Conflicts Between Nomads And Wildlife In Chang Tang Region

The conflict between humans and wildlife is a global issue.In the process of global transformation from natural landscapes to man-made landscapes,the competition for living space and resources between humans and wildlife has reached an unprecedented level,and caused the conflict between humans and wildlife.The essence of human-wildlife conflict lies in the increasing trend of the utilization of natural resources such as land,forest,grassland and water resource.When the needs and behaviors of wildlife have a negative impact on human goals,or when human targets have a negative impact on the demand for wildlife,humans and wildlife collide.The deepening conflict between humans and wildlife has become one of the greatest threats to the survival of many species.Thus,the search for a solution to the conflict has played a vital role in wildlife conservation.Located in the northern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region,the Chang Tang Plateau is the most rugged and barren area of the Tibetan Plateau.But there are a variety of large wild herbivorous mammals,such as the Tibetan antelope,Tibetan gazelle,Tibetan wild ass and Wild yak,as well as large carnivorous wildlife,such as snow leopard,brown bear and wolves.After the 1960 s,forced by the pressure of the population,the government encouraged nomads to migrate northward to the no man's land in Chang Tang for livestock production and to settle there.The nomads' northward migration in the Chang Tang area invaded the best habitat for wildlife and began to clash with wildlife,while overgrazing also caused grassland degradation.Grassland contract responsibility system and the project of returning grazing land to grassland were successively implemented to curb the further degradation of the grassland with a large number of fences built on the grasslands.In order to curb the further degradation of grasslands,the grassland contract responsibility system,and project of returning grazing land to grassland,which were constructed by fencing were implemented successively.But the construction of the fence has led to the fragmentation of the grassland and reduced the living space of the wildlife,meanwhile,the utilization of grassland resources of the nomads has gradually changed with the construction of the fence,which has aggravated the humanwildlife conflict.In the past decade,however,there has been a lack of relevant research.Therefore,it is necessary to carry out a study on the utilization of grassland resources and the conflict between humans and wildlife in Chang Tang area,so as to provide good advice for the government to adopt wildlife conservation measures scientifically and formulate animal husbandry development policy.In view of this,Shenchen Township of Gertse County is selected as the research area.Then the utilization of grassland resources and the human-wildlife conflicts are explored under the background of the nomadic north migration.From August to September 2017,the research team traveled to Shenchen Township to carry out a semi-structured questionnaire survey on the pastures management patterns of pastoralist and human-wildlife conflicts in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.A total of 109 questionnaires were obtained from the survey,all of which were valid questionnaires.The total sample size accounted for about one-third of the total number of households.In addition,we obtained the major ungulate species,numbers and distributions of Shenchen Township by vehicle transect method.Then through field reconnaissance in the wild we obtained the distribution of the residential area,fences and roads.Finally,using statistical analysis,the grassland resources of nomads,the construction of fences,the distribution of wildlife,human-wildlife conflicts and conflict coordination measures was analyzed in detail.Suggestions for reducing human-wildlife conflict and realizing wildlife protection are proposed.The results are as follows:(1)Shenchen Township has a single economic structure,which is mainly based on animal husbandry.The per capita grassland area is large.Livestock are mainly sheep and goats,and most of nomads graze through group-household grassland management.The range of grassland in the study area was wide,and the overall quality of the grassland was good.However,more than one third of the grassland had been degraded to different degrees.Rat and poisonous grass were the main causes of degradation.(2)Chang Tang Plateau has its own unique species,mainly including: Tibetan antelopes,Tibetan wild asss,Tibetan gazelles,wild yaks,snow leopards,brown bears and wolfs.There are three kinds of ungulates in Shenchen Township.Tibetan antelopes mainly inhabit areas of Bare Lake and north of the area.Among them,Aru Lake is the main distribution area of Tibetan antelopes.The habitats of Tibetan wild asss and Tibetan gazelles are mainly in the south of Bare Lake,and near the Lake Bare Lake is the overlapping habitats of the three types of ungulate wildlife.(3)The pressure of population and the increase of livestock have caused the nomads in Chang Tang area to migrate to the north,which led to the emergence of grassland degradation and humanwildlife conflicts problems.The grassland contract responsibility system and ecological projects such as the project of returning grazing land to grassland have been implemented in succession.A large number of fences have been built on grasslands to ease the degradation of grasslands,leading to the fragmentation of wildlife habitat,causing more serious human-animal conflicts.(4)There are mainly five manifestations of conflicts between the nomads and wildlife in Shen Chen Township,including the killing of livestock by carnivores,the attacking of houses and tents by brown bears,the disturbance of normal pastoral production and the abduction of female yaks by wild male yaks,Attack on nomads and competing for pasture resources between herbivorous wildlife and livestock.Among them,the most serious conflicts are competing for pasture resources between herbivorous wildlife and livestock and the killing of livestock by carnivores.(5)The construction of fences has a huge impact on the survival of herbivorous wildlife.The adverse effects of fencing on wildlife include: fences can harm wildlife,cause the fragmentation of wildlife habitat,cut off wild animals' grass roads and waterways,cut off the migratory routes of Tibetan antelope,and help drive away wild animals and reduce their living space.(6)Compensation is the main measure to alleviate the human-wildlife conflicts in Shen Chen Township.The government has paid some compensation for livestock death,food plunder,furniture destruction and life damage caused by wildlife.Although the construction of the fence can alleviate the conflict between grazing animals and livestock for pasture,it has brought great obstacles to the wildlife protection work.Building fences is therefore not an effective way to mitigate conflicts.