Assessment of grassland health and degradation: Concepts, principles, and methods

This study aimed to solve the problems of unclear concepts of grassland health and grassland degradation, unscientific evaluation methods, and low accuracy of evaluation results. First, the relationship and the difference between the concepts of grassland health and grassland degradation were analyzed utilizing a combination of relevant research at home and abroad, and different index systems for the evaluation of grassland health and grassland degradation were established. Then, the confusion in the definition and evaluation of the two for long-term curing was solved. Thereafter, a stepwise evaluation method for grassland health and grassland degradation was proposed, which could realize large-scale and small-scale accurate evaluation from remote sensing and ground survey. A concise, clear, and operable judgment standard for grassland health and grassland degradation was proposed, which could help solve the management needs of grassland health diagnosis, grassland degradation early warning, and grassland restoration in China.