Grassland Rehabilitation and Social Development in the Low Mountain Area of the Jinsha River Valley, China

Grassland degradation has become a serious environmental problem in semiarid areas, where it is responsible for land degradation and declines in livestock production. China has about 4,000,000 km2 of grassland (cao di, ie, any land that is not classified as “forest,” “cultivated land,” or “no vegetation”), accounting for 40% of its total area, mainly in the middle and western parts of the country, where the economy is relatively underdeveloped. One third of the grassland in China is degraded, and degradation continues at the dramatic rate of 6700 km2 per year. This has hindered animal husbandry development and social development in pastoral areas. Grassland rehabilitation has now become an urgent task of local economic development in western China. The Jinsha River valley (Yunnan Province), a main source of sediment for the Yangtze River, is characteristic of fragile ecosystems in western China. In this area, the primary development problems involve conflicts between ecological rehabilitation (especially restoration of grassland) and grazing. Serious degradation of soil and vegetation on account of the fragility is the result of both natural fluctuation and human intervention. To maintain social and economic sustainability, countermeasures are needed as quickly as possible.