Social interaction effect of rotational grazing and its policy