Nomadic pastoralist’s perceptions for grassland degradation in Töv province, central Mongolia

抄録

The aim of this study is to verify the nomadic perceptions that based on a view of nature environments of the people who use the grassland. In response to the question of what kind of grassland in good condition, 18 households chose that there were many plant species and 15 households chose that there was a large amount of plants. All nomadic pastoralists hoped to restore a degraded grassland basically. In response to the question of how to restore grasslands from degraded condition, 16 households chose that they would restrict and 13 households chose that abandonment. Nomadic pastoralists did not select restoration by forestation, seedling, fertilization and watering. It seems to consider these methods are agricultural acts that not match in their traditional sense of value. Nomadic pastoralists were thinking that if the grasslands in degraded condition were abandoned the number of species and the amount of grass would increase. However, artificial environmental changes that greatly exceed the resilience of nature environments are carried out, then the grasslands will not recover naturally beyond the rules of thumb of nomadic pastoralists. Some nomadic pastoralists were concerned about the financial burden. It means that the development of inexpensive and effective restoration methods for abandoned agricultural land is an urgent issue for nomadic pastoralists. In this study, we were able to clarify some of the values of nomadic pastoralists for grasslands. In order to consider sustainable grassland usage from multiple perspectives, it will be necessary to continue discussions, including the values of stakeholders who are using agricultural land.