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Maintaining the health and productivity of rangelands by controlling the livestock stocking rate to remain within carrying capacity is of significance to ensure sustainable management of rangeland ecosystems
. But we know little about the safe carrying capacity in particular rangeland landscapes. This has hampered efforts to use rangelands in a risk-averse manner in fluctuating rainfall environments, and especially in arid and semiarid areas. To address this lack of information, we took Kailash Sacred Landscape in China (KSL-China) as our study site and used remote sensing data, meteorological data and statistical data from 2000 to 2015 to analyze rangeland carrying capacity, stocking rate, and major influencing factors. Rangeland carrying capacity presented an increasing trend, while stocking rate was gradually decreasing, resulting in an increase of carrying rate in the study area. The increased carrying capacity was closely related to increased rainfall. Stocking rate declined owing to government regulations, particularly implementation in 2004 of the national policy of Returning Grazing Land to Grassland. There was a sharp reduction of livestock number below 200 000 standard sheep units (SU) after 2005. The decrease of stocking rate had a stronger effect on rangeland carrying rate than did the increase of carrying capacity. Ecosystem restoration programs have provided subsidies to pastoralists to encourage them to reduce livestock numbers. Our findings suggest that a safe rangeland carrying capacity is ca. 170 000 SU in KSL-China. There is a carrying capacity surplus of ca. 50 000 SU for safe animal husbandry development in the study area. More importantly, future climate warming and increases in grazing may jointly play a key role in affecting rangeland carrying capacity
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Chettri, N. ; Bubb, P.; Kotru, R.; Rawat, G.; Ghate, R.; Murthy, M. S. R.; Wallrapp, C. ; Pauli, H.; Shrestha, A. B.; Mool, P. K.; Chaudhary, D.; Chaudhary, R. P.; Mathur, P. K.; Peili, S.; Ning, W.; Sharma, E.
This publication is an important step in establishing effective long-term environmental and socio-ecological monitoring in the region, which will support efforts by ICIMOD and its partners to fill critical data gaps in the Hindu Kush Himalayas
. The LTESM framework is a long-term transdisciplinary monitoring framework designed for implementation in ICIMOD’s Transboundary Landscapes Regional Programme together with the Centre’s partners in the region. It focuses on improving understanding of spatial and temporal changes to the biodiversity of the HKH, the drivers of these changes, and the consequences of these changes on human wellbeing in the region. By encouraging research institutions, organizations, and individual experts across disciplines to work together, it will support a more holistic understanding of the dynamic mountain ecosystems of the HKH and provide support for evidence-based decision making in the region. The approach also encourages experts to work on long-term collaborative programmes in line with rapidly growing international research networks such as Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments (GLORIA), International Long Term Environmental Research (ILTER), and Global Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO-BON)
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This chapter presents the KSLCI as a case study for adapting and applying ecosystem management approaches that recognise the vital role of communities and traditional customary arrangements
. It also describes and explores the unique cultural context and opportunities for conservation in the KSL and the Hindu Kush-Himalayan area more generally. After situating the reader in the KSL itself, the chapter will: (i) explore the inter-linkages between spiritual, cultural, and environmental values of the landscape; (ii) illustrate a range of customary systems of resource governance and managed in the different KSL areas; (iii) provide an analysis of relationships between customary and statutory systems of natural resource management and governance; and (iv) highlight enabling and inhibiting factors that affect the local realisation of rights and responsibilities. The chapter draws on the extensive and in-depth research and information assembled in a series of KSL baseline surveys and feasibility assessment reports, including traditional knowledge surveys completed in each of the three participating countries and summarised in the KSLCI Feasibility Assessment Repor
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