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Table 1 Summary of different evolving stages of Inner Mongolia as a social-ecological system and their major characteristics

From: Social-ecological transformations of Inner Mongolia: a sustainability perspective

Major characteristics

Evolving stages

Traditional nomadism (before the 1900s)

Primitive industrialization (1900s–1949)

Collectivization (1949–1978)

Economic reform (1978–present)

Natural resource and ecosystems

Natural grasslands

Localized cultivation and land degradation

Large-scale cultivation and increasing land degradation

Serious degradation due to overgrazing, cultivation, mining, etc.

Production structure

Primitive nomadism

Traditional nomadism, with limited sedentary pastoralism and cultivation

Sedentary pastoralism, with increasing cultivation

Privatized sedentary pastoralism, with cultivation, mining, tourism, etc.

Population

Very low and sparsely distributed

Episodic immigration waves

Rapid growth, large-scale immigration

Steadily increasing, with low immigration rate

Institution

Tribes, clans, and feudalistic empires

Tribes, subordination to centralized government

Communes, collectivism

Privatization, property rights, marketization

Social consciousness

Reverence for nature, lamaism (since 16th century)

Lamaism and various other trends of thought

Socialism, conquering nature

Mixture of nature exploitation for profits and nature conservation for sustainability

National/international influence

War, commercial trading

Immigration, capital

Immigration, technology, land use policy

Land use policy, common markets