pasture and animals, and the impact of extreme weather condition was more obviously than long-term climate change,c. Mongolian herdsmen changed their traditional nomadic lifestyle into modern sedentary lifestyle. With climate change and extreme weather in Alashan area, some of traditional food culture and traditional industries are replaced by modern culture and industries. In a word, on Alashan steppe all of the three factors of the complex ecosystem constituted by herdsmen, pasture and domestic animals, have been effected by climate change.Finally, we pointed out some shortcomings of research methods and data of the study and recommend possible ways to solve the problems when much-needed more detailed future work is carried out.