Why do Herders Insist On Otor? Maintaining Mobility in Inner Mongolia

Abstract

Otor is a traditional mobility strategy developed by Mongolian herders to cope with their highly variable and uncertain environment. The Livestock and Rangeland Double-Contract Responsibility System (LRDCRS) implemented in pastoral Inner Mongolia (People's Republic of China during the mid-1980s) has encouraged a settled mode of livestock husbandry within a delimited household rangeland area, depending primarily on fenced pastures. Practical results from the past 20 years indicate that this settled pattern can not completely replace the traditional herd mobility strategy that was anticipated by LRDCRS. A case study from a village in Xilingol Prefecture in Inner Mongolia explores the reasons why herders insist on otor. The paper evaluates the impact of changes in rangeland tenure and social relationships brought by LRDCRS on the herders' ability to access key resources in adverse weather. It is found that otor movement provides herders with the means to maintain livestock husbandry in highly variable and uncertain arid and semi-arid environments. Rangeland semi-privatization results in a loss of de facto guarantee of access to key resources. Faced with barriers to accessing resources, reciprocal bonds are weakened for conducting otor. As a result both sustainable pastoral livelihoods and sustainable use of rangelands are doomed to suffer.