A Comparative Study on Grassland Ecological Protection and Sustainable Development of Herders in China and Mongolia

From the Perspective of International Law and Global Governance under UNCCD COP17

Abstract

The Mongolian Plateau grassland, a typical arid semi arid grassland ecosystem in Eurasia, spans both China and Mongolia. It jointly bears the multiple pressures of climate change, grassland degradation, and intensifying desertification, where herder livelihood security and regional ecological security are deeply intertwined. The 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), themed "Restoring Land, Rekindling Hope," launched the "Rangelands Priority Initiative." Coinciding with the United Nations' 2026 International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), and drawing upon the UNCCD treaty text and the SDG 15.3 Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target, this conference has explicitly affirmed the policy value of grassland ecological restoration, indigenous pastoral wisdom, community agency, and transboundary collaborative governance at the levels of multilateral international law and global governance. Grassland ecological protection and the sustainable development of herders constitute a two-way coupled relationship within the grassland social-ecological system: grassland is the material foundation for herder sustainable development, while herders are the core practicing subjects of grassland protection. A bidirectional transmission exists between them, potentially leading either to a vicious cycle of "degradation — poverty" or fostering a virtuous cycle of "ecological improvement — livelihood enhancement." According to the UNCCD's Global Land Outlook – Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralists, approximately 40% of the global land area has experienced some degree of land degradation, with over 3.2 billion people directly bearing the survival pressures caused by land degradation, which results in an estimated global economic loss of up to US$878 billion annually. Globally, rangelands cover 54% of the land surface, sustaining the livelihoods of about 2 billion people; nearly half of these rangelands are already degraded or at risk of degradation, yet only 24 countries have included rangelands in their national climate plans. For a long time, rangeland issues have remained marginalized within the global climate and land governance framework. This paper adopts the analytical perspective of pastoral "mobile wisdom." Grounded in the mandatory obligations of the UNCCD and the LDN target of SDG 15.3, and integrating treaty provisions with the soft law guidance of COP decisions, it systematically analyzes the interaction mechanisms between grassland ecological protection and herder sustainable development. It compares the institutional practices of grassland ecological protection in China and Mongolia: China pursues a governance path driven by national projects and underpinned by institutional safeguards, relying on policies such as "Grazing Withdrawal for Grassland Restoration" and the "Grassland Ecological Protection Subsidy and Reward Policy" to achieve synergistic improvement of ecological restoration and herder livelihoods. Mongolia constructs a governance model combining legal-economic constraints and community-based self-governance, utilizing the Livestock Tax Law and Pasture User Groups (PUGs) to revitalize indigenous pastoral traditions. The study finds that the differences in the governance approaches of the two countries stem from variations in institutional foundations, resource endowments, and social structures. The mobility mindset embedded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) represents a core source of resilience for arid grasslands in coping with climate uncertainty. Grounded in the UNCCD-COP17 international law framework, this paper proposes countermeasures such as establishing a cross-border ecological monitoring network, jointly building ecological protection corridors, promoting the integration of traditional ecological knowledge with modern science and technology, and deepening ecological cooperation under the Green Silk Road. These proposals aim to provide theoretical references and practical pathways for the collaborative protection of transboundary grasslands on the Mongolian Plateau and for fulfilling LDN implementation targets.