Climate Change, Rangelands, and Sustainability of Ranching in the Western United States

Accelerated climate change is a global challenge that is increasingly putting pressure on the sustainability of livestock production systems that heavily depend on rangeland ecosystems. Rangeland management practices have low potential to sequester greenhouse gases. However, mismanagement of rangelands and their conversion into ex-urban, urban, and industrial landscapes can significantly exacerbate the climate change process. Under conditions of more droughts, heat waves, and other extreme weather events, management of risks (climate, biological, financial, political) will probably be more important to the sustainability of ranching than capability to expand output of livestock products in response to rising demand due to population growth. Replacing traditional domestic livestock with a combination of highly adapted livestock and game animals valued for both hunting and meat may be the best strategy on many arid rangelands. Eventually, traditional ranching could become financially unsound across large areas if climate change is not adequately addressed. Rangeland policy, management, and research will need to be heavily focused on the climate change problem.

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO THREATS AND THREAT SEVERITY OF ADAMAWA RANGELANDS, NIGERIA

This study was undertaken to assess threats, rangeland susceptibility to threats and their severity in Adamawa rangelands, Northeast Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were used to elicit information from both pastoralists and the management of the range sites. Data on threats factors was analysed using the following indices: prevalent threat, range sites susceptibility, the mean score of threat factors and the relative threat factor severity. Threats to biodiversity, their prevalence and the number of range sites they occurred showed that invasion by undesirable plants, over-exploitation of forage resources, and bush fires occurred in the three range sites with 100% prevalent threat indices. Diseases and pests, conflicts and settlement policy problems occurred in two of the range sites with 66.7% prevalent threat indices. While farmer encroachment, erosion drought, population increase, poaching and problems associated with rangeland policies occurred in one of the range sites with prevalent threat indices of 33.3%. The threats with the highest severity indices include over-exploitation of forage resources, conflicts, invasion by undesirable plant species, drought, diseases and pests. Others are settlement policy, population increase, bush fire and rangeland policy. Planned burning combined with reseeding of the range sites should be carried out to improve on the composition and abundance of forage resources of the rangelands.

The Clash over State and Collective Property: The Making of the Rangeland Law

“Do you have some material about rangeland laws and regulations in the West? It does not matter from which country, we urgently need some material to give us new ideas about rangeland management,” asked Li Derong, the highest ranking official responsible for rangeland policy formulation in China. His question illustrates three points. First, it shows that on the way to becoming a market economy, after more than two decades China is still very much constructing, amending and reconstructing a viable and solid system for grassland management. Secondly, it is indicative of the growing awareness within the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture that rangeland policy as it emerged after the demise of the people's communes in the 1980s is ripe for revision. Finally, it suggests an interest in examining and learning from the experience of other countries, particularly in the West.