ABSTRACT
Grasslands cover a total of 52.5 million km2, or about 40% of the world’s icefree land area (White et al., 2000). The total biomass of the plant life found in grasslands accounts for about one-third of all land vegetation (Mooney et al., 2001). Grasslands are an important part of the greater terrestrial ecosystem, serving as an important ecological barrier, playing a role in climate regulation, and contributing to global and regional ecosystem balance (Chen and Jiang, 2003; Lu et al., 2009). They provide significant ecosystem services such as biodiversity conservation, regulation of the quantity and quality of water flows, sandstorm abatement and erosion and desertification control; they also serve an important function as a carbon sink (carbon stored in live vegetation), accounting for approximately one-sixth of the total global carbon biomass stock and a quarter of global soil carbon stock (de Fries et al., 1999; Mooney et al., 2001). In addition to their ecological importance, grasslands make up nearly 70% of all land used for agriculture worldwide (Suttie et al., 2005) and are a key productive resource for hundreds of millions of pastoralists who depend on grasslands for their livelihoods.1 More than 40% of China’s land area is grassland (Zhang, 2000; Chen et al., 2003), from the arid north-west and green meadows in the north and north-east to alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau and tropical or subtropical pastures in the south. Sheep, goats, cattle, horses and donkeys are raised on grasslands across China, sustaining the livelihoods of more than 35 million pastoralists (Liu, 2012) and contributing to food security for the whole country. Yet grasslands are very sensitive to changes in climate. They are complex ecosystems that rely on a balanced interaction between weather, sunlight, soil
and water conditions, grazing animals and humans, and they are very sensitive to changes in any one of these factors. Even small changes can have significant effects on grassland biomass (the total dry weight of the plant life above and below ground in a specific area) production, species diversity and ecosystem services, all of which directly affect the livestock and the people that depend on them. As China’s temperatures continue to increase, and precipitation and weather patterns become more varied and more extreme (see Chapters 3 and 9), grasslands may see far-reaching changes in their size, condition (assessed by the proportion of a grassland covered by vegetation, plant diversity or biomass production) and ability to sustain life. For China, grassland-climate change impacts will be significant. Zhao Taihou is a herdsman raising more than 700 sheep on the grasslands of Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia. His livelihood is heavily dependent on the natural world; environmental and climate variability directly impact his family’s finances. There is a grazing ban in place on his summer pastures, but he can still collect grass and let his flock graze on his winter pastures. He is happiest when the grass grows well and his sheep have plenty to eat. Zhao’s primary concern is inadequate rain in summer and too much snow in winter. So far, he has been able to increase his flock’s resilience to extreme weather by installing pens that give his sheep some protection against the elements, but Zhao is likely to have to prepare for other changes to come. ‘To adapt to climate change, we have to reduce the number of livestock, but it will mean less income,’ he says. ‘We could also store more fodder each year. For example, we had 30 tonnes hoarded up for last winter. It would also help if we could dig a well so that we can water the fodder growing in the pastures.’ As with Zhao Taihou, many pastoralists in China depend on grasslands and their associated ecosystem services for their livelihoods and cultural identities (see Chapter 9). Changes in these delicate ecosystems could have devastating effects on a country carefully balancing the sustainability of its food production with the growing demand for food resources from an ever-increasing population. Thus, projecting and adapting to the potential effects of climate change on grasslands is necessary for China’s long-term sustainable development and social stability. This chapter provides an overview of China’s grasslands, some of the recent historical trends in their use and development, and the potential effects of climate change on grasslands and livestock production. It also discusses some of the recent research and work done to assess the impacts and risks of climate change to grasslands, using research from the Adapting to Climate Change in China I (ACCC I) programme as a case study. The chapter then summarises relevant policies related to mainstreaming climate adaptation considerations into grassland management and activities – being undertaken spontaneously by herders and promoted by various provincial governments in response to national-level policy guidance – to increase the ecological resilience of grasslands and the livelihoods of herders.
