Keywords

Introduction

Global climate change has had an increasingly serious impact on the agricultural practices of Indigenous peoples around the world, especially forms and types of agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting and gathering. Yet an interactive relationship between climate change and Indigenous traditional livelihoods persists. In this chapter, the ways in which climate change has impacted on the agricultural traditions of ethnic minoritiesFootnote 1 in China is explored, and the ways in which traditional knowledge is used to adapt to those changes described.

In China, there are 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities. The traditional livelihoods of ethnic minorities are diverse, and include agriculture and nomadism, as well as hunting, fishing and gathering. In the past 30 years, nomadism and hunting in China have been abandoned due to the implementation of government policies that have created herdsmen settlements and promulgated laws that prohibit hunting. As a result, ethnic minorities who used to make their living mainly by nomadism and hunting have turned to other means of survival (Pei & Zhang, 2014; Zhang, 2010; Zhengwei, 2010).

In the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, adjustments to grazing have occurred, including the collection of goods such as caterpillar fungus to sell to urban markets and a shift to a greater reliance on seasonal cash jobs (Fu et al., 2012; Haynes & Yang, 2013; Yin, 2011). In the Yunnan region, farmers have adapted their planting patterns and market dynamics to respond to climate driven water stress, using their traditional knowledge to help them survive climate impacts (Shaoting, 2010; Su et al., 2012; Wenhui, 2010). Elsewhere in the Yunnan region, ethnic groups have established 15 local knowledge-based climate adaptation actions, partly supported by government or private sector support, which has enabled the establishment of initiatives such as water storage, drought relief and irrigation programs (Li & van Dijk, 2012).

Some, such as the Tu (see Perspective 3.4), have transformed their dependence on agriculture to embrace tourism.

Perspective 5.1Climate, Tourism and Building Capacity for the Tu People of China’s Qinghai Province

Haiying Feng and Victor Squires

The rate of temperature change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is up to four times the rate in China overall (Liang et al., 2014; Xu & Liu, 2007). Alpine areas such as this are very sensitive to temperature changes, especially as glaciers begin to melt and permafrost thaws (Feng & Nursey-Bray, 2020). In particular the region has experienced ‘warmer and drier’ conditions, and local ecologies are changing (Feng & Nursey-Bray, 2020; Feng & Squires, 2020). As temperatures rise there has been upslope migration of some plant species (and their attendant insect, bird and rodent cohorts).

The Tu people, one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minority groups in China, have adapted, mitigated and integrated climate changes into their cosmologies. For the Tu, landscapes, life and human activities are determined by the cycle of the seasons. Until recently, most Tu in the rapidly changing rural settlements practiced sedentary agriculture, supplemented by minimum animal husbandry, and seasonal work in towns and cities. This has ended abruptly in the face of climate change impacts that threaten their subsistence livelihoods which are dependent on a highly variable climate, and further complicated by the increasing frequency of extreme events such as snow disasters (that can wipe out up to 30 per cent of livestock, Liu et al., 2014), and melting glaciers that cause local flooding. However, it is in their capacity to focus on the everyday, on the micro-experiences of change, which enables them to reveal how they see, feel, and make sense of climate change in their own lives.

Specifically, the Tu have responded and adapted to the climate impacts on their livelihoods by taking advantage of growing interests in cultural heritage and cultural and eco-tourism. The government has invested huge sums to foster Public-Private-Partnerships that engage businesses to invest in accommodation and restaurants and other service facilities, and local people have been encouraged to provide bed and breakfast type accommodation and convert local heritage buildings into guest houses. In Huzhu (an autonomous Tu county in eastern Qinghai) a purpose-built cultural park has been established to preserve some historical buildings, artefacts and provide interpretive exhibitions.

Local Tu people are employed as guides, service and maintenance staff. Many find work in the service industry (eg. hotels, restaurants, transport) and others are involved in tours to scenic and/or historically-significant spots outside the main settlements. There has been a transformational change as the local Tu people have actively transitioned from small-plot farmers to entrepreneurs and service providers. This type of policy formulation and its implementation by the government in minority autonomous areas such as those inhabited by the Tu, builds capacity for ethnic minorities such as the Tu who are victims of ecological and climatic changes beyond their control.

Indigenous people like the Tu will be forced to adapt rapidly by both traditional and contemporary means, including the use of traditional knowledge, agro-pastoral innovation, and the further development of tourism-based economies. The switch from being dependent on the highly variable, and often inadequate, precipitation to produce subsistence food crops, to a higher level of income and an expansion of opportunities that come from involvement in cultural and eco-tourism, is a major adaptation to climate change (Photo 5.1).

