Revitalizing the grassland on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Grassland is the largest ecosystem on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and provides multiple ecosystem functions and services. Understanding the endowment of the QTP grassland and how to revitalize it have profound implications for the sustainable use and efficient conservation of these unique and globally valuable ecosystems. In this paper, we highlight the importance of the QTP grassland in regional and global settings, stress the values of the QTP grassland in ecological and socioeconomic dimensions, and emphasize the actions needed to restore degraded grassland in the QTP region. The QTP is the largest single area of alpine grassland in the world and an important gene pool of alpine biological resources. The QTP grassland covers two critical ecoregions for conserving the best and most representative habitats for alpine biodiversity on the planet. The QTP grassland is also regarded as one of the best carriers and objects of socio-ecological systems in the world. To promote the resilience and sustainability of the QTP grassland through adaptation, different parties need to work together to find feasible options to resist shock, stresses, and disturbance and to maintain the fundamental functions and basic structures of the QTP grassland.