Reciprocity of grassland conservation and pastoralist livelihoods: Evidence from comparison between developed and developing regions

Grasslands provide important livestock products such as beef and milk, the main source of daily nutrients for human beings. However, ecological degradation has occurred in nearly 50% of global grasslands, which seriously restricts livestock product supply and impairs human well-beings. Sustainable management measures are explored both in developed and developing regions to curb grassland degradation trend and achieve economic-ecological coordination. We focused on the differences of grassland management measures and their economic-ecological effects between developed regions (US, New Zealand and Western Europe) and developing regions (Inner Mongolia, China) along the “global gold pastures” in middle-latitude zone, by analyzing human-induced grassland productivity changes based on satellite remote sensing, and livestock carrying pressure based on forage-livestock relationship. The results showed the human-induced GPP on grasslands were higher in those developed regions than Inner Mongolia, while the livestock carrying pressures of grasslands were lower, which indicated that the ecological effect of grassland management measures was more positive in the developed regions. Although strict grassland-livestock balance policies had effectively altered the degradation trends in Inner Mongolia grassland, the economic growth still strongly relies on increasing livestock quantity within the grazing limitation, while those developed regions increased the economic benefits and also reduce the ecological pressure caused by livestock grazing in the meantime. Artificial pastures construction together with improved production efficiency effectively mitigated the ecological pressure on grasslands and also brought more economic benefits in those developed regions, which could also enlighten other developing regions to promoting sustainable utilization of grasslands and development of animal husbandry.