kegawa herders cooperative
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KEGAWA HERDERS’ COOPERATIVE – ENHANCING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION IN THE YANGTZE RIVER HEADWATERS
Herder Cooperatives in the Tibetan Plateau region
DR J MA R C FO G G I N
M O U N T A I N S O C I E T I E S R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ASIA
http://blog.sina.com.cn/kegawa
Kegawa Herders Cooperative Established by Tibetan herders in the Yushu area to produce and sell livestock products, to help provide employment and generate income for local community members in ecologically sound ways. Founded with the support of
© kora 2016
Launching the Cooperative
! Following a ‘study tour’ to Mongolia in 2008, in which our team observed positive development outcomes from… ! Increased access to credit (micro-finance), ! Improved confidence through tourism ventures, ! Communities strengthened through collaborations, and ! Improved grassland environmental conditions…
! Our senior field staff in Xining decided to encourage the trial establishment of a community cooperative
This launched the process of developing the community-based Kegawa Herders Cooperative in Qinghai province
Three Rivers’ Headwaters (Sanjiangyuan)
! Source areas of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong rivers ! High wetlands & rangelands ! Yak and sheep husbandry ! Development policies and ‘modernization’ ! Sanjiangyuan nat’l nature reserve (c. 153,000 km2)
Tibet Autonomous Region
Under Golmud Administration
Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Tsonub Mongolian and
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Dechen Tibetan AP
MiliTibetan AC
Kartse Tibetan AP
Ngawa Tibetan and
Qiang AP
Tsojang Tibetan AP
Tsolho Tibetan AP
Golog Tibetan AP
Pari TibetanAC
Haidong Prefecture
Kanlho Tibetan
AP
MalhoTibatan
AP
Xining City and District
T I B E T A U T O N O M O U S R E G I O N
Q I N G H A IG A N S U
Y U N N A N
S I C H U A N
China
India
Kazakhstan Mongolia
Myanmar
Thailand
Pakistan
Nepal
Philippines
South Korea
Area ofdetail
Kilometers
0 2,000Russia
Source: Boundary (Marshall and Cooke, Tibet Outside the TAR, 1997) Satellite Image (NASA), 2004©Tsering Wangyal Shawa, Princeton University, 2008
Location Map
TIBET
Lhasa
Miles0 150 300
Kilometers0 200 400
X I N J I A N G
INN E R M ONG O L I A
NINGXIA
AP Autonomous PrefectureAC Autonomous County
Provincial Boundary
Tibetan Cultural Area
Tibetan Plateau • Tibet Autonomous
Region (TAR) • Qinghai Province • Gansu Province • Sichuan Province • Yunnan Province
Sanjiangyuan Region .
Collaborative approach as ‘middle ground’
At both ends of the spectrum: ! National plans – ‘one size fits all’ does not allow for adequate
adaptation, social-ecological realities may be ignored, some change is needed in resource governance
! Household responsibility – personal advantage may take precedence, increasing disparities, social instability
Governance of the middle ground: ! Community level governance – development processes may be slower, but resulting change will be deeper and longer lasting – economic outcomes also may be strengthened by social benefits
Kegawa Herders Cooperative
! Started with ~40 households; now with over 90 households ! Main goal: strengthening community cooperation and
cohesion, providing access for members to variety of new (previously unavailable) development options; embedded in ecological context
© Kegawa
Kegawa Herders Cooperative
! Market research undertaken – local and regional ! Favorable policy environment – coops, conservation ! Community chosen focus on ‘ecological’ livestock products
! Raw materials, in particular yak wool ! Value-add products, e.g. handicrafts
© Kegawa
! Ecotourism, including community-based service provision (with training opportunities); clean-up
! Handicraft development ! Shop and library in town ! Environmental monitoring
Kegawa Herders Cooperative
Development of community-based tourism: ! Destination marketing (regional approach, equity)
Outcomes ! Diversification of livelihoods (enhanced resilience), increased
income, capacity development, enhanced sense of community
! Raising awareness of government authorities ! Potential role of tourism for poverty
alleviation, conservation, etc. ! Introduction of cultural tourism
and ‘adventure’ tourism ! Kite flying festival, traditional
archery, river rafting, nature tourism
Kegawa Herders Cooperative
© Kegawa
! Environmental monitoring ! Snowline is rising ! Flowers are earlier ! Wildlife is monitored
K2 Partnership Kegawa-kora (K2) Partnership http://www.kora.net/
! Our goal is to help the people and ecology of the Himalayas to thrive. By sourcing yak wool from nomadic herders on the Qinghai Tibet plateau, we help them to adapt to change while also maintaining their culture, knowledge and traditions.
! Kegawa Annual General Meeting (AGM) ! 52 of 92 households attended annual general
meeting in December 2015
! Annual profits are shared as dividends to members, top-up of core fund, social fund © Jesse Montes
The kora vision…
! A mutually beneficial partnership with a socially driven business
! Empowerment of local herders as partners ! Generating revenues through wool purchase and
seasonal employment ! Raising awareness through the brand's marketing
activities
K2 Partnership
Resilience to Climate Change
Outcomes of coop establishment
! Diversified local economies, with a variety of livelihood options available to herders
! Decreased dependence on livestock For example, community-beneficial tourism / ecotourism, banking on a diversity of cultural and natural resources
! Greater returns on investment ! Value add on products ! Capacity building
Environmental Conservation
Kegawa ‘working groups’ include
! Education and awareness raising ! Grassland and wildlife monitoring teams
These can serve as a model for mutually beneficial partnerships with protected areas and other environmental authorities
! Ecological husbandry (livestock management) ! Handicraft development (training, value-add) ! Garbage collection (e.g. after local festivals)
LESSONS LEARNED
Collaborative Governance (1)
! Conservation outcomes sometimes are best achieved through ‘human’ solutions (rather than focusing on technical solutions or strictly biological knowledge)
! Socio-economic aspirations may be leveraged for integrated development and conservation outcomes
LESSONS LEARNED
Collaborative Governance (2)
! The development of sound (i.e. genuine, trusting) partnerships is essential for sustainable change to take place – see, e.g., the Kegawa-kora vision
! Enabling and supportive policy environments are necessary to allow for safe and creative trialing of new development models in mountain regions
Empowering farmers and pastoralists
An alternative way to increase world food supply is to empower
small-scale farmers and pastoralists, a policy that is endorsed in
principle by governments … but lacking major implementation
to date. It is necessary to redress current economic policies for
agriculture and food – to empower historic guardians of agro-
bioresources so that they may increase food security and ensure
the conservation of vast areas of dryland and other natural
habitats. Hodges et al. (2014)
Mountain Societies Research Institute
R4D in Central Asia MSRI @ University of Central Asia
msri.ucentralasia.org
Dr J Marc Foggin Associate Director, MSRI [email protected]