Land parcellation reduced spatial redundancy resulting in grassland degradation

Abstract Degradation is the most immediate threat to biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods of global pastoral grasslands. However, we are still uncertain why grassland degradation is enhanced by the land policy of grassland parcellation. We hypothesized that spatial redundancy of the grazing system, that is, parcellation accelerates land fragmentation and reduces spatial redundancy, leads to land degradation. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between households, livestock and grassland management under the grassland contract policy, and to determine the causes and consequences of grassland fragmentation and degradation. We interviewed households who received land under the grassland contract policy in typical pastoral areas of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, and then, we employed binary logistic regressions, multinomial logistic regressions and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analyses to examine the relationship between spatial redundancy and grassland–livestock balance. A very significant ( p < 0.001) negative asymptotic exponential trend emerged between grassland area and stocking rate, but with regional differences. Grassland spatial redundancy and stocking rate displayed a significant ( r 2 = 0.96; p < 0.05) negative asymptotic exponential trend, that is, households with a lower spatial redundancy had a higher stocking rate. Based on our results, spatial redundancy can be used as one of the key indices to evaluate landscape stability of grazing systems. In any terrestrial ecosystem, the size of spatial redundancy reflects the carrying capacity of the land and determines the delicate relationship between land, animals and population, that is, in equilibrium or non‐equilibrium. Therefore, taking the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau as an example, we face the spread of grassland degradation caused by the gradual fragmentation of resources under the current grassland contract policy and parcellation in global pastoral areas. Determining the spatial redundancy size of grassland is an important prerequisite for understanding grassland degradation and formulating grassland management strategies. These novel findings have potential beneficial information for resource utilization, especially land management planning in pastoral areas worldwide. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.