Linking sustainable livelihoods with sustainable grassland use and conservation: A case study from rural households in a semi-arid grassland area, China

Abstract Livelihood is a complex system that includes environmental, economic, social, and institutional dimensions, driving the evolution of the relationship between individuals and geographical environment. Further research on how people value and envision their livelihoods may help to better develop plans and incentives aimed at protecting and restoring ecosystem services. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the current livelihoods status of local households, to identify underlying factors that affect their current and future livelihood strategy, thereby providing policy references for grassland optimization and the sustainable development of pastorists’ livelihoods. In this study, researchers collected data by surveying 427 households from the Hulunbuir grasslands of China. We find that the pastoral livelihood strategies currently are dominated by pastoral husbandry (pure pastoral husbandry or dominant pastoral husbandry) and supplemented by concurrent household occupations (dominant non-pastoral husbandry and non-pastoral husbandry); the households' future livelihood strategy is mainly to expand pastoral husbandry. Our analysis shows again, livelihood asset possession has a significant influence on pastoral families' current and future choices of livelihood strategies. In particular, the ownership of social assets, geographical advantage, and 'production assets', which consist of natural, physical, and financial assets, have significant influences on pastoral households' current livelihood strategy but non-significant impacts on their future livelihood strategy. Human assets and informational assets significantly influence both current and future livelihood strategies of pastoral households. We emphasize that livelihood assets can be the entry point for policies aiming to linking sustainable livelihoods with sustainable grassland use and conservation, particularly at a regional level.