Sustainable Land Use and Livelihood Dynamics in Henan County on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau—A Transdisciplinary Systems Perspective

Abstract

Since the 1950s, Henan County on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (the Plateau) has experienced notable changes in its ecological and socio-economic environments, posing challenges to livelihood sustainability. Adopting a mixed method of qualitative interviews, field observations, and statistical data analysis, these changing livelihoods were investigated from a transdisciplinary systems perspective. The aim of this research was to develop an understanding of the relationships between changing land use and the livelihood dynamics on an ecologically fragile land. Results indicate that increasing human and animal populations, together with increasing connectivity between the Plateau and the lowlands, have led to increasing flows of nutrients to the lowlands. The increasing product flows, including the use of dung which is used for heating both on the Plateau and as a Plateau export, together with a lack of nutrients returning to the grasslands, have contributed to the present sustainability challenges. In this study, the transdisciplinary systems perspective provides an overarching integrative framework that transcends the individual socio-economic and biophysical system components, thereby providing key insights not available from within individual disciplines. More detailed analyses are now required, still within a transdisciplinary framework, to quantify specific relationships.