Development of sustainable livestock systems on grasslands in north-western China

These proceedings present the results of the first ACIAR project on livestock farming systems in north-western China. Overstocking and restricted access to grazing lands have led to the twin problems of grassland degradation and low incomes for households dependent on livestock production. The project developed models to analyse the livestock farming system and investigate options for change. The methodologies and results used in the Chinese grasslands project demonstrate the strengths of a systems approach to identifying the scale of a problem and for evaluating a range of solutions.