Conflicts Between Economic and Ecological Development in China’s Pasturing Areas and Reasons for These Conflicts

Abstract

To survive and develop, humans need to acquire resources from the environment for material production so as to improve the material conditions for their living. The ecological environment constitutes the fundamental for the survival and development of human society, and the foundation for sustainable economic development. As the resources repository for China’s economic development, and the birthplaces of many rivers in China, including the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River, pasturing areas not only make the strategic defense for national ecological security but also contribute significantly to economic construction. But for a long time, due to economic, natural, social and historical reasons, the ecological environment in China’s pasturing areas have been deteriorating as grassland desertification, water loss, soil erosion, natural disasters, environmental pollution in urban areas and other ecological problems exacerbated. The ever-worsening ecological environment, to some extent, has bottlenecked the economic development in China’s pasturing areas, not only hindering local economic construction, but also threatening the sustainable development of the country as a whole. Therefore, we need to, under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, study how to achieve coordinated development between economy and ecological environment.