Rethinking Grassland Management for Tibetan Plateau Restoration

This paper was published in Science as an eLetter (Mar. 17, 2025). Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads3634 Niu et al. (Letters, 12 December 2024, P. 1233-1234) (1) make several excellent points on the challenges faced in the large-scale ecological restoration plans on the Tibetan Plateau. However, they may have overlooked the influence and impact of land ownership and the various related policies in support of China’s ambitious restoration efforts in the region.In China, the grassland household contract system (GHCS) was introduced in 1996 as a solution to the shortcomings of collective grassland governance (2, 3, 4). Its main goal is to enhance the efficiency of resource use through private contracts and the division of grasslands with fences. Despite being implemented for nearly 30 years and now encompassing over 70% of China’s grasslands (5), degradation continues to pose a significant problem on the Tibetan Plateau.Indigenous communities have developed unique management practices, which are well-suited to the plateau’s grassland ecosystems through migration, nomadism, and rotational grazing (6). However, the fenced household contract system has restricted the effectiveness of these traditional practices.To effectively address the ecological challenges of the Tibetan Plateau, collaboration among the Chinese government, indigenous groups, research institutions, NGOs, religious organizations (7), and the media is essential. Integrating modern science with indigenous ecological knowledge and exploring culturally adaptive management strategies, such as cross-disciplinary cooperation and planning, is expected to yield much better outcomes supporting the ecological restoration and sustainable development efforts of the Tibetan Plateau. REFERENCES AND NOTES1. Y. J. Niu et al., Science. 366, 6727 (2024).2. Y. Qi et al., Environ. Sci. Policy. 115, 1 (2021). 3. Y. L. Tian et al., Rural Econ. 24, 5 (2009).4. J. N. Li et al., Land. 13, 12 (2024).5. "35th Anniversary of the Grassland Law: Accelerating Amendments to Safeguard Grassland Management" (2019); http://grassland.china.com.cn/2020-06/18/content_41190906.html [in Chinese].6. Y. Duan et al., J. North Minzu Univ. (Philos. Soc. Sci.). 366, 6727 (2023) [in Chinese].7. Guo et al., Co-op. Econ. Sci. 6, 11 (2023) [in Chinese].