| “Balance of Forage and Livestock” System is a basic institution of grassland management and restoration in China. However, it failed to reach sustainable use of grassland. Based on articles review and field research, this article analyzed the roots of such failure from the aspects of rangeland ecology and pastoralists’ behavior. It’s demonstrated that, on one hand, carrying capacity management on arid and semi-arid rangeland may not reach sustainable utilization due to the characteristic of non-equilibrium ecosystem; on the other hand, herders’ decisions on herd population were made under multiple factors and their adjustment to livestock populations were restricted by market, animal husbandry cycle and livelihoods. Present “Balance of Forage and Livestock” System took a simplified and standardized approach regarding to these two basic aspects, which result in its ineffectiveness. This article suggested, in arid and semi-arid rangeland, which is characterized of obvious temporal-spatial heterogeneity, it is doubtful to enforce “Balance of Forage and Livestock” at household level. Instead, rangeland management should more focus on resilience of the ecosystem, rather than on the threshold, i.e. carrying capacity.
Keywords: “Balance of Forage and Livestock” System; carrying capacity; air and semi-arid rangeland; non-equilibrium ecosystem; pastoralists’ behavior |