Photo 5.1
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The Huzhou people where cultural and eco -tourism is an alternative mode of adaptation. (Credit Haiying Feng)

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Traditional Types of Agriculture

Ethnic minorities have a long history in agriculture and due to their diversity, a wide range of types of agriculture have evolved and been adopted (See Table 5.3). Agriculture is the sector where the greater range of climate adaptation occurs and to understand its breadth, it is important first to understand what the key types of agriculture currently exist in China.

Table 5.3 Traditional types of agriculture in China
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Shifting Agriculture

Shifting agriculture has a long history in China, and while it used to be the main livelihood for many ethnic groups today it is now only common among the mountain ethnic groups in the Yunnan Province such as the Jingpo, Bulang, Jinuo and Dulong ethnic groups (Shaoting, 2001).

In the Yunnan Province, shifting agriculture still survives as a farming mode as the region is subtropical and tropical, with warm or hot climates. Controlled by southeast and southwest monsoon zones, it receives adequate rainfall and has abundant forest biological resources. Such geographical and climatic environments provide a good ecological basis for the local people to engage in shifting agriculture. Secondly, the groups that practice shifting agriculture are mostly found in mountainous areas, within small basins and river valleys. The mountainous terrain is complex and steep, so it is difficult to build irrigation systems and overall difficult to cultivate paddy fields in these places: shifting agriculture can thus be practiced.

Terraced Agriculture

Terraced agriculture occurs in the Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan and other provinces in Southwest China, and also in Hunan, and Zhejiang to name a few. The ethnic minorities chiefly engaged in terraced agriculture include the Hani, Miao, Yao, Zhuang, She and Dong. Among these groups, the Hani in Yunnan have the largest scale of terraced agriculture: it is also the most famous and was accorded world cultural heritage value by UNESCO.

The Hani people live in a mountainous area with an altitude of 1400–2000 m. The climate is mild and the rainfall is abundant. They live between two forests – deciduous broad-leaved forest and evergreen broad-leaved forest, both very suitable for rice planting (Qinwen, 2009). Therefore, the Hani people in Yunnan Province have formed the most centralised and largest terrace agriculture in China. For the Hani, undertaking terraced agriculture is a practice closely related to the local environment; terraces are built in a subtropical monsoonal area, but due to high altitudes valley areas are extremely hot and dry, while the mountain area has low temperatures and more precipitation.

Paddy Field Agriculture

Ethnic minorities living in basins and river valleys at low altitudes are engaged in paddy field farming, such as the Dong and Dai minorities. Most of these ethnic groups are located in Southwest China, especially in the Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. Over time, a large number of glutinous rice varieties have been developed in the paddy fields of ethnic minorities, enabling rich agricultural biodiversity and development of a complex traditional knowledge system.

Paddy field agriculture occurs between 100 m and 600 m above sea level, needs flat terrain, abundant rainfall, crisscrossing rivers, and hot and humid temperatures which form the environmental basis for rice planting. While planting rice, the Dong people in Guizhou also raise fish and ducks in their paddy fields. This “rice-fish-duck” symbiotic system represents a compound livelihood system based on paddy field agriculture (Haiyang, 2009). In China, this unique composite livelihood system reflects significant agricultural cultural heritage.

Oasis Agriculture

Oasis agriculture mainly occurs in the south of Xinjiang and records show they have been an ongoing practice for more than 4000 years. Oasis agriculture is dependent on local topographies and rivers: after the melting of glaciers and snow, rivers form which flow down to the desert areas. After encountering the dry and high temperatures of the desert, the water is gradually absorbed and evaporated, and finally, at the base of the mountains, the river gradually disappears and forms an ‘oasis’ in the desert: this is the basis of oasis agriculture. Over 2000 years ago, during the Han Dynasty, local people formed many small city states based on oasis agriculture. Today the Uygur people continue to engage in oasis agriculture in this region. This type of agriculture occurs between 30 m and 1200 m above sea level, from mountain basins through to alluvial plains. Due to the difference in altitudes, terrain and climate in various regions, different farming systems have evolved and a variety of crop species are cultivated. The main crops are wheat, barley, corn, rice, chestnut, sorghum, soybean, millet (Yun, 2010).

