Overview
More than 520 million hectares of interconnected rangelands in China and Mongolia support the livelihoods and wellbeing of millions of pastoral households. Overgrazing and other detrimental uses of rangeland resources threaten ruminant livestock production and herder livelihoods, and local and regional environmental quality.
The Chinese Government has worked with ACIAR and partners to better understand the effectiveness of existing policy and regulation. Mongolia has more recently begun to respond to similar challenges, aiming to build rangeland management programs that can mitigate climatic shocks, slow accelerating degradation and sustain herder livelihoods.
This Outcome Evaluation focused on a 5-year ACIAR investment investigating the opportunities to strengthen incentives for improved grassland management in China and Mongolia – building on research undertaken since 2004 into the sustainable development of grasslands and livestock grazing systems.
The evaluation reports that Australia’s long investment in livestock production and rangeland management in China has contributed to innovation of grassland management and thinking about valuing rangeland ecosystems while balancing livelihood needs. The evaluation also provides insight to the effectiveness of project design and execution, and its influence on the extent and consistency of uptake of new policy options by policy audiences.
