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Understanding the dynamics of snow hazard impacts on the Tibetan Plateau is significant and prerequisite for decision making in mitigating the negative impacts of snow hazards and facilitating social adaptation to climate variability and change. In this study, we adopted the framework of vulnerability analysis to analyze the drivers of the dynamics in snow hazard impacts indicated by livestock mortality rate in Northern Tibet. We selected Nagqu Prefecture, a remote pastoral area of Northern Tibet, as the case study area to analyze the drivers of the dynamics in snow hazard impacts between 1982 and 2010. We applied panel data models and geographically weighted regressions to diagnose the drivers of the dynamics in snow hazard impacts across two administrative scales and over heterogeneous landscape in Nagqu Prefecture. The results showed that the contributions of biophysical and socioeconomic factors to explaining the annual dynamics of livestock mortality rate varied between Nagqu Prefecture scale and Nagqu County scale. The modeling results using geographically weighted regressions showed that the statistical relationships between livestock mortality rate and various explanatory variables varied across geographic space due to spatial heterogeneity of local grassland social-ecological systems. Insights gained through this study help to improve our understanding of the drivers of snow hazard impacts across different administrative scales and over heterogeneous landscape in Northern Tibet. The findings of this study also have important implications for snow hazard management and building adaptive capacity for future climate change in the pastoral areas of Northern Tibet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tibetan grassland social-ecological systems are widely held to be highly vulnerable to climate change. We aim to investigate livelihood adaptation strategies of herder households and the types of local institutions that shaped those adaptation strategies. We examined the barriers and opportunities for strengthening adaptive capacity of local herder communities. We designed and implemented a household survey in the herder communities of northern Tibet. The survey results showed that migratory grazing has become less feasible. Storage, diversification, and market exchange have become the dominant adaptation strategies. The adaptation strategies of local herders have been reshaped by local institutional change. Local governmental and market institutions played the dominant roles in reshaping climate adaptation strategies. Although the present livelihood adaption strategies related to sedentary grazing have improved productivity and profitability of the herding livelihood, they have led to continuous deterioration of pastures. The local grazing system has become more and more dependent on artificial feeding and inputs from outside the grazing system. Purchasing forage has become one of the dominant adaptation strategies of local herder households. Multilevel regression modeling of this adaptation behavior showed that explanatory variables related to climate variability, household capital, and local institutional arrangements had statistically significant relationships with the adoption of this adaptation strategy. The results implies that building household capital and promoting the coordination among local governmental, market, and communal institutions are critical for strengthening adaptive capacity of the Tibetan herder communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Livelihood adaptation strategies are different in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. [•] Local institutions played key roles in shaping livelihood adaptation strategies. [•] Decreased grazing mobility has increased livelihood vulnerability of herders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]