Grazing Resource Management and Grassland Degradation in Northern China

1 Introduction Grassland degradation in China＇s northern steppe has been a major and increasingly serious problem affecting the productivity and sustainability of pastoral systems. The economic and property rights reforms in the early 1980s dramatically modified grazing management and resource institutions in the area. Livestock were privatized, but most of the pastures were jointly used by all herding households or small groups within villages.