'Three-grassland' model heals Qinghai ecosystems

High up on the "roof of the world", Chinese researchers are easing pressure on the fragile grassland ecosystems relied on for generations by nomadic Tibetan herders. To protect this high-altitude environment in the three-river-source region of Northwest China's Qinghai province, researchers have introduced more efficient varieties of forage, improved livestock management and high-tech grassland monitoring — all while increasing incomes for local herders.

Known as the "water tower" of Asia, the region feeds the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers, and harbors rare plateau wildlife. But decades of overgrazing, severe weather and climate change have stripped the native grasslands, triggering soil erosion and threatening local livelihoods.

To fix it, scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have pioneered a "three-grassland" model that links protected wild zones, regulated grazing pastures and high-tech cultivated forage fields.

Xu Shixiao, director of the Plateau Ecology Research Center at the Three-River-Source National Park Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the model ensures ecological conservation, sustainable livestock production and that local livelihoods are supported.

"Through coordinated resource allocation and closer links between the functions of different grasslands, we hope to achieve balanced development of ecology, production and daily life," Xu said.

The model is being applied in two areas.

The first covers areas inside and surrounding the national park. Cultivated forage produced outside the park can be supplied to livestock, reducing grazing pressure on natural grassland within protected zones.

The second includes farming-pastoral transition areas in the Guinan and Tongde counties of the Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, where soil, water and climate conditions are more suitable for developing high-yield cultivated grassland.

Xu said the key to addressing a long-standing constraint on plateau animal husbandry is the shortage and poor nutritional quality of forage during the cold season. A more reliable supply of high-quality feed can shorten livestock-rearing cycles, improve production efficiency and reduce reliance on natural pastures.

The math behind the strategy is striking: Just 1 hectare of high-yield cultivated grass outside protected zones can spare roughly 20 hectares of natural wild pasture from overgrazing.

In alpine meadow areas, reducing grazing pressure by just one sheep can ease ecological disturbance across about a hectare of natural grassland, Xu said.

"This not only reduces pressure on natural pastures, but also creates more space for wildlife habitats inside the national park," he said.