Agro-Pastoralism

Agro-pastoralism is the final mode used by ethnic minorities to build livelihoods; and is very important to the Tibetan people in North-West Yunnan (Eastern Himalayas), not only as a means of survival but also for biodiversity resource management and culture. For agro-pastoralists there is a mutual dependence between agriculture and herding as both agriculture and herding are important to the livelihoods of the Tibetan people providing basic and necessary food to local people, manure for crops, and crop straw as fodder to livestock. Additionally, harvest farmlands become grazing lands for herding during winter seasons (Lun & Zachary, 2018). Tibetan people mainly raise yak, cattle yak, yellow cattle and goats and they usually herd animals according to different seasons and physical locations. Herding is classified in three ways: summer grazing land (summer alpine pasture), spring-autumn interim grazing land, and winter grazing land. In the Tibetan language, local people call summer grazing land “Ru La”, which means grassland covered by snow. At an altitude of around 4000 m, this area is also referred to as alpine meadows. At the same time, local people call the spring-autumn interim grazing land as “Ru Mei”, which means grassland located at middle altitudes – in this case around 3000 m and referred to as meadow and sloping land. Finally, winter grazing land is known as “Ru Bo”, which means grassland located near village houses. Its altitude is around 2000 m and refers to sloping land near the village. While villagers herd yak in the alpine pastures and goats in the winter grazing lands respectively, they will herd cattle yak and yellow cattle regularly amongst all three grazing lands.

Traditional Knowledge of Agriculture

Although there are many studies that investigate the impact of climate change on agriculture, including the traditional modes of agriculture used by ethnic minorities, they usually rely on Western scientific data, models and formulas to draw ‘objective’ and scientific conclusions. Yet the traditional knowledge of the ethnic minorities, especially their perception of climate change, has not been given due attention. Ethnic minorities in China however, are the practitioners of traditional agriculture. Their observation and perceptions come from real life and while they may not be ‘scientific’, they directly reflect the impact of climate change on local livelihoods and further contain wisdom in implementing adaptations to climate change. All the forms of agriculture described above have been built on intimate knowledge of the local environment, including climate. In fact, different climatic conditions have been one of the factors that explain agricultural farming diversity. Ethnic traditional knowledge systems encompass local knowledge about water, forest, weather and climate systems. The next section describes some elements of this knowledge for each of the agricultural modes (Photo 5.2).

Photo 5.2
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Climate field school – learning about traditional knowledge for climate change. (Credit: Lun Yin)

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The Phenological Calendar in Shifting Agriculture

Like all agriculture, shifting agriculture is closely related to climate, and more dependent on seasonal and climate change than others. Most of the ethnic minorities who have engaged in shifting agriculture in Southwest China have few written records of climate and phenology, and no written calendars. But they have maintained, via oral inheritance, a wealth of traditional knowledge and experience about climate and phenology, represented by their phenological calendar. A phenological calendar charts the division of seasons and defines the seasonal rhythm of shifting agriculture in a year, to form a series of farming etiquettes. For example, within this phenological calendar, the most important thing is to control the time of tree felling, burning land and sowing: together these actions prescribe the relevant farming etiquette. The production process of shifting agriculture is thus determined by the phenological calendar of the specified season, and the cycle and change within the phenological calendar marked by multiple farming etiquettes.

Customary Law of Terraced Agriculture

Water resources by contrast, are the foundation for terrace agriculture. The most remarkable feature of terraced agriculture is its capacity to make full and effective use of water resources by using the stereoscopic climate, landform and the natural environment characteristics of ‘how high the mountain is, how high the water is’. Over generations, ethnic minorities have created a customary law system for water resource management, which is an important part of their traditional knowledge system. For example, the Hani people exercise very strict water resource management customary laws. These customary laws include the distribution of water resources, the protection of water forests, punishment of water theft and the maintenance of irrigation channels (Hui, 2019). Under the constraints of customary law, the ecosystem on which terraced agriculture depends is protected, especially the forest and water resources. The strength of this knowledge is demonstrated by the fact that during 2009–2012, the Yunnan province suffered a number of serious droughts, and agriculture suffered a huge loss: yet the Hani terraced agriculture was not affected due to its complex knowledge system about water management.

Technology of Paddy Field Agriculture

In paddy field agriculture, ethnic minorities have developed a fine-tuned technology of change and adjustment based on their traditional knowledge of the local climate. For example, the Dong people engage in paddy field agriculture in high altitude areas, and rely on underground well water and spring water where the water temperature is relatively low. Over the years, to improve the water temperature, the Dong people built ditches from the water source to guide the well water or spring water to the paddy fields. Via the construction of these ditches, the Dong people have developed a reticulated water flow system with the effect that long-distance circular flows ultimately improve the water temperature; when water finally flows into the paddy field it is conducive to the growth of rice (Kangzhi, 2019). Other ethnic minorities have similar traditional technologies and this long-term process of water management remains an enduring traditional technology that enables active and ongoing adaptation to the local climate and environment through the accumulation and application of generations of experience and knowledge.

