On the Relationship between Economic Development, Environmental Integrity and Well-Being: The Point of View of Herdsmen in Northern China Grassland

Abstract

Inner Mongolia is among the most important regions in terms of contribution to the socio-economic development of China. Furthermore, its grassland is a major ecological barrier for Northern China. The present study evaluates the changes in ecosystem services availability and human wellbeing based on a survey on864 herdsmen of the grassland and 20 governmental officials. The survey provided the following results: (1) The supporting and provisioning services of the grassland have recently declined, thus affecting the herdsmen’s wellbeing. The intensity of grazing, coal exploitation and tourism development heavily limits the availability of ecosystem services, among which provisioning ones are perceived as the most important. Below a certain threshold, grazing and mining are likely to promote the improvement of herdsmen’s wellbeing, while trespassing that point, the enhancement of the herdsmen’s living standards is curbed. (2) The herdsmen’s cultural exchange, health conditions and social relations are better now than before; however, the threats on herdsmen’s health and safety have increased. (3) A better income is among the most urgent herdsmen’s needs. Livestock revenues did not increase at the same rate as the damage to the grassland and human risk exposure did. (4) The governmental ecological compensation policy did not entirely solve the problem of grassland desertification and environmental degradation, although it is also true that the degree of implementation and effectiveness of government policies is related to the still insufficient herdsmen’s understanding and acceptance of these policies.

Coupled Relationship between Rural Livelihoods and the Environment at a Village Scale: A Case Study in the Mongolian Plateau

“…Rural recession, which is characterized by population decline [50,51], environmental degradation [52,53], farmland abandonment [54], and concentrated poverty [24,55], has become a global trend. Livelihood-environment nexus research may provide a useful perspective for countryside revitalization.…”

“…Specifically, in resource-abundant villages, resource utilization policies and institutional management are crucial [56,57]. Under the current system of public ownership in China, farmers' resource property rights are not guaranteed, which has actually undermined rural livelihoods during recent decades [52,53]. In the village of Changtan, the compulsory buyout of mineral rights and a one-time compensation are not conducive to the establishment of sustainable livelihoods for local households.…”

Different Household Livelihood Strategies and Influencing Factors in the Inner Mongolian Grassland

“…This suggests that the most economically profitable household livelihood strategies can also be more (if not most) environmentally friendly. Future studies need to pay more attention to how household livelihood strategies affect the relationship between grassland ecosystem services [5,47] and the herder's well-being [8], as well as the synergies and tradeoffs between economic and environmental outcomes. In addition, while there are three types of grasslands in Inner Mongolia (i.e., typical grasslands, meadow grasslands, and desert grasslands), our study focused only on the typical grassland region.…”

“…A household can adjust its household livelihood strategy according to market changes and demands to satisfy the needs of society and to enhance their competitiveness. However, when a herder household chooses different household livelihood strategies, it may have a substantial impact on the conditions of grasslands, affecting the grassland ecosystem services [5][6][7] and the herder's well-being [8,9], which Sustainability 2020, 12, 839 2 of 15 may further influence the sustainable development of a pastoral region [10]. Thus, identifying and comparing household livelihood strategies can help policy interventions to promote the sustainability of pastoral regions [11,12].…”

Research on Sustainable Development in an Alpine Pastoral Area Based on Equilibrium Analysis Between the Grassland Yield, Livestock Carrying Capacity, and Animal Husbandry Population

“…Although research on the population carrying capacity has made significant progress, research on the pastoral population carrying capacity still has a weak theoretical basis and uses, as well as imperfect regulation mechanisms and estimation methods. There are studies on the grassland-livestock balance [25,26], and some studies have focused on the wellbeing and livelihood of herdsmen [27,28]. How to combine the two aspects of research to better reveal the internal coupling relationship needs to be studied in depth.…”