Socio-economic survey based impact assessment of herders’ livelihood in the grasslands of Mongolia Plateau（2015）

Lin Zhen Ph.D. Prof.

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS

Email: zhenl@igsnrr.ac.cn

Abstract:

This presentation consists of two part: first part will brief the collaboration activities in the Mongolia Plateau, including the establishment of International Joint Research Center on Environment and Sustainable Development of Mongolian Plateau and it major collaboration progress. Second part will introduce the research progress on Socio-economic survey based impact assessment of herders’ livelihood in the grasslands of Mongolia Plateau. The second part will (1) brief the background for the survey, which is mainly due to severe eco-environment problems in the regions, eg, soil erosion, land degradation, limited water availability, extraction of mineral resources, overgrazing, and ecosystem deterioration, trade-offs between grassland ecosystem protection and economic development in the marginal lands, and increasing meat and dairy consumption and demand for land productivity. Actions taken to mitigate those problems are mainly ecosystem conservation programs, which affect herders’ living, this study aims to identify and assess these impact using socio-economic methods and approaches. (2) Designing and implementing the surveys (questionnaire survey, institutional survey): which include purposive/homogeneous sampling, determination of survey sites, sampling methods and conducting survey. (3) livelihood indicators derived from surveys and assessment: land resources, grazing patterns, income structure, consumption patterns, cost for production and grazing, and dependence on local ecosystem services. (4) Evaluation of the survey approaches applied.