Water Conservancy Project of Oasis Agriculture

Due to its desert location, the most important thing for oasis agriculture is to ensure that there are sufficient water resources for irrigation. In this context, the Uygur people invented a water conservancy technology, developed through the accumulation of generations of experience and traditional knowledge. Called ‘Karez’ it is a channel system divided into two parts: an underground channel and an over ground channel. The maximum length of the underground trench can reach up to 14 km, while the minimum length is about 3 km. Every 10–30 m there is a vertical well which is directly connected to the ground by the underground trench; the deepest vertical well is 60–80 m. The underground channel rises gradually, and finally as it is exposed to the ground becomes the over ground channel (Yi, 2019). According to the earliest written records, Karez has been applied for over 180 years and represents great innovation and the inventiveness of Uygur traditional knowledge. Karez is bound by a strict management system and includes its own maintenance and distribution of water resources. The Karez system is of great significance to the success of ongoing oasis agriculture, especially in areas experiencing climate related water shortages, and it guarantees the sustainable development of local agriculture.

Local Perceptions About the Impact of Climate Change to Agriculture

Despite the strong and generational corpus of traditional knowledge that ethnic minorities in China have accumulated, modern climate change presents new challenges and observation skills honed over centuries are now being used by ethnic minorities to assist in building adaptation to climate change. Contemporary perceptions of climate change moreover are multi-faceted, and not only limited to the climate field, but include the phenology of natural environment and livelihoods, that is to say, the observation of climate and phenology change forms the perception of ethnic minorities on climate change.

For example, for the Dai People rising temperatures and the accompanying drought, affects the output of some traditional rice varieties that are not resistant to high temperature. Temperature increases have affected the Tibetan animal husbandry: the early maturity of forage, the decrease of forage yield at high altitude, and the degradation of pasture, the increase in diseases and insect pests and other phenomena, make livestock breeding more challenging.

Climate instability has also made some farming calendars invalid – for the Jino people climate has changed the whole process of shifting agriculture processes and farming etiquette. At the same time, unstable precipitation also affects the growth of crops, reducing grain harvests. For the Hani people climate instability not only brings some challenges to water supply resources but has also led to an increase in crop disease and pests; sudden cooling also leads to crop freezing in high altitude areas.

For the Wa people, heavy rainfall and continuous high temperatures, cause flooding that completely destroys hillside crops. For the Uyghur, continuous drought is affecting their oasis agricultural systems, not only reducing its output, but also amplifying waste. Heavy snowfall, drought, debris flow, landslides and other disasters have caused huge losses to Tibetan Alpine agriculture.

At the same time though, climate changes have wrought some positive and beneficial effects. For example, Uyghur farmers have observed that due to climate warming and increases in precipitation, they have, in some regions been able to sow crops earlier and as autumn frosts are arriving later, the total growth periods are longer, and yields per unit area increased. Tibetan farmers have been able to grow some crops that were previously unable to survive due to the cold climate.

Traditional Knowledge and Climate Change Adaption

As climate impacts are increasingly observed and experienced, the ethnic minorities of China are also actively adapting to these impacts. Their specific responses highlight how adaptation based on local observations can provide levels of detail at scales unencumbered by global climate change models. The application of their traditional knowledge is central to this. In the context of building adaptation for agriculture, traditional knowledge is incorporated into adaptation in three ways; (i) the traditional use of agricultural bio-species and genetic resources; (ii) traditional technical innovations for bio-resource use and traditional practices for farming and living styles; and (iii) traditional cultures such as customary laws and community protocols that are related to agriculture. What does this look like in practice?

The Tibetans use of language is a good example – they draw on their linguistic appellations for seed species, which delineate how each species copes with climatic conditions at much finer detail than Western scientific ones. As such when climate change such as drought and high temperature occurs, local Tibetans will choose to breed cattle and highland barley according to the capacity of different varieties to adapt to the impact of climate change. For the Dai, Hani, Wa and Dong people, traditional knowledge which provides baseline understanding of crop resistance and survival relating to heat, drought and rainfall, is being used to determine the choice of appropriate rice varieties.

