Rangelands- a complex environment- are more than just a resource to sustain livestock. This paper focuses on policy changes in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, located in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan. Little effort has been made to monitor the impacts of such policies on either the environment or the people most affected. The paper, based on participatory action research carried out, concludes that the potential for rangeland and pastoral development is vast, given that certain pastoral friendly policies are put into place that facilitate a slow and sustainable trend towards market- oriented enterprises on the Plateau.
