Grassland of Northern China

  Grassland is one of the largest ecosystems in China with an area of 400 million hectares, which is 41.7% of the area of China. Among the huge area of the grassland, half of them are in northern China. The grassland of Northern China starts from the edge of Manchuria and is bounded by four major geological units, which are high plains, mountains, desert basins and plateau. There are four major types of grassland, which are meadow steppes, typical steppes, desert steppes and alpine steppes. 

Distribution of 4 types of steppes in North China 

  

    The Grassland played an important role in serving the ecological environment and keeping the diversity of the plants and animals. Also, it used to be the major source of animal products such as meat, milk and wool. Moreover, it is home for some ethic group such as Mongolian. However, the northern China grassland had lost its productivity since 1980s. Currently, because of the productivity loss and species changes, 80% of the usable grassland is considered “degraded”

Grassland Before the massive landuse

Grassland after the massive landuse

Table 1 Grasslands of Northern China, by Province or Region, 1989 (million hectares)

		Grasslands
Province/ Region	Area	Total	%	Usable	%
Heilongjiang	45.4	7.5	16.5	4.8	64.0
Jilin	18.7	1.9	10.2	1.3	68.4
Liaoning	14.6	2.0	13.7	—	—
Inner Mongolia	118.3	86.7	73.3	68.0	78.4
Ningxia	5.2	3.0	57.7	2.6	86.6
Gansu	45.0	16.1	35.8	9.7	60.2
Qinghai	72.1	38.6	53.5	33.5	86.8
Xinjiang	160.0	57.3	35.8	48.0	83.7
Total	479.3	213.1	44.5	167.9	78.8
China (total)	960.0	400.0	41.7	224.3	56.0

      The human impact is really ugly. The human population growth has damaged to grassland to a large scale. Population outbreaks of rodents frequently occur in the grassland ecosystems of China. It is estimated that 10–20% of grasslands are heavily infested by rodents causing a 20billion kg loss of grasses every year due to increase in population density.

       According to National Research Council of China, more than 20% of the northern grazinglands should not be use for any purposes, while there is even more percentage of the grasslands which are in a degraded status.  There are many explanation for grassland degradation in northern China. In the northern regions, inappropriate conversion to agriculture is the major reason explaining the degradation for grassland in northern China.

       In the west side of China ,where is relatively drier, wood cropping and overgrazing livestock are the major human impact on this ecosystem. For example, Human land use in Inner Mongolia varies across grassland types and along a second gradient that runs from the agricultural lands of the warmer, wetter south to the grazing lands of the cooler, drier north. During the recent past, the boundary between these two economies has moved north as Chinese settlers have invaded, irrigated, and cultivated the steppe. As the population density increased, the demand for food increased. As a result, human started to grow more food and graze more on a larger scale in order to fulfill the rapid grow in population. However, there were limited available grassland suitable and sustainable for agriculture purposes. With little awareness of the environmental conservation, people started to go beyond the limit and cause grassland to degrade due to the intense agriculture activities.

       Here is some supporting statistics to prove the serious grassland degradation of Northern China in the past 20 years.

       Although the grasslands of Inner Mongolia are immense, government figures suggest that both the quantity and the quality of this resource are in decline. In 1989, Inner Mongolia had 86.7 million hectares of grassland, of which 18.7 million hectares (21.6%) were deemed "unusable" and another 29.9 million hectares (34.5%) were considered "deteriorated" or "seriously deteriorated," leaving only 38.1 million hectares (43.9%) both usable and in good condition. Compared to 1965, the area of the region's grasslands is said to have decreased by 6.2 million hectares, deteriorated grasslands have increased by 28.7 million hectares, and total grass production has dropped by 30%.

GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CHINA GRASSLAND AREAS

REGIONAL VEGETATION OF CHINA

·     Grasslands have been the major sources of animal products such as meat, milk, wool and pelts

·       Grassland are homes to the majority of the ethnic people

·       Grassland provide basic food consumption for human consumption such as wheat, oats, barley, milo and corn

         Xilingule Natural Reserve was established by Chinese government in 1985 and became a member of the international biosphere Reserve Network in 1997. The main objects of protection are the meadow steppe, typical steppe, and sand veld and valley wetland ecosystem. As one of the most representative temperate grassland in northern China, it maintains most of its original look. With the basic characteristics of the grassland biome, it fully reflects the structure and ecological processes of the northern china grassland. 

A photo of the Xilingule Natural Reserve  

        An increasing demand for natural resources and animal products to cope with sharply rising human populations has placed tremendous pressures on grassland ecosystems. The accelerated and large-scale degradation and desertification of grassland ecosystems in areas with fragile environmental conditions and poor ecosystem structures may likely to cause the status of the ecosystem to be worse than today. The most important reason why I do not have much hope in the future of the conservation of grassland in northern China is due to the little awareness of conservation of environment and the importance of achieving environmental sustainable agricultural activities. As one of the most major area for local food production , grassland in northern China will continue to play a larger role in providing enough food for the rapidly increasing local food consumption due to the incredibly fast growing population. If we have more people, we must have more food for them to survive. Where and how should we get the food from? The answer is simple. More grassland in northern China will be used for agricultural activities even if they are not usable in the way to converse the ecosystem.

        Most importantly, the control of the population growth is key in reducing the negative human impact on this ecosystem. Fortunately, the Chinese government had successfully implemented the One Child policy which was highly effective in lowing down the population growth rate. It is also urgent for the government to take a larger role in raising the awareness of the importance of achieving sustainable agricultural actives among the farmers in grassland. In addition, the non-profit organization and research and development groups should also work hard on researching more efficient and environmental friendly methods of livestock grazing and farming to increase in yield rate of those farmlands and grazing lands. As a result, less grasslands will be required to support the human consumption and more grassland will be protected for the next generations to have a chance to view the beautiful landscape of the green and magnificent grassland.

Tables and Graphs: 

Spatial variation of vegetation cover in Hulun Buir during the period between 2000 and 2006. 

China's total grain production and population changes from 1949 to 2008

China's grain production per capita and arable land per capita from 1949 to 2008. The land unit is shown in Chinese unit mu(equal to about 666 m²).

China's total grain, meat, aquatic products, eggs, and milk production from 1949 to 2008

Reference list : 

1. Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China, National Research Council. "1 The Grazinglands of Northern China: Ecology, Society, and Land Use." Grasslands and Grassland Sciences in Northern China. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1992.
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4. Qin, Zhihao. "Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences." Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 7104. (2008): n. page. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
5. chinadialogue, . "chinadialogue." chinadialogue. (2007): n. page. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.chinadialogue.net/blog/912-China-imposes-grazing-ban-to-restore-grasslands/en>.
6. Jiang, Peggy . "topchinatravel." topchinatravel. (2012): n. page. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.topchinatravel.com/community/blog/hulun-buir-the-most-beautiful-grassland-in-china.htm>.