Research On The Herdsmen’s Perception Of The Environment In Pastoral Areas

Inner Mongolia grassland is the natural ecological barrier in north China,the herdsmen as the main body of economic activity and the most basic decision-making unit,their ecological environment perception have become the most important and direct influencing factor of pastoral ecological environment change.In this paper,based on survey of 395 herdsman family in the Chifeng City and Hulunbuir City by participatory rural appraisal(PRA)the herdsman’s ecological consciousness,perception of ecological environment change and perception of ecological environment degradation were analyzed,and the relationship between the individual characteristics of herdsmen and their ecological environment behaviors was studied.The results showed that:1.Herdsmen have realized the importance of the ecological environment in the study area,but there are still some herdsmen rarely considering the impact on the ecological environment in the actual production activities.In the actual production activities,the herdsmen in Hulunbuir City(83.21%)had much higher consideration for the ecological environment than the herdsmen in the Chifeng City(69.92%).2.In the Hulunbuir City and Chifeng City,respectively 80.92% and 74.44%of herdsmen thought that the local ecological environment was degraded compared with 25 years ago.Respectively46.18% and 41.35% of herdsmen thought that the local ecological environment had been improved in the recent 10 years.3.In the Hulunbuir City and Chifeng City,respectively more than 94% and nearly 92% of herdsmen thought that the local ecological environment had been improved in the recent 5 years.4.In the study area,the herdsman’s perception of grassland degradation and water scarcity was stronger than the perception of soil erosion and biodiversity loss.Most herdsmen were aware of the impact of global climate change on the ecological environment,such as the rising temperatures and reduced precipitation.5.The herdsman’s perception of the ecological environment degradation was different between the Chifeng City and Hulunbuir City.The herdsman’s perception of the land reclamation was obviously stronger in the Chifeng City than that in Hulunbuir City.And the herdsman’s perception of overgrazing and destruction of vegetation was obviously stronger in the Hulunbuir City than that in Chifeng City.There was very significant positive correlation between herdsman’s ecological environmental behaviors and their education level,and the relationship between herdsman’s ecological environmental behaviors and their family economic situation supported environmental Kuznets Curve.Therefore,improving the education level of herdsmen,increasing the economic income of herdsmen and improving the quality of the herdsman’s life are the fundamental to solve the problem of ecological environment degradation.The development of pastoral economy,strengthening the education of pastoral area,improving the quality of pastoral life combined with the ecological environment construction is an important measure to solve the problem of ecological environment degradation in pastoral area.