In press: Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies Biodiversity Conservation and Pastoralism in the Tibetan Chang Tang; coexistence or conflict?

The western Tibetan plateau is currently undergoing the initiation of substantial changes in rangeland management associated with China’s drive to develop the western provinces and new land tenure arrangements for pastoralists under the “household responsibility system”. However, this same region of high plateau, encompassing parts of western Qinghai, western Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and the far south of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, has also seen the recent creation of a number of large nature reserves, covering almost 70 % of the high northern Tibetan plateau, called the Chang Tang region. Biodiversity conservation here is focussed on large mammal species such as the Tibetan antelope, wild yak and other herbivores, some of which have seen dramatic reductions in their populations over the past century. Large-scale efforts have been initiated to deter hunting, but the effects of this activity on livelihoods of some of the northernmost pastoralist communities are little-noticed or appreciated. More significant in the long term, however, is that although Tibet’s nomadic herders have coexisted with the various wild species for centuries, current development efforts on the plateau to modernize livestock husbandry will lessen the potential for maintenance of current wild populations, and their unique attributes such as the large-scal