The Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy Drives the Differentiation of Herders’ Livelihoods in Inner Mongolian Desert Grassland

Herders’ livelihood strategies are functions of the capitals at their disposal. Although this thesis has been proved, it not applied to research in context conservation initiatives. The Chinese government implemented Grassland Ecological Compensation Policy (GECP) 2011. However, impact policy on herders’ livelihoods is still unclear. This study measured variation desert grassland Inner Mongolia, China, after implementation GECP. also analyzed impacts strategies, revealing shortages different strategies. results showed following: After GECP, (1) could be grouped into five types based capitals. herders varied greatly, resulting large economical gaps among households with (2) were affected by factors including education, age, social communication, amount livestock, income, and subsidy herders. (3) main income sources both livestock husbandry. In general, GECP drives differentiation remarkably. Future initiatives should take account.