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Land
Special Issues
Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies
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Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 April 2023) | Viewed by 8828

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Zhibiao Nan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, P.O. Box 61, Lanzhou, China
Interests: grassland farming system; rangeland ecosystem and management; forage germplasm evaluation and selection; grass endophyte and forage disease management
Prof. Dr. Jikun Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Interests: agricultural policy; food security; market and trade; rural transformation
Prof. Dr. John Rolfe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Business and Law, CQ University, Rockhampton 4702, Australia
Interests: resource economics; non-market valuation; rangeland management; agricultural economics
Prof. Dr. Lingling Hou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Interests: resource and environmental economics; agricultural economics; ecological economics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the largest terrestrial ecosystem in the world, the grassland ecosystem not only provides food and income for herders, but also provides essential ecological service functions such as climate regulation, water conservation, wind prevention, sand fixation, biodiversity conservation and carbon fixation. However, grassland degradation due to human activities and climate change has damaged both economic development and ecosystem services locally and even globally. How to sustainably manage grassland is an issue that requires efforts from scholars with multiple disciplinary backgrounds. We are pleased to invite you to submit your valuable research papers to this Special Issue.

This Special Issue focuses on research about balancing economic development and grassland ecosystem services from a wide range of perspectives (i.e., economic, management, social–political, ecological, geographical, remote sensing, etc.). Specifically, it covers understanding of current and future issues that threaten grassland ecosystem services, policies and management measures to improve grassland ecosystem services and/or to enhance herder income and economic development.

We invite papers including, but not limited to: examining the status of grassland conditions and the threats to sustainable grassland use; evaluating the policies and management measures that balance grassland ecosystem services and economic development; and investigating the values of grassland ecosystem services.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Zhibiao Nan
Prof. Dr. Jikun Huang
Prof. Dr. John Rolfe
Prof. Dr. Lingling Hou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • grassland management
  • grassland degradation
  • grassland agriculture
  • remote sensing
  • economics and policy
  • sustainable development
  • ecosystem services
  • sustainability
  • climate change
  • economic value of ecosystem services

