| Nomadic Kazaks have herded livestock for centuries in the mountainous regions of Xinjiang in far western China. Increasingly, the constraints outnumber the opportunities for sustainable management of their most important resources, sheep and other livestock. In addition to economic constraints such as declining incomes and increasing costs, as well as limited human capital through insufficient education, nomadic Kazaks are subject to forces beyond their own control. Governmental efforts to stabilize grassland ecologies and economically develop the region contribute additional pressures. The current state agenda promotes fences in the grasslands and the permanent settlement of nomads.;While these measures imply the loss of nomadic migration patterns, they also foreshadow unsustainable grassland resource use. This has overall foreseeable long-term impacts for property rights, and land access. This dissertation analyzes the main development issues confronting Kazak pastoralists, from sheep-raising to meat production, to altered access rights to grasslands. The discussion considers the dynamics that inform the Kazaks' decision-making about the grasslands and their aspirations for the future, including outright emigration to Kazakhstan. The analysis is based on household level data in two counties, in the context of China's vast pastoral regions and China's aspirations for development in the Western Regions. |
