Study on the Timely Adjustment of the Grazing Prohibition Policy: Ban or Lift? Empirical Research from Local Government Managers

• Main Authors: Lihua Zhou, Ya Wang, Guojing Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-12-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: grassland ecology; grazing prohibition policy; environment perception; local government managers; Yanchi County
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4852

As national policy implementers and regional development planners, local government managers have a clearer, more objective and comprehensive understanding of ecological changes than herdsmen. Thus, they have a significant impact on the sustainable development of grassland resources and agricultural and pastoral areas. In this paper, grassland ecological change and related factors in different stages were investigated by means of questionnaires and structured interviews, and the adjustment strategies of grazing prohibition policy were studied. The perception of local government managers was that there was an improvement in grassland ecology, coverage, quality, yield, and in species richness in the early grazing prohibition period. There was, furthermore, an obvious improvement in the intermediate stage and a significant improvement with some degradation in its current stage. The grazing prohibition policy urgently needs to be adjusted according to the management pattern and to the limited time and space. It is necessary to improve the standard of ecological compensation and bolster herdsmen livelihoods, diversification, and non-agriculturalization. Based on the non-equilibrium theory and polycentric governance, the multi-central grassland governance and control system should be created in future.