草场管理中的市场机制与习俗制度的关系及其影响:青藏高原案例研究

近年来,政府大力推动在完善承包到户基础上的草场经营权的流转,目的之一是通过市场手段来整合牧户个体的草场资源,促进畜牧业的规模化生产。市场机制与牧区传统管理草场的习俗制度,二者的关系及其对草场管理的影响是怎样的?论文选择位于青海省贵南县的元义村和查乃核村为案例地来研究上述问题。元义村反映市场机制取代习俗制度,查乃核村则反映了市场机制嵌套在习俗制度中。通过比较两个案例地的牧户生计、畜牧业生产以及贫富差距,研究发现:1)查乃核村的牧户年均畜牧业资产高于元义村;2)查乃核村的畜牧业生产量逐年增加、牲畜死亡率明显减少,畜牧业生产收益率高于元义村;3)查乃核村的贫富差距明显低于元义村。基于此,论文认为市场机制嵌套在社区习俗制度的制度安排在草场管理中更有效,因为这样的管理模式在满足牧户个体对于权属明晰和补偿需求的同时,能够维持社区共用草场以适应青藏高原多变的气候特征所导致的资源时空分布的异质性。随着市场化的发展,草场管理需要权属明晰及市场机制,但实现这样的目标不需要弱化甚至取代已有的社区习俗制度。

The Role of Market Mechanisms and Customary Institutions in Rangeland Management: A Case Study in Qinghai Tibetan Plateau

In recent years, government has promoted rangeland transfer system, a market-based approach to re-aggregate individual grazing land after implementation of Rangeland Household Contact Policy (RHCP) to support larger scale of livestock production. However, there are also pastoral communities who manage their rangelands according to customary institutions. Therefore, the relation between market mechanism and local customary institution in rangeland management needs further analysis. This paper applies the cases of rangeland management in Yuanyi and Chanaihe villages in Qinghai Province to analyze the impacts of different relationship between market mechanism and customary institutions on herder livelihood, livestock production and gap between rich and poor. We find that there is higher level of livestock mortality, lower livestock productivity level and lower rate of livestock production return in Yuanyi Village compared to Chanaihe Village. In addition, compared to Chanaihe Village, lower household income level and higher wealth gap between rich and poor are observed in Yuanyi Village. Based on these findings, the paper concludes that when market is embedded within customary institutions, it is more effective in rangeland management, because the embedded relationship between market and customary institutions better fits to the characteristics of the coupled pastoral social-ecological system. As pastoral communities are integrated into China’s marketization, market mechanism based on clarification of property rights is necessary, but to do so does not need to replace or weaken the community customary institutions in rangeland management system.