Publisher's Synopsis
Pastoralism has shaped the steppe environment and been the basis of the indigenous economy of the grasslands of Inner Asia for more than two thousand years, but increasingly vast areas of steppeland are today subject to pasture degradation. This volume explores the question of pastoral economies that have evolved under Russian, Mongolian and Chinese governance, their current trajectories and differing impact on the steppe environment. Contents include the structure and process of land-use in Inner Asia, socio-economic aspects of the pastoral movement of Mongolian herders, Inner Asia grassland degradation and plant transformation, livestock breeding in Mongolia past and present and the division of labour and working conditions of herdsmen in Mongolia.
