The Kegawa Herders' Cooperative was established in Qinghai Province, China to support the local Tibetan herding community and promote environmental conservation. It was founded in 2008 with around 40 households and has since grown to over 90 households. The cooperative aims to diversify livelihoods and increase income through producing and selling yak wool products and developing ecotourism. It has led to benefits like increased resilience to climate change, diversified local economies, and community involvement in environmental monitoring and conservation efforts. The partnership with kora further supports herders and seeks to empower local people as partners in development and conservation.

1. KEGAWA HERDERS’ COOPERATIVE –
ENHANCING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
IN THE YANGTZE RIVER HEADWATERS
Herder Cooperatives in
the Tibetan Plateau region
DR J MARC FOGGIN
M O U N T A I N S O C I E T I E S R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ASIA

2. http://blog.sina.com.cn/kegawa
Kegawa Herders
Cooperative
Established by Tibetan herders in
the Yushu area to produce and sell
livestock products, to help provide
employment and generate income
for local community members in
ecologically sound ways.
Founded with the support of
© kora 2016

3. Launching the Cooperative
! Following a ‘study tour’ to Mongolia in 2008, in which our
team observed positive development outcomes from…
! Increased access to credit (micro-finance),
! Improved confidence through tourism ventures,
! Communities strengthened through collaborations, and
! Improved grassland environmental conditions…
! Our senior field staff in Xining decided to encourage the
trial establishment of a community cooperative
This launched the process of developing the community-
based Kegawa Herders Cooperative in Qinghai province

4. Highlands of Central Asia

5. Yak Herding in High Asia

6. Three Rivers’ Headwaters (Sanjiangyuan)
! Source areas of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong rivers
! High wetlands
& rangelands
! Yak and sheep
husbandry
! Development
policies and
‘modernization’
! Sanjiangyuan nat’l
nature reserve
(c. 153,000 km2)

7. Tibet Autonomous Region
Under Golmud
Administration
Yushu Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture
Tsonub Mongolian
and
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
Dechen
Tibetan AP
Mili
Tibetan AC
Kartse Tibetan AP
Ngawa Tibetan
and
Qiang AP
Tsojang
Tibetan AP
Tsolho
Tibetan AP
Golog Tibetan AP
Pari
TibetanAC
Haidong
Prefecture
Kanlho
Tibetan
AP
Malho
Tibatan
AP
Xining City
and District
T I B E T A U T O N O M O U S R E G I O N
Q I N G H A I
G A N S U
Y U N N A N
S I C H U A N
China
India
Kazakhstan Mongolia
Myanmar
Thailand
Pakistan
Nepal
Philippines
South
Korea
Area of
detail
Kilometers
0 2,000
Russia
Source: Boundary (Marshall and Cooke, Tibet Outside the TAR, 1997)
Satellite Image (NASA), 2004©Tsering Wangyal Shawa, Princeton University, 2008
Location Map
TIBET
Lhasa
Miles0 150 300
Kilometers0 200 400
X I N J I A N G
I N N E R M O N G O L I A
NINGXIA
AP Autonomous Prefecture
AC Autonomous County
Provincial Boundary
Tibetan Cultural Area
Tibetan Plateau
• Tibet Autonomous
Region (TAR)
• Qinghai Province
• Gansu Province
• Sichuan Province
• Yunnan Province
Sanjiangyuan Region
.

