Historical and Institutional Overview of the Enclosure Process

This Work package documents contemporary land holding and land use patterns, and describes the history of enclosure at each study site. It will describe the project study areas in terms of four different stages of enclosure: 1) complete open-range - with seasonal movement between pastures; 2) partial communal enclosure over winter and summer; 3) partial private enclosure over winter; 4) sedentary and enclosed year-round. It is predicted that the extent of enclosure in different areas will reflect the interaction of three causal factors: access to markets, degree of administrative pressure to build fenced enclosures, and the intrinsic productivity of different rangeland areas.
 
Research outputs will include:

• Maps of the ownership of infrastructure, range enclosures and water points relevant to livestock management at the field sites;
  
• Descriptions of the written laws, administrative procedures and informal codes that govern the ownership and control of key resources;
  
• Quantifiable data on flock sizes and movements and pastoralists’ own estimates of grazing pressure, stocking rates and the impact of mobility on rangeland condition;
  
• Reconstructions of the history of enclosure at each study site using official records and oral accounts from key informants;
  
• Synthesises of the information available in international scientific publications on rangeland enclosure in western China;
  
• A conceptual model of the enclosure process on the Tibetan plateau. 

Anthropological and socio-economic field methods will be combined with the use of official data, formal survey techniques, and GIS mapping procedures.