The Influence Research Of Grassland Protection For Herdsman’ Livelihood

Grassland protection and herdsma’s livelihood of pastoral areas are the most important issues in China. Returning farmland to forest and grassland project had implemented since 1999, which open the new chapter of ecological protection. In 2003, pilot projiect implementation of ―returning grazing land to grassland‖ has been launched. Then, in 2011, based on the construction of ecological projects, ecological compensation mechanism of grassland was established, which represented the progress of grassland protection.Grassland projects have greatly benefited the vegetation recovery and done a lot to the ecological environment. Therefore, many literatures focus on the study of project performance evaluation, including two periods of preparing and implementation. In the initial period, many issues were discussed and researched, such as compensation institution, implementation problems, the attitude and participation of herdsmen, and so on. In the late implementation, mainly foucus on the effect of ecological construction, such as economic benefit, social impact, industry development and overall effect etc. From the perspective of herdsmen, many issues were discussed in livelihood assets and alternative livelihood choices. At present, ecological benefits have been accomplished. However, some problems were emerged during implementation. Grazing forbidden project should be carefully treated. Although, literatures affimed the recovery of grassland and ecological effects, different areas with different problems. Compared with other pastrol areas, Gannan grassland was more ecologically fragile with complex religion and household residents. In addition, Tibet Pleatau grassland was merely discussed or researched in literatures. Therefore, this thesis will propose several issues from mirco-perspective based on the empirical research of Gannan pastoral area.Firstly, grassland compensation mechanism was an advanced development of ―returning grazing land to grassland‖ project. Satification of herdsman reflected the determination to adhere to the ecological protection mechanism. In this thesis, SEM was first used in this aspect to analyze the degree of satisfication which including the herdsmen’s perception of ecological protection, cognition of policy and livelihood factors. Satisfication factors were treated as the latent variables for analyzing. Outcome reflected the effect of project, while, policy understanding and perception of grassland exerted weak function in the implementation. Overall, herdsmen adhere to policy and performed well. So, in the long run, policy and perception should develop its utility for the sustainable development.Secondly, in the respect of livelihood, herdsmen accustomed to range for decades, although alternative livelihood was emerged in recent years, which was difficult to change for a short while. However, alternative livelihood plays a weak role in the the quantile regression analysis. For instance, some residents near the high way began to migrant working. This part of income eased the pressure of livestock reduction, to some degree, transferring the risk of income decreasing. While, migrant working couldn’t became the power of increase. Much worse, herdsmen will be challenged by language, custom and religion. For herdsmen, the best choice was to explore pastoral development, such as comfined breeding, scale breeding and pasture circulation. During the survey, subsidies differed a lot between pure and farming-pastoral grassland. In farming-pastoral grassland, ecological protection was better then pure grassland. Generally, livelihood of herdsmen was affected by livestock decreasing, subsidies, household number, migrant working and salary factors. Compared with literatures, this research will not propose migrant working as the alternative livelihood for herdsmen, for which couldn’t relieve the pressure of decreasing livestock and ecological effects. So, for a sustainable development of pastoral area and household residents, new growth point should be explored.Thirdly, based on the empirical research, this thesis proposed the value of environment. We estimated the WTP(willing to pay) of herdsman for pastoral-environment protection, which concluded that herdsmen holding the willingness to pay for eco-protecion. For this survey, deep research was made by choice experiment. Choice experiment focused three factors of grassland characteristics to explore the WTP of herdsman. The upper WTP was 80yuan/year, which proved the possibility of eco-protection. By estimatation, the environment value was about 106220 yuan per year, which concluded that herdsman hold a positive attitude toward the environment protection, while, for lower income, they could not pay much for this. In addition, the inner environmental awareness of herdsman should be stimulated. Overall, this estimation reflected the pay level of herdsmen. For low income of herdsman, pastrol area should be developed. Government and herdman should be encouraged to participate in the development of eco-protection. This mode of sustainable development will form a circular economy of herdsman and environment.Conclusion and policy implication were followed based on the three aspects of study. Firstly, grassland protection were sustainable from herdsman’s perspective, involved projects could be implemented for a long time. Secondly, subsidies were reasonable for this mechanism, which were nearly equal to the opportunity cost of herdsman who had decreased their livestock breeding. For this part of subsidies, herdsman maintained their livelihood, which could continue the protection of grassland. For lack of methods for livelihood, herdsman had the difficulty in income increasing. So, multi-methods of livelihood should be explored. Thirdly, herdsman won much more belief for eco-protection. However, they could not pay much for the protection. Besides, the inner protection of awareness should be explored. Also, several aspects should be pay much attention. First, grazing forbidden policy must be carefully to use, more seasonal grazing methods were taken out. Second, more training and skill were needed for herdsmen to explore their alternative livelihood. Third, multi-methods of development were more suitable for herdsmen and protection. Effectively promote the transferring of grassland and confined breeding.