牧民对草地可持续利用的生态认知水平及其影响因素——以黄河源区5个县为例

Herdsmen′s cognitive level about sustainable utilization of grassland and its influencing factors:A case study of five counties in the Headwater Region of the Yellow River, China

牧民对草地可持续利用认知水平很大程度上影响了当地土地的利用状况,进而影响牧民保护草地行为的产生。基于黄河源区(玛多、玛沁、班玛、达日、甘德)的入户调查数据,在分析牧民生计方式和草地退化认知特征的基础上,运用Tobit模型探究影响牧民对草地退化生态认知的主要因素。研究结果表明:(1)黄河源区88%的牧民认为近5年草地出现了不同程度的退化,与学术界普遍认同的观点相一致;(2)联户放牧、子女受教育程度、新技术培训、牲畜养殖规模等对牧民关于草地退化的认知有正向引导作用;(3)户年均收入、国家草原奖补对牧民关于草地退化的认知有负向作用。为有效解决黄河源区牧民对草地的严重依赖性和源区内产业结构单一的问题,应(1)加强牧民专业技能培训、提升草原牧民整体文化水平;(2)鼓励中小牧民参与联户经营;(3)优化牧户生计方式,改善生计策略,减小牧民对草地的依赖程度,实现社会-生态系统的可持续发展。

Grassland resources are critical ecological resources in many countries(such as China, Australia, and the USA) and play an essential role in achieving sustainable development goals. They are of great value in maintaining ecological security, regional economies, and human well-being. Due to human activities and climate change, grassland degradation has become a global social-ecological problem that severely limits the sustainability of indigenous people′s livelihoods. Especially in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region of China, it has experienced the complicated process of grassland degradation and grassland restoration. Despite the trend for the grassland ecosystem to get better. However, there are still some problems in balancing ecological function and social development currrently. During the above course, one of the key drivers of this is that the level of herders′ perception of sustainable grassland use can directly affect the local land ecological status and is a prerequisite for generating conservation behavior responses. To further clearly portray the level of awareness of pasture degradation among pastoralists in the Tibetan Plateau region and the factors influencing it. Therefore, this research based on the household survey data in the Yellow River Headwaters area(Madoi, Machin, Banma, Dari, and Gander), and used the Tobit model to identify the main factors affecting herders′ ecological perceptions of grassland degradation by analysis of herders′ livelihood patterns and ecological perceptions of grassland degradation. The results show that(1) 88% of the herders in the Yellow River source area believe that the local grassland has been degraded to different degrees in the past 5 years, and the herders′ intuition is consistent with the generally accepted view of the academia, and the overall level of ecological cognition has significantly improved.(2) The multi-household grazing, children′s education, new technology training, and livestock breeding scale have positive effects on herders′ perceptions of grassland degradation.(3) The averagely annual household income and the national grassland subsidies have a negative influence on herding households′ perception of grassland degradation. Therefore, in order to effectively solve the problem that herding households in the Yellow River source area rely heavily on grassland ecology and a single industrial structure, we should(1) strengthen professional skills training for farmers and herders and improving the overall cultural level of grassland farmers and herders;(2) encourage small and medium-sized herders to participate in joint-family management;and(3) optimize herders′ livelihood methods and improve livelihood strategies continuously, thereby reducing the herders′ dependence on pasture, which will achieve sustainable development of social-ecological systems.