Temperate steppe of northern China is very vulnerable and sensitive to climate change. It is significant to study herdsmen's perception and adaptation of climate change to enhance adaptive capacity and sustainable development of grassland area. Using a household survey based on questionnaire, this study analyzes the current status and behavior characters of herdsmen's perception and adaptation to climate change and extreme climate events in meadow steppe, desert steppe and desert respectively. The results showed that the climate became warmer and wetter in the last 30 years. There was more heavy snow in the east but more droughts in the west, and extreme climate disasters occurred more frequently in the last 10 years in the grassland area of Inner Mongolia. Although most herdsmen correctly perceived the change of temperature, they gave wrong judge to precipitation. Herdsmen in the east were more impressible to heavy snow and their counterparts in the west more impressible to droughts, thus different measures were taken to combat heavy snow and drought. Present adaptation measures taken by the herdsmen are basically simple and passive, lacking in effective and active ones to cope with the climate change in grassland area.
HOU Xiang-yang, HAN Ying
. Herdsmen's perceptions and adaptation of climate change in typical areas of Inner Mongolia[J]. GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH, 2011
, 30(10)
: 1753
-1764
.
DOI: 10.11821/yj2011100002
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