2008年10月10日，澳大利亚国立大学亚太研究学院凯瑟琳•莫顿（Katherine Morton）博士应邀访问中国社会科学院民族学与人类学研究所，并作了《脆弱的平衡：青藏高原可持续发展的挑战》的学术报告。
莫顿博士认为，在人类和环境的需求之间建立平衡是目前环境治理所面临的最基本的挑战。尤其在世界上较贫困的地区，权衡交换显得最为突出，面临艰难的选择，因为工业化的逻辑往往取代环境保护的逻辑，国家的利益往往超越当地的需求，国内的迫切需要更重于全球的优先事务。这样的选择倾向是不足为奇的，因为它们反映了历史的发展模式。于是，一个不可避免的问题就随之出现了，较贫困地区在多大程度上有可能推动可持续发展？莫顿女士认为在评估采用可持续性的发展模式存在的可能性时，青藏高原提供了一个关键的试验案例，它是中国最贫困的地区之一，也是生态最脆弱的地区之一。草原的急速退化和气候变化突出了一种更大的紧迫感，需要我们在文化、经济和环境之间建立平衡。
莫顿博士根据自己在玉树藏族自治州的田野调查感受和基层组织的经验，介绍了在玉树藏族自治州促进可持续发展过程中遇到的核心挑战，即气候变暖导致的冰川融化和萎缩。根据中国科学院的一项研究，在由青藏高原冰川补给水源的中国、南亚和东南亚地区的一些大河每年正在以7%的速度萎缩。联合国环境规划署（UNEP）世界冰川监测服务机构（WGMS）的数据则显示，受到地球暖化影响，喜马拉雅山脉的冰川正在加速融化，有可能在2035年完全消失。其他对青藏高原生态退化的因素还有：工程建设，有害物排放和过度放牧等。为了保护草原，过去二十年间，在青海南部牧区，政府先后实行了草场及其牲畜承包到户、“草原基础设施四配套”项目（定居建舍，过冬温棚，饲草饲料基地，草地围拦）、和“生态移民搬迁”等项目。莫顿博士还详细介绍了她最近在玉树结古镇生态移民村进行调查的情况，认为搬迁后移民在医疗、教育、水电、妇女负担等方面条件得以明显改善，但大部分移民由于缺乏就业技术在城镇很难找到工作，这增加了移民的边缘感。
基于国际经验和草根组织的实践，莫顿博士认为要在地方、国家和国际水平上重新思考人类和环境的需要之间的关系。可以从两个方面来改善和促进青藏高原的可持续发展。一是地方层面，相关组织和单位要积极参与和配合，建立一个更加开放的社会。二是国际层面，积极开展国际合作，共同支持气候变化的适应项目。
来自中国社科院民族所经济发展研究室、社会文化人类学研究室、影视人类学研究室的专家学者参加了座谈会，与莫顿博士进行了交流。双方表示今后将在青藏高原进行具体的项目合作研究，比如生态移民、气候变化和环境治理等方面。
莫顿女士拥有英国苏塞克斯大学硕士学位和澳大利亚国立大学博士学位，现为澳大利亚国立大学亚太研究院国际关系系研究员，苏塞克斯大学访问学者。她的研究专长为中国的国际关系、环境政治和政策、公民社会、国际发展合作等。（杜发春）
Dr Katherine Morton visited the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology CASS
On October 10th 2008,invited by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (IEA/CASS), Dr Katherine Morton, Research school of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University, visited IEA/CASS and had a presentation on The Challenges of Sustainable Development on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Scholars from CASS exchange views with Dr Katherine Morton, and agreed to conduct a deep co-operation in the future.
In her talk, Dr Morton points out that a fundamental challenge for environmental governance is to create a balance between human and environmental needs. It is in the poorer regions of the world where the trade-offs are most stark. Faced with difficult choices, the logic of industrialization tends to supersede the logic of conservation, national interests trump local needs, and domestic imperatives outweigh global priorities. These impulses are hardly surprising given that they reflect historical patterns of development. The question that inevitably arises is: how far is it possible to promote sustainability in poorer regions? In assessing the potential for the adoption of a more sustainable model of development, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau presents a critical test case. It is one of the poorest regions in China and also one of the most ecologically fragile. Rapid environmental degradation of the grasslands linked to climate change underscore a greater sense of urgency to create a balance between cultural, economic, and environmental priorities.
Dr Morton introduces her research program and field research work over the past three years in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. She believes that the core challenges involved in the promotion of sustainable development in Yushu is that the retreat of Tibet’s glaciers currently becoming increasingly evident that climate change is partly to blame. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the glaciers that regulate the water supply for the major rivers in China and South and Southeast Asia are shrinking by an average rate of 7% per annum. Data from UNEP and the World Glacier Monitoring Service reveal that the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking faster than anywhere else and could totally disappear by 2035. Over the longer term, higher temperatures will increase flooding in the rainy season and reduce water in the dry season thus affecting food production in the provinces downstream as well as the livelihoods of up to a billion people in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The impact will be greatest on poor communities.
Other casual factors of ecological degradation include construction work, pests, and over grazing. In order to protect the grasslands a number of policies have been put in place including the assignment of property rights, the si pei tao (four ways) program that aims to fence rangeland, construct houses for nomads, build sheds for livestock, and secure artificial pasture, and the re-settlement of nomads in small townships.
Dr Morton provides some details about the environmental migrant experience in Kyagi Nyobma village outside of Jiegu Town in Yushu. Overall, she said that the current approach to protecting the environment on the Tibetan plateau is alleviating some environmental stress but it is also reinforcing existing patterns of inequality. In effect, there is a see-saw effect in which either livelihoods improve and the environment degrades or the environment improves and livelihoods suffer. A second major problem is that limited action is taking place at the local, regional or international level to address the impacts of climate change. Reducing grazing may help in the short term, but it will not be adequate to address the degradation of the grasslands in the longer term.
Drawing on the experiences of grassroots organizations, in the conclusion, Dr Morton emphasized that two alternative directions that are essential to improving sustainable development on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: responsive local engagement, and international cooperation to support climate change adaptation. At a minimum, she suggested that two new reform processes will be necessary. At the local level, much more effort is needed to engage with local understandings and practices in order to deliver development outcomes in a way that avoids placing a disproportionate burden on the poor. More broadly, further efforts are required to bring about a more open society that can facilitate the exchange of information and ideas necessary to address the difficult trade-offs that exist between individual needs and broader public concerns. This resonates with the participatory approach to democracy that rejects the idea that ‘democracy can be a form of government independent of the quality of citizenship, equity, and social inclusion.’ At the international level, the lack of attention given to climate change adaptation carries significant opportunity costs both for China and the Asia region. Ultimately, adapting to climate change is not simply a question of improving efficiency and taking corrective measures; it can only be achieved if the people who stand to benefit - both rich and poor - are central to the process. If this does not happen then the pessimistic scenarios put forward by security analysts of wide-scale migration and conflicts over access to resources may well eventuate.
Dr Katherine Morton is a China specialist and her research interests include global civil society, international environmental politics, international development, and the influence of international norms and interventions on domestic political and socio-economic change. She is presently engaged in a study of transnational advocacy at the grassroots in China and its impact on the struggle for social and environmental justice. Katherine Morton is the author of International Aid and China’s Environment: Taming the Yellow Dragon, Routledge, 2005. The book examines how, and under what conditions, international donors can strengthen China’s domestic capacity for environmental management. She is also currently engaged in a study of civil society organisations in China. Katherine holds a MA, University of Sussex, and a PhD, Australian National University.