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To address severe grassland degradation problems, China has been implementing several national restoration programs, which have been reported to mitigate the deterioration of grassland ecosystem function. However, the regional differences in the effectiveness of the programs are not yet known. In this study, gross primary productivity (GPP) was selected as an indicator to analyze grassland degradation dynamics, and the residual trend method was used to assess the driving force of grassland degradation based on GPP. The results showed the GPP of Inner Mongolia grassland significantly increased by 3.94 g C m−2 yr−1 during 2000–2015, climate change was the dominant driving factors, while human activities slightly reduced grassland productivity (−0.17 g C m−2 yr−1). But there are obviously spatial heterogeneous on the impact of human activities. Specifically, grassland management significantly promoted the GPP increase in semidesert steppe, while grazing activity decreased the GPP in meadow and typical steppes. These findings suggest that ecological restoration programs could obviously improve vegetation functioning in ecologically fragile grassland which has relatively very low productivity. However, the grasslands with relative higher productivity or initially non-degraded are still facing with great degradation risk due to the continuous growing livestock scale. Therefore, policy-makers should pay more attention to the originally non-degraded or high productivity grasslands, especially at those years the negative impacts of intensive grazing could be concealed by the well-growth grass under abundant precipitation.
Huimin Yan; Zhichao Xue; Zhongen Niu. Ecological restoration policy should pay more attention to the high productivity grasslands. Ecological Indicators 2021, 129, 107938 .
AMA StyleHuimin Yan, Zhichao Xue, Zhongen Niu. Ecological restoration policy should pay more attention to the high productivity grasslands. Ecological Indicators. 2021; 129 ():107938.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHuimin Yan; Zhichao Xue; Zhongen Niu. 2021. "Ecological restoration policy should pay more attention to the high productivity grasslands." Ecological Indicators 129, no. : 107938.
Protection of the grassland’s ecological environment and improvement of people’s livelihoods are major tasks for the management of pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia. The comprehensive program for grassland conservation in China, the Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation (SISGC), was launched in 2011. To comprehend the effects of this major step towards sustainable grassland development, this study focuses on the spatio-temporal development of grasslands in Inner Mongolia since 2011. Through the combination of MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite data with up to date meteorological data, we used the indicators of Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) and Net Primary Productivity (NPP) to analyze qualitative and quantitative grassland changes. A classification system on the pixel level, reflecting change trends and fluctuations of both FVC and NPP, was applied to monitor and analyze the grassland development from 2011 to 2019. In particular, the spatial transfer matrix of the recent two years (2018 to 2019) was analyzed to reveal the latest potential issues and random impact factors. The results show a positive overall but spatially unbalanced effect of SISGC, with a prominent positive impact in the semi-desert grassland area. The potential threats from both social and natural aspects as well as the importance of a forecast system for local stakeholders in the pastoral area are discussed.
Zhichao Xue; Martin Kappas; Daniel Wyss. Spatio-Temporal Grassland Development in Inner Mongolia after Implementation of the First Comprehensive Nation-Wide Grassland Conservation Program. Land 2021, 10, 38 .
AMA StyleZhichao Xue, Martin Kappas, Daniel Wyss. Spatio-Temporal Grassland Development in Inner Mongolia after Implementation of the First Comprehensive Nation-Wide Grassland Conservation Program. Land. 2021; 10 (1):38.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhichao Xue; Martin Kappas; Daniel Wyss. 2021. "Spatio-Temporal Grassland Development in Inner Mongolia after Implementation of the First Comprehensive Nation-Wide Grassland Conservation Program." Land 10, no. 1: 38.
Sustainable land use is a fundamental research field for land use planning. However, regional policymakers often lack access to the theoretical impacts that a land use policy might have on local development, especially in remote agricultural areas. Furthermore, knowledge exchange is important, especially in the context of globalization. This research employed the Framework of Participatory Impact Assessment and household surveys to combine multilevel stakeholders and comprehensively assessed the impacts of different land management scenarios on land use functions (LUFs) and local sustainable development. We completed this comparative study in typical remote agricultural areas in Godagari upazila of Bangladesh, Guyuan of China and Noto of Japan, which all have gradient differences in terms of their economic and social aspects, natural conditions and main land use issues. The selected scenarios were business as usual, increase in agricultural input and reform of rural development mode. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the farmers at the three study sites all showed a decreasing dependence on their land and a relevant level of stress on environmental LUFs, but the rooted reasons were different and even opposing; (2) scenarios with a high aggregate impact on LUFs might not enable a sustainable development model, and the assessment of land management measures should consider the balance among environmental, economic and social dimensions; and (3) land use and management practices should be conducted with consideration of local conditions, and protecting agricultural development and enacting appropriate agricultural reforms could revitalize local agricultural development. The results revealed the demand for location-specific land management practices and underlined the knowledge of agricultural management on an international scale.
Zhichao Xue; Lin Zhen; Giashuddin Miah; Kikuko Shoyama. Impact assessment of land use functions on the sustainable regional development of representative Asian countries – A comparative study in Bangladesh, China and Japan. Science of The Total Environment 2019, 694, 133689 .