Traditional knowledge is also an innovative process. In order to adapt to climate change, ethnic minorities have adopted a series of agricultural technical innovations that specifically build on existing knowledge to respond to future climate challenges. These traditional technical innovations include: staggered seed crop planting, mixed cropping, crop rotation practices, soil fertility improvement practices and soil tillage practices.

As cultivated land is distributed across different altitudes, shade and sun regimes, dry zones and wetlands, there is great diversity amongst the climate borders areas under cultivation whether for agro-pastoral or terraced agricultural purposes. Staggered seed crop planting has been developed by the Tibetan and Hani peoples as it can be used as an adaptation to the microclimate environment of different plots, while reducing the risk of crop failure due to the instability of rainfall and drought. Such staggered seed crop planting can maximise the use of sunlight, temperature and water resources, while reducing the risk of rainfall instability.

Mixed cropping is another common way of shifting agriculture. Farmers of the Wa, Jino and other ethnic groups often plant two or three or more crops in the same farmland creating mixed plantings according to the division and the utilisation of different types of land.

At the same time, due to the change of altitude and slope, there are also differences in temperature in different areas of the same plot. There are differences in thickness, fertility and barrenness between steep and flat areas. Therefore, different crops or different varieties of the same crops are mixed in a small plot. For example, the Jino people will plant different varieties of early rice, middle rice and late rice in the same plot, and then beans, sorghum and vegetables. This practice of mixed planting across different plots enables the different varieties of upland rice and different crops to be cultivated on the plots with suitable climates and environments: yield can be increased. Mixed planting in the same plot can thus avoid the risk of ending up with no harvest as a result of an extreme weather event caused by climate change.

For the Blang people, the rotation of gramineae and solanaceae species is often adopted. Specifically, there are three forms of rotation: cotton and upland rice rotation, cotton, upland rice and corn rotation, or cotton, upland rice, coix and corn rotation. Cotton, as a heat loving crop, has the advantages of drought tolerance, has strong resistance to disease and insects, and brings other advantages such as enhancing soil and water conservation.

In addition to the use of traditional knowledge as a means by which to invent new technical solutions, traditional agricultural knowledge also incorporates customary law systems and protocols for the use of water resources as well as watershed management. This includes the use of methods to prepare for anticipated hazards and to reduce the risk of climate change. Ethnic minorities use two forms of customary law: one that exists between different ethnic groups, and another that exists within the same ethnic group.

The Yunnan region is a good example: here the residential pattern of mountain ethnic minorities is based on different altitudes. From 100 m to 1000 m above sea level, the river valley and basin areas is mainly inhabited by the Dai people who engage in paddy field agriculture. From 1000 m to 2000 m above sea level, the semi mountainous areas are inhabited by the Hani people who engage in terraced field agriculture. From 1500 m above sea level, the mountainous areas are mainly inhabited by the Wa, Jinuo and Bulang people who engage in shifting agriculture and finally, the plateau area (at an altitude of more than 2000 m) is mainly inhabited by Tibetans who are engaged in agro-pastoralism.

When different ethnic groups live in the upper and lower reaches of the same small watershed, during droughts, the different groups will formulate common customary laws to reasonably and fairly distribute agricultural irrigation water, thus avoiding potential conflicts that might be caused by water shortages. However, when residents of a small watershed live in the same ethnic minority, such as Tibetans, customary laws will also be formed within the same ethnic group to distribute water resources reasonably. In any one village, there will be a collective meeting of villagers held inside the village to discuss how to allocate water resources. The Tibetan village will be divided into two sections according to their geographical position. In this case, customary law determines that farmers who live in the upper part of the village can irrigate their farmlands in the morning and farmers living in the lower part of the village can do so in the afternoon. For several villages, village meetings are also required to arrange the use of water resources, so that the upstream and downstream villages can take turns, thus achieving fair use of water resources. In this way, the direct and ongoing application of ethnic customary laws about water resource sharing, avoids contemporary conflicts over water use during drought and creates efficiencies in the use of water resources, enhancing the resilience of ethnic minorities to adapt to climate change.

Conclusion

Climate change is affecting Indigenous peoples around the world, including ethnic minorities in China. In the process of adapting to climate change, the traditional culture, technology and knowledge of ethnic minorities in China has been shown to play an active role in adapting to it. Traditional knowledge can improve understanding of the influence of climate change on livelihoods, and also offer ideas around how to develop locally driven and appropriate ways to adapt to climate change. The use of traditional knowledge to create adaptation responses, ensures that they are appropriate to the geographical location and environment of ethnic regions, and overall more effective.