8. Zhiduo County, Qinghai Province

9. Collaborative approach as ‘middle ground’
At both ends of the spectrum:
! National plans – ‘one size fits all’ does not allow for adequate
adaptation, social-ecological realities may be ignored, some change is
needed in resource governance
! Household responsibility – personal advantage may take
precedence, increasing disparities, social instability
Governance of the middle ground:
! Community level governance
– development processes may be
slower, but resulting change will be
deeper and longer lasting
– economic outcomes also may be
strengthened by social benefits

10. Kegawa Herders Cooperative
! Started with ~40 households; now with over 90 households
! Main goal: strengthening community cooperation and
cohesion, providing access for members to variety of new
(previously unavailable) development options; embedded
in ecological context
© Kegawa

11. Kegawa Herders Cooperative
! Market research undertaken – local and regional
! Favorable policy environment – coops, conservation
! Community chosen focus on ‘ecological’ livestock products
! Raw materials, in particular yak wool
! Value-add products, e.g. handicrafts
© Kegawa
! Ecotourism, including
community-based service
provision (with training
opportunities); clean-up
! Handicraft development
! Shop and library in town
! Environmental monitoring

12. Kegawa Herders Cooperative
Development of community-based tourism:
! Destination marketing (regional approach, equity)
Outcomes
! Diversification of livelihoods (enhanced resilience), increased
income, capacity development, enhanced sense of community
! Raising awareness of government
authorities
! Potential role of tourism for poverty
alleviation, conservation, etc.
! Introduction of cultural tourism
and ‘adventure’ tourism
! Kite flying festival, traditional
archery, river rafting, nature tourism

13. Kegawa Herders Cooperative
© Kegawa
! Environmental monitoring
! Snowline is rising
! Flowers are earlier
! Wildlife is monitored

14. K2 Partnership
Kegawa-kora (K2) Partnership
http://www.kora.net/
! Our goal is to help the people and ecology of the Himalayas to
thrive. By sourcing yak wool from nomadic herders on the
Qinghai Tibet plateau, we help them to adapt to change while
also maintaining their culture, knowledge and traditions.
! Kegawa Annual General Meeting (AGM)
! 52 of 92 households attended annual general
meeting in December 2015
! Annual profits are shared as dividends to
members, top-up of core fund, social fund© Jesse Montes

15. The kora vision…
! A mutually beneficial partnership with a socially
driven business
! Empowerment of local herders as partners
! Generating revenues through wool purchase and
seasonal employment
! Raising awareness through the brand's marketing
activities
K2 Partnership

16. Resilience to Climate Change
Outcomes of coop establishment
! Diversified local economies, with a variety of
livelihood options available to herders
! Decreased dependence on livestock
For example, community-beneficial tourism / ecotourism,
banking on a diversity of cultural and natural resources
! Greater returns on investment
! Value add on products
! Capacity building

17. Environmental Conservation
Kegawa ‘working groups’ include
! Education and awareness raising
! Grassland and wildlife monitoring teams
These can serve as a model for mutually beneficial partnerships
with protected areas and other environmental authorities
! Ecological husbandry (livestock management)
! Handicraft development (training, value-add)
! Garbage collection (e.g. after local festivals)

18. LESSONS LEARNED
Collaborative Governance (1)
! Conservation outcomes sometimes are best achieved
through ‘human’ solutions (rather than focusing on
technical solutions or strictly biological knowledge)
! Socio-economic aspirations may be leveraged for
integrated development and conservation outcomes

19. LESSONS LEARNED
Collaborative Governance (2)
! The development of sound (i.e. genuine, trusting)
partnerships is essential for sustainable change to
take place – see, e.g., the Kegawa-kora vision
! Enabling and supportive policy environments are
necessary to allow for safe and creative trialing of
new development models in mountain regions

20. Empowering farmers and pastoralists
An alternative way to increase world food supply is to empower
small-scale farmers and pastoralists, a policy that is endorsed in
principle by governments … but lacking major implementation
to date. It is necessary to redress current economic policies for
agriculture and food – to empower historic guardians of agro-
bioresources so that they may increase food security and ensure
the conservation of vast areas of dryland and other natural
habitats.
Hodges et al. (2014)

21. Mountain Societies
Research Institute
R4D in Central Asia
MSRI @ University of Central Asia
msri.ucentralasia.org
Dr J Marc Foggin
Associate Director, MSRI
marc.foggin@ucentralasia.org