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.
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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”
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Grassland Before the massive landuse |
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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%.
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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 |
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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). |
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China's total grain, meat, aquatic products, eggs, and milk production from 1949 to 2008 |
Reference list :
- 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.
- Kang, Le.
"royalsocietypublishing." royalsocietypublishing. 362 no. 1482
997-1008. (2007): n. page. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
- Zhang, Jianhua.
"oxfordjournals." oxfordjournals. (2011): n. page. Web. 28 Nov.
2012. <http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/06/jxb.err132.full>.
- Qin, Zhihao.
"Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences." Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences. 7104. (2008): n. page. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
- chinadialogue, .
"chinadialogue." chinadialogue. (2007): n. page. Web. 28 Nov.
2012.
<http://www.chinadialogue.net/blog/912-China-imposes-grazing-ban-to-restore-grasslands/en>.
- 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>.