Awareness and reaction of herdsmen to the policy of Returning Grazing Land to Grasslands in the Changtang Plateau, Tibet

The implementation of the policy of Returing Grazing Land to Grassland has great importance to the restoration of degraded grasslands and improvement of the livelihoods of herdsmen. Group discussion and questionnaire survey on 100 households from ten townships of the six counties in the Changtang Plateau were conducted to investigate their social background, their awareness and reaction to the policy. Most of the local herdsmen understands and supports the policy of Returning Grazing Land to Grasslands. 81% of interviewee considers grazing enclosure as an effective measure to restore degraded grasslands. 74% of interviewee accepts longterm (more than 10 years) ecocompensation as per current compensation standard. 52% of herdsmen worries about their livelihood security after ecoimmigration and is reluctant to leave their rangelands for settlements. It is necessary to combine current policies of grassland conservation and rewarding system and ecoimmigrant project together to secure winwin among ecological, social and economic development in the Changtang Plateau.