ABSTRACT
Grasslands support essential food and fibre production, biodiversity, water function, and other critical ecosystem services (Panunzi, 2008; Suttie et al., 2005). Pastures and rangelands are dominant land uses and support ruminant livestock production in every climatic regime on every continent (Steiner et al., 2014). In 2000, about 35 million km2 were in permanent pasture, representing 30% of the world’s land area and over 70% of the agricultural area (Panunzi, 2008). There are important temperate pasture regions in the steppes of Mongolia and Northern China: the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau, the Himalayan Hindu Kush, central North America, South America, New Zealand and Europe (Fig. 1). Other important pasture systems are located in subtropical regions of the Southern United States, the Mediterranean region, South America and Australia, but this chapter will focus primarily on the temperate regions (Suttie et al., 2005). Because pastures occupy a large land area, they impact on the water resources associated with those lands and beyond.
