Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2023, Vol. 22 Issue (8): 2567-2576    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2023.07.001
Agricultural Economics and Management Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Does nature-based solution sustain grassland quality? Evidence from rotational grazing practice in China
LI Dong-qing1, ZHANG Ming-xue2, LÜ Xin-xin2, HOU Ling-ling2#

1 Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China

2 China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R.China

Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
摘要  

轮牧被自然科学家认为是保护草地的自然解决方案之一。然而,当牧民采用轮牧时,其对改善草地质量的效果尚不明确。基于中国两个主要牧区的牧户面板数据,本文利用固定效应模型、工具变量法实证分析轮牧对草地质量的影响。结果显示,轮牧在短期内对草地质量的影响不显著,但在长期内具有显著的正向效果。当村庄投资能提高生产效率的公共基础设施或牧民采取轮牧相关的支持措施时,轮牧可以更好地改善草地质量。进一步分析表明,采用轮牧措施的牧民具有更高的放牧强度、更高的补饲强度和更多的圈养牲畜天数,这表明牧民可以在不增加对天然草地压力的情况下更有效地管理牲畜。此外我们还发现,牧业收入和轮牧采用相辅相成,这也是牧户采取轮牧的经济原因。这些研究结果为在发展中国家推广协调生态系统保护和资源利用的基层政策提供了参考。



Abstract  Rotational grazing is considered as one of the nature-based solutions (NbS) to grassland protection by natural scientists. However, its effects on improving grassland quality are still unclear when it is adopted by herders. Using a household-level panel data from field survey in two main pastoral provinces of China, empirical results from fixed-effect model and instrumental approach show that rotational grazing practices have insignificant short-term effects on grassland quality, but have positive long-term effects. In addition, rotational grazing practices can improve grassland quality when villages invest public infrastructure or herders have private supporting measures for more efficiency livestock production. Further analysis shows that herders adopting rotational grazing have higher grazing intensity, higher supplementary intensity and more livestock-house-feeding days, which indicate herders can utilize more efficient livestock management without increasing pressure on natural grassland. We also find that herders with pastoral income are more likely to adopt rotational grazing practice. These insightful findings offer policy implications on promoting grassroot NbS for ecosystem protection and resource utilization in developing pastoral countries.
Keywords:  grassroots nature-based solutions        rotational grazing, grassland quality        pastoral region        China  
Received: 01 November 2022   Accepted: 15 May 2023
Fund: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72173004 and 71773003) and the Major Consulting Project of Chinese Academy of Engineering (2022-HZ-09).
About author:  LI Dong-qing, E-mail: dongqing101@foxmail.com ; #Correspondence HOU Ling-ling, E-mail: llhou.ccap@pku.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

LI Dong-qing, ZHANG Ming-xue, LÜ Xin-xin, HOU Ling-ling. 2023. Does nature-based solution sustain grassland quality? Evidence from rotational grazing practice in China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 22(8): 2567-2576.

Andrade B O, Koch C, Boldrini I I, Vélez-Martin E, Hasenack H, Hermann J M, Kollmann J, Pillar V D, Overbeck G E. 2015. Grassland degradation and restoration: A conceptual framework of stages and thresholds illustrated by southern Brazilian grasslands. Brazilian Journal of Nature Conservation13, 95–104.

Bardgett R D, Bullock J M, Lavorel S, Manning P, Schaffner U, Ostle N, Chomel M, Durigan G L, Fry E, Johnson D, Lavallee J M, Le Provost G, Luo S, Png K, Sankaran M, Hou X, Zhou H, Ma L, Ren W, Li X, et al. 2021. Combatting global grassland degradation. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment2, 720–735.

Baronti S, Ungaro F, Maienza A, Ugolini F, Lagomarsino A, Agnelli A E, Calzolari C, Pisseri F, Robbiati G, Vaccari F P. 2022. Rotational pasture management to increase the sustainability of mountain livestock farms in the Alpine region. Regional Environmental Change22, 1–12.

Boz I. 2016. Effects of environmentally friendly agricultural land protection programs: Evidence from the Lake Seyfe area of Turkey. Journal of Integrative Agriculture15, 1903–1914.

Briske D D, Sayre N F, Huntsinger L, Fernandez-Gimenez M, Budd B, Derner J D. 2011. Origin, persistence, and resolution of the rotational grazing debate: Integrating human dimensions into rangeland research. Rangeland Ecology & Management64, 325–334.

