Institute of Geography and Resources Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China.
Sustainable Development Research Center of Resource and Environment of Western Sichuan, Chengdu 610066, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 27;20(5):4220. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054220.
The Three-River Headwaters Region (TRHR) is crucial to the sustainable development of China and Southeast Asia. The sustainability of grassland ecosystems in the region has been seriously challenged in recent years. This paper reviewed the changes in the grasslands of the TRHR and their responses to climate change and human activities. The review showed that accurate monitoring of grassland ecological information is the basis for effective management. Although alpine grassland coverage and the above-ground biomass of the alpine grassland have generally increased in the region over the past 30 years, the degradation has not been fundamentally curbed. Grassland degradation substantially reduced topsoil nutrients and affected their distribution, deteriorated soil moisture conditions, and aggravated soil erosion. Grassland degradation led to loss of productivity and species diversity, and this is already harming the well-being of pastoralists. The "warm and wet" trend of the climate promoted the restoration of alpine grasslands, but widespread overgrazing is considered as one of the main reasons for grassland degradation, and related differences still exist. Since 2000, the grassland restoration policy has achieved fruitful results, but the formulation of the policy still needs to integrate market logic effectively and strengthen the understanding of the relationship between ecological protection and cultural protection. In addition, appropriate human intervention mechanisms are urgently needed due to the uncertainty of future climate change. For mildly and moderately degraded grassland, traditional methods are applicable. However, the severely degraded "black soil beach" needs to be restored by artificial seeding, and the stability of the plant-soil system needs to be emphasized to establish a relatively stable community to prevent secondary degradation.
三江源地区（TRHR）对中国和东南亚的可持续发展至关重要。近年来，该地区草原生态系统的可持续性受到了严重挑战。本文回顾了 TRHR 草原的变化及其对气候变化和人类活动的响应。综述表明，准确监测草原生态信息是有效管理的基础。尽管在过去 30 年中，该地区高山草原的覆盖率和高山草原的地上生物量普遍增加，但退化并没有得到根本遏制。草原退化大大减少了表土养分，并影响了其分布，恶化了土壤水分条件，加剧了土壤侵蚀。草原退化导致生产力和物种多样性丧失，这已经正在危害牧民的福祉。气候的“暖湿”趋势促进了高山草原的恢复，但广泛的过度放牧被认为是草原退化的主要原因之一，相关差异仍然存在。自 2000 年以来，草原恢复政策已取得丰硕成果，但政策的制定仍需要有效整合市场逻辑，加强对生态保护与文化保护关系的认识。此外，由于未来气候变化的不确定性，迫切需要建立适当的人为干预机制。对于轻度和中度退化的草原，传统方法适用。然而，严重退化的“黑土滩”需要通过人工播种来恢复，需要强调植物-土壤系统的稳定性，以建立相对稳定的群落，防止二次退化。