AMA StyleZhichao Xue, Lin Zhen, Giashuddin Miah, Kikuko Shoyama. Impact assessment of land use functions on the sustainable regional development of representative Asian countries – A comparative study in Bangladesh, China and Japan. Science of The Total Environment. 2019; 694 ():133689.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhichao Xue; Lin Zhen; Giashuddin Miah; Kikuko Shoyama. 2019. "Impact assessment of land use functions on the sustainable regional development of representative Asian countries – A comparative study in Bangladesh, China and Japan." Science of The Total Environment 694, no. : 133689.
Sustainable ecosystem services consumption is of vital importance to the survival and development of human society. How to balance the conflicts between ecosystem protection and ecosystem services consumption by local residents has been a serious challenge, especially in ecologically vulnerable areas. To explore the reasonable ecosystem services consumption approaches of grassland ecosystems for sustainable land system management, this study takes Hulun Buir of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as a case study region and develops an EcoC-G (ecological consumption of grassland) model based on herders’ livelihood behaviors using the agent-based model technique to simulate the dynamics of ecosystem pressure, livestock production, and living quality of herders under different grassland management scenarios over the next 30 years. The EcoC-G model links the supply and consumption of grassland ecosystem services by calculating the ecosystem net primary productivity (NPP) supply and household NPP consumption. The model includes three sub-models, namely, the individual status transferring sub-model, the households’ grassland-use decision sub-model, and the ecosystem pressure sub-model. In accordance with multi-objective grassland management practices, the following four land management scenarios were simulated: (1) baseline scenario, (2) increasing household’s living standard, (3) ecosystem protection, and (4) balancing living standard improvement with the protection of the ecosystem. The result indicates that by focusing on the NPP supply and consumption of the grassland ecosystem, the EcoC-G is capable of simulating the impacts of herders’ livelihood behaviors on grassland ecosystems. If timely grassland management strategies are implemented, it is possible to relieve the ecosystem pressure and improve the livelihood of local herders. The specific scenario simulation results are: (1) Under the current grassland management mode, the pasture could never be overgrazed, and herders could achieve the basic living standard, but the accumulated wealth decreased due to the decline of livestock. (2) With grazing control, herders can accumulate wealth by increasing the breeding amount and reducing the marketing rate, but the ecosystem consumption pressure can reach a maximum of 2.3 times. (3) With strict restrictions on the livestock number, the pressure on the ecosystem decreases; however, herders might not achieve basic living standards. (4) Modest regulation leads to rational ecological consumption intervals, meaning the ecosystem pressure will become stable and herders can gradually accumulate wealth with the achievement of basic living standards in advance.
Huimin Yan; Lihu Pan; Zhichao Xue; Lin Zhen; Xuehong Bai; Yunfeng Hu; He-Qing Huang. Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Ecological Consumption for Grasslands: A Case Study of Inner Mongolia, China. Sustainability 2019, 11, 2261 .
AMA StyleHuimin Yan, Lihu Pan, Zhichao Xue, Lin Zhen, Xuehong Bai, Yunfeng Hu, He-Qing Huang. Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Ecological Consumption for Grasslands: A Case Study of Inner Mongolia, China. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (8):2261.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHuimin Yan; Lihu Pan; Zhichao Xue; Lin Zhen; Xuehong Bai; Yunfeng Hu; He-Qing Huang. 2019. "Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Ecological Consumption for Grasslands: A Case Study of Inner Mongolia, China." Sustainability 11, no. 8: 2261.
To achieve sustainable rural development, it is necessary to simultaneously protect ecologically important land and efficiently use existing agricultural land. Land use functions (LUFs) are widely used to assess regional sustainable development. Guyuan is located in a typical hilly and gully region of western China, with ecologically fragile land. Rural land transfer (RLT) has been advocated to prevent abandonment of agricultural land and promote rational, effective utilization of the land. In this study, we used LUFs in a multi-level stakeholder assessment framework to integrate the opinions of all stakeholders in an evaluation of the impact of RLT on regional sustainable development. We employed the framework for participatory impact assessment, key informant interviews, and questionnaires to obtain data to support the development of scenarios to compare the impacts on LUFs. We found that RLT had positive impacts on each LUF in Guyuan, especially for the land-based production and food security LUFs. Importantly, the measures required to support RLT must vary among landforms and location conditions to successfully develop the LUFs and ensure sustainable development. We found that the integrated multi-level stakeholder assessment framework can comprehensively assess the impacts of land use measures on sustainable development and support regional land-use decision-making.
Zhichao Xue; Lin Zhen. Impact of Rural Land Transfer on Land Use Functions in Western China’s Guyuan Based on a Multi-Level Stakeholder Assessment Framework. Sustainability 2018, 10, 1376 .
AMA StyleZhichao Xue, Lin Zhen. Impact of Rural Land Transfer on Land Use Functions in Western China’s Guyuan Based on a Multi-Level Stakeholder Assessment Framework. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (5):1376.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhichao Xue; Lin Zhen. 2018. "Impact of Rural Land Transfer on Land Use Functions in Western China’s Guyuan Based on a Multi-Level Stakeholder Assessment Framework." Sustainability 10, no. 5: 1376.