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 899 KiB  
Article
Grassland Transfer and Its Income Effect: Evidence from Pastoral Areas of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
by Zeng Tang, Shiqi Guan, Menglin Zhao, Lijia Wang, Ying Liu and Yubing Fan
Land 2022, 11(11), 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11112020 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1061
Abstract
Under the condition of different endowment factors of herders and imperfect market mechanisms, grassland transfer can promote the redistribution and rational utilization of grassland resources, which has a crucial impact on herders’ livelihood. This study fully examined how the grassland rental market improves [...] Read more.
Under the condition of different endowment factors of herders and imperfect market mechanisms, grassland transfer can promote the redistribution and rational utilization of grassland resources, which has a crucial impact on herders’ livelihood. This study fully examined how the grassland rental market improves herders’ income and to what extent, using unbalanced panel data with 560 herder households in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau pastoral areas. A fixed effect model was used as the baseline model. The instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching method were utilized to address the endogeneity problem and sample selection bias. Finally, the mediating effect model was used to analyze the path mechanism of grassland transfer in/out on herder income. The results showed that the total household income increased significantly after participating in grassland transfer. Grassland rent-in increased livestock income, and grassland rent-out increased non-livestock income. After correcting for the selection bias, the income effect of grassland transfer became larger. The grassland rent-in increased the livestock income by promoting production investment. Grassland rent-out increased the non-livestock income by promoting non-pastoral employment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies)
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16 pages, 2914 KiB  
Article
An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Forage Product Trade on Grassland Quality and Livestock Production in China
by Zhichao Guo and Feiyu Qin
Land 2022, 11(11), 1938; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11111938 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1295
Abstract
The restoration of grassland ecosystems and the development of the livestock industry in China are constrained by a gap in livestock feed supply and demand. The importation of forage products, as an important means to bridge this feed gap, deserves attention for its [...] Read more.
The restoration of grassland ecosystems and the development of the livestock industry in China are constrained by a gap in livestock feed supply and demand. The importation of forage products, as an important means to bridge this feed gap, deserves attention for its relationship with grassland quality and livestock production. This paper empirically examines the relationship between forage products trade and grassland quality, as well as livestock production. The paper uses a cointegration test and error correction model based on data on forage product trade, grassland quality, and livestock production in seven livestock-type regions from 2006 to 2020. The results show that forage product trade has a long-term stable equilibrium relationship with grassland quality in China. The relationships between forage product trade and livestock production in different livestock-type regions are heterogeneous. Among these heterogeneous results, livestock production in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region, Loess Plateau Region, Southwest Mountain Region, and Northeast Region are closely related to forage product trade. It appears that importation of feed reduces pressure on natural grasslands, as well as providing high-quality feed that improves livestock production. The above findings can help explain the characteristics of livestock production in different livestock-type regions in China, as well as provide empirical evidence and new ideas for restoring grassland environments and developing herbivorous animal husbandry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies)
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16 pages, 745 KiB  
Article
Eliciting Herders’ Willingness to Accept Grassland Conservation: A Choice Experiment Design in Pastoral Regions of China
by Xinxin Lv, Mingxue Zhang and Dongqing Li
Land 2022, 11(9), 1463; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091463 - 2 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1172
Abstract
Top-down grassland conservation policies are widely used to protect grassland ecosystems from degradation in developing counties. However, an inability to meet local herders’ preferences when implementing such ecological policies may weaken their outcomes. Using a choice experiment design, this paper evaluated herders’ willingness [...] Read more.
Top-down grassland conservation policies are widely used to protect grassland ecosystems from degradation in developing counties. However, an inability to meet local herders’ preferences when implementing such ecological policies may weaken their outcomes. Using a choice experiment design, this paper evaluated herders’ willingness to accept (WTA) different possible implementations of a grazing ban policy, which is an ongoing but inflexible grassland protection policy in China. The results showed that herders were more likely to accept a grazing ban policy that targets private benefits rather than public benefits. In particular, herder’s WTA decreased when the policy objective changed from improving private grassland productivity to protecting grassland wildlife (or preventing sandstorms). Additionally, broader coverage and a longer duration also increased herders’ WTA a grazing ban policy; i.e., herders preferred a grazing ban policy with less coverage and a shorter duration. Our heterogeneity analysis showed that herder’s WTA is not only associated with their socioeconomic characteristics, but also with their altruism. Herders with higher altruistic tendencies were more willing to engage in a gazing ban policy targeting public benefits. These findings offer valuable insight into potential methods of redesigning top-down grassland protection policies and incentivizing small herders to adapt to environmentally friendly practices in China or other countries with similar backgrounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies)
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13 pages, 763 KiB  
Article
Sales Scale, Non-Pastoral Employment and Herders’ Technology Adoption: Evidence from Pastoral China
by Zhipeng Huang, Yan Zhang, Yi Huang, Gang Xu and Shengping Shang
Land 2022, 11(7), 1011; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11071011 - 3 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1379
Abstract
The adoption of livestock husbandry technologies has been an important factor affecting the welfare of herders and the efficiency of grazing-based livestock production and grassland protection in China’s pastoral areas. The small-scale herder is the main body of grassland-based grazing husbandry, and so [...] Read more.
The adoption of livestock husbandry technologies has been an important factor affecting the welfare of herders and the efficiency of grazing-based livestock production and grassland protection in China’s pastoral areas. The small-scale herder is the main body of grassland-based grazing husbandry, and so technology adoption is particularly important, though it is currently scarce. To identify the factors influencing technology adoption behavior by Chinese herders, especially its effect on the scale of livestock sales and non-pastoral employment (NPE), we conducted a survey in the Gansu and Qinghai provinces of China with a sample of 296 herder households. The results show that the scale of livestock sale promotes the adoption of technology, while non-pastoral employment has a generally negative effect. In detail, the substitution effect of NPE is positive, but the wealth effect is negative. In addition, NPE and its wealth effect have moderating effects that can enhance the effect of the sales scale on the adoption of herders’ technology. After distinguishing the technologies into profit-seeking technology and pro-environmental technology, we found that NPE and its substitution effect have a significant influence on pro-environmental technology, while the wealth effect has a significant impact on both profit-seeking and pro-environmental technology. Environmental awareness and altruism also have significant positive impacts on pro-environmental technology. These findings are relevant to policy implications dealing with technology adoption in pastoral areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies)
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23 pages, 13518 KiB  
Article
Ecological Response of the Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation in China
by Huilong Lin, Yuting Zhao and Ghulam Mujtaba Kalhoro
Land 2022, 11(3), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11030358 - 28 Feb 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2177
Abstract
The overexploitation of Grasslands without any return-back and compensation is the major cause of degradation and deterioration of the grassland ecosystem. The Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation (SISGC) in China aimed to restore grassland ecology by the reduction of overgrazing, promoting [...] Read more.
The overexploitation of Grasslands without any return-back and compensation is the major cause of degradation and deterioration of the grassland ecosystem. The Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation (SISGC) in China aimed to restore grassland ecology by the reduction of overgrazing, promoting carrying capacity, and increasing alternative employment of herders in non-husbandry sectors. However, the ecological response to the SISGC still remains unclear on the national scale. Here, we used systematic sampling, and satellite image time series data revealed a widespread proliferation of major ecological indicators for grasslands, contrasting climate and actual net primary productivity (NPP) before (2004–2010) and after (2011–2017) the implementation of SISGC founded the contributions to policy, as simulated by the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) model. On average, by two-phase comparison, the actual grassland NPP increased by 11.72%. The contribution of policy implementation and climate factors increased grassland NPP by up to 61.14% and 38.86%, respectively, but the response of the NPP growth of various grassland types exhibited divergence, mainly divided into policy-led (contribution rate of 52.28–97.02%) and climate-led (contribution rate of 57.56–96.00%). Hence, the SISGC policies should be renewed for different grassland types. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Grassland Management and Policies)
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