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The Tibetan Plateau, which encompasses a vast area in Asia (the majority of southeast and southwest China including the Tibetan Autonomous Region), northwestern Bhutan, northern Nepal, and northwestern India), is one of the most diverse and important landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere
. Being the source of ten major rivers of Asia and having the greatest mass of snow outside the polar regions, the Tibetan Plateau and its adjoining mountain ranges are well known as the “water towers” of Asia, sometimes even referred to as “the Third Pole.” The region is also known for its rich flora and fauna, with a high proportion of endemism and habitat for some of the most charismatic species such as snow leopard (Uncia uncia), brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus), and giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and red panda (Ailurus fulgens), as well as numerous ungulates. The region is also home to thousands of ethnic communities with a rich culture, who are predominantly transhumant pastoralists and migratory herders. However, in recent decades, there has been growing concern about the deteriorating conditions of the vast pastureland and the freshwater resources – the source of livelihood for millions of people as well as habitats for thousands of species. The drivers of such changes are multiple, but the most pressing challenge is the phenomenon of global climate change. Although the region witnessed various cooling and warming phases in past millennia, the rate of recent warming is suggested to be dramatic. Moreover, warming in the Tibetan Plateau has caused significant impacts on its cryospheric components, thereby causing a multitude of impacts on the environment. Here we analyze the importance of the Tibetan Plateau and its adjoining mountain ranges in terms of biodiversity, water resources, and the challenges faced by the vast majority of local people resulting from the effects of changing climate on their subsistence livelihoods
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Together with its partners and regional member countries, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) shares a vision of prosperous and secure mountain communities living in peace, equity, and environmental sustainability
. This vision defines ICIMOD's overall goal: secure and sustainable livelihoods for mountain peoples. ICIMOD's work as a “Mountain Learning and Knowledge Centre” builds on achievements, competence, and lessons that the Centre and its partners have learned over the two preceding decades. ICIMOD is mandated to work in the Hindu Kush–Himalayan (HKH) region, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan
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Grassland degradation in China is widely perceived to be accelerating, and the blame is often placed by government officials and researchers on a supposed “tragedy of the commons
.” Grassland policy seeks to address this through the establishment of household tenure and the derivation and external enforcement of household stocking rates. Drawing upon the authors’ field research at a number of sites in western China, this article argues that the actual tenure situation is not as open access as is commonly implied and that existing forms of community-based management (including collective and small group tenure) are advantageous, given the socioeconomic and ecological context. Among other things, community-based management can facilitate low-cost external exclusion, economies of size in herd supervision, equal access to pastoral resources, the mitigation of environmental risk, and the prompt resolution of grassland-related disputes. Recent innovative attempts to both improve and formalise collective and group tenure arrangements indicate that there is a wide range of different possible grassland tenure-management models available, in addition to the household tenure–household management model emphasized in grassland policy. China’s revised Grassland Law (2003) arguably provides legal space for these alternative models. However, for the future of community-based grassland management to be secure, implementing agencies need to be more aware of these alternative models and have the willingness and capacity to adopt a flexible and participatory approach to grassland policy implementation
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