Calliari E, Staccione A, Mysiak J. 2019. An assessment framework for climate-proof nature-based solutions. Science of the Total Environment656, 691–700.

Chen T, Bao A, Jiapaer G, Guo H, Zheng G, Jiang L, Chang C, Tuerhanjiang L. 2019. Disentangling the relative impacts of climate change and human activities on arid and semiarid grasslands in Central Asia during 1982–2015. Science of the Total Environment653, 1311–1325.

Chen Y Z, Sun Z G, Qin Z H, Propastin P, Wei W, Li J l, Ruan H H. 2017. Modeling the regional grazing impact on vegetation carbon sequestration ability in Temperate Eurasian Steppe. Journal of Integrative Agriculture16, 2323–2336.

Cohen-Shacham E, Andrade A, Dalton J, Dudley N, Jones M, Kumar C, Maginnis S, Maynard S, Nelson C R, Renaud F G. 2019. Core principles for successfully implementing and upscaling nature-based solutions. Environmental Science & Policy98, 20–29.

Conant R T. 2010. Challenges and Opportunities for Carbon Sequestration in Grassland Systems. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. pp. 1–7.

Enri S R, Probo M, Farruggia A, Lanore L, Blanchetete A, Dumont B. 2017. A biodiversity-friendly rotational grazing system enhancing flower-visiting insect assemblages while maintaining animal and grassland productivity. AgricultureEcosystems & Environment241, 1–10.

Fern R R, Foxley E A, Bruno A, Morrison M L. 2018. Suitability of NDVI and OSAVI as estimators of green biomass and coverage in a semi-arid rangeland. Ecological Indicators94, 16–21.

Hou L, Liu P, Tian X. 2022. Grassland tenure reform and grassland quality in China. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, doi: 10.1111/ajae.12357HOUEt al.17.

Hou L, Xia F, Chen Q, Huang J, He Y, Rose N, Rozelle S. 2021. Grassland ecological compensation policy in China improves grassland quality and increases herders’ income. Nature Communction12, 4683.

Hou Q, Ji Z, Yang H, Yu X. 2022. Impacts of climate change and human activities on different degraded grassland based on NDVI. Scientific Reports12, 15918.

Jiang Z, Huete A R, Chen J, Chen Y, Li J, Yan G, Zhang X. 2006. Analysis of NDVI and scaled difference vegetation index retrievals of vegetation fraction. Remote Sensing of Environment101, 366–378.

Li D, Hou L, Zuo A. 2021. Informal institutions and grassland protection: Empirical evidence from pastoral regions in China. Ecological Economics188, 107110.

Li Y, Dong S, Gao Q, Zhang Y, Liu S, Ganjurjav H, Hu G, Wang X, Yan Y, Wu H. 2020. Rotational grazing promotes grassland aboveground plant biomass and its temporal stability under changing weather conditions on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Land Degradation & Development31, 2662–2671.

Liu Y, Wang Q, Zhang Z, Tong L, Wang Z, Li J. 2019. Grassland dynamics in responses to climate variation and human activities in China from 2000 to 2013. Science of the Total Environment690, 27–39.

MOA (Ministry of Agriculture of China). 2017. 2016 National Grassland Monitoring Report. Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing. pp. 18–35. (in Chinese)

NBSC (National Bureau of Statistics of China). 2021. China Statistical Yearbook 2021. China Statistics Press, Beijing. pp. 239–284. (in Chinese)

Shi Y, Cai Y, Zhao M. 2021. Social interaction effect of rotational grazing and its policy implications for sustainable use of grassland: Evidence from pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, China. Land Use Policy111, 105734.

Suttie J M, Reynolds S G, Batello C. 2005. Grasslands of the World. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. pp. 1–18.

Tanneberger F, Appulo L, Ewert S, Lakner S, Ó Brolcháin N, Peters J, Wichtmann W. 2021. The power of naturebased solutions: How peatlands can help us to achieve key EU sustainability objectives. Advanced Sustainable Systems5, 2000146.

Teague R, Provenza F, Kreuter U, Steffens T, Barnes M. 2013. Multi-paddock grazing on rangelands: why the perceptual dichotomy between research results and rancher experience? Journal of Environmental Management128, 699–717.

Teutscherova N, Vázquez E, Sotelo M, Villegas D, Velásquez N, Baquero D, Pulleman M, Arango J. 2021. Intensive short-duration rotational grazing is associated with improved soil quality within one year after establishment in Colombia. Applied Soil Ecology159, 103835.

TNC (The Nature Conservancy). 2021. Nature-based SolutionsResearch and Practice. China Environment Publishing Group, Beijing. pp. 1–13. (in Chinese)

Vecchio M C, Bolaños V, Golluscio R, Rodríguez A. 2019. Rotational grazing and exclosure improves grassland condition of the halophytic steppe in Flooding Pampa (Argentina) compared with continuous grazing. The Rangeland Journal41, 1–12.

Venter Z S, Hawkins H J, Cramer M D. 2019. Cattle don’t care: Animal behaviour is similar regardless of grazing management in grasslands. AgricultureEcosystems & Environment272, 175–187.

Wang B, Yan H, Xue Z, Batunacun, Liu G. 2022. Nature-based solutions benefit the economic–ecological coordination of pastoral areas: An outstanding herdsman’s experience in Xilin Gol, China. Land11, 107.

Zhao Y, Liu Z, Wu J. 2020. Grassland ecosystem services: A systematic review of research advances and future directions. Landscape Ecology35, 793–814.

[1] QIAO Fang-bin, HUANG Ji-kun. Farmers’ risk preference and fertilizer use[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(7): 1987-1995.
[2] LEI Ming, YUAN Xuan-yu, YAO Xin-yan. Synthesize dual goals: A study on China’s ecological poverty alleviation system[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(4): 1042-1059.
[3] ZHANG Dan-dan, ZHAO Sheng-yuan, WU Qiu-lin, LI Yu-yan, WU Kong-ming. Cold hardiness of the invasive fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(3): 764-771.
[4] ZHANG Dan-dan, XIAO Yu-tao, XU Peng-jun, YANG Xian-ming, WU Qiu-lin, WU Kong-ming. Insecticide resistance monitoring for the invasive populations of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(3): 783-791.
[5] SUN Xiao-xu, HU Chao-xing, JIA Hui-ru, WU Qiu-lin, SHEN Xiu-jing, ZHAO Sheng-yuan, JIANG Yu-ying, WU Kong-ming. Case study on the first immigration of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda invading into China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(3): 664-672.
[6] JIN Cang-yu, Retsef LEVI, LIANG Qiao, Nicholas RENEGAR, ZHOU Jie-hong. Food safety inspection and the adoption of traceability in aquatic wholesale markets: A game-theoretic model and empirical evidence[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(10): 2807-2819.
[7] WU Jian-zhai, ZHANG Jing, GE Zhang-ming, XING Li-wei, HAN Shu-qing, SHEN Chen, KONG Fan-tao . Impact of climate change on maize yield in China from 1979 to 2016[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2021, 20(1): 289-299.
[8] DU Zhi-xiong, LAI Xiao-dong, LONG Wen-jin, GAO Liang-liang. The short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on family farms in China-Evidence from a survey of 2 324 farms[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(12): 2877-2890.
[9] Qingbin WANG, LIU Chang-quan, ZHAO Yuan-feng, Anthony KITSOS, Mark CANNELLA, WANG Shu-kun, HAN Lei. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dairy industry: Lessons from China and the United States and policy implications[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(12): 2903-2915.
[10] LIN Ben-xi, Yu Yvette ZHANG. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural exports[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(12): 2937-2945.
[11] LUO Ren-fu, LIU Cheng-fang, GAO Jing-jing, WANG Tian-yi, ZHI Hua-yong, SHI Peng-fei, HUANG Ji-kun. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural poverty and policy responses in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(12): 2946-2964.
[12] May Oo kHINE, brozenká MICHAELA, LIU Yan, Jiban kumar kUNDU, WANG Xi-feng. Molecular diversity of barley yellow dwarf virus-PAV from China and the Czech Republic[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2020, 19(11): 2736-2745.
[13] REN Yan-jun, Bente Castro Campos, Jens-Peter Loy, Stephan Brosig .
Low-income and overweight in China: Evidence from a life-course utility model
[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(8): 1757-1763.
[14] LI Sai-wei, ZHU Chen, CHEN Qi-hui, LIU Yu-mei. Consumer confidence and consumers’ preferences for infant formulas in China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(8): 1793-1803.
[15] SONG Mo-xi, YANG Morgan Xin.
Leveraging core capabilities and environmental dynamism for food traceability and firm performance in a food supply chain: A moderated mediation model
[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2019, 18(8): 1820-1837.
No Suggested Reading articles found!