Farmers' perception and choice preference of grassland ecosystem services: Evidence from the northeastern region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has the largest natural grassland area in China. The grassland ecosystem is the material basis for the development of animal husbandry in this region, providing ecosystem services such as biodiversity protection, soil erosion prevention and local climate regulation. Grassland ecosystem services (GES) play an important role in maintaining the livelihood of local farmers and protecting the ecological environment. Based on household survey data, this paper analyzed farmers' perception and choice preference of GES in the northeastern region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and studied the influence of farmers' perception on their choice preference. The results showed that farmers in the northeastern region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had the strongest perceptions of importance, manageability, vulnerability and damage degree of provisioning GES. We found that farmers had a strong choice preference for provisioning GES directly used in production and life, but a lower preference for regulating, cultural and supporting GES. Farmers' perceived importance, manageability and damage degree all affected their choice preference, but the perceived vulnerability has no significant impact. This paper studied farmers' evaluation of GES through qualitative methods. This provides a new insight for the study of ecosystem service preference, and a reference for the formulation of scientific and rational ecological protection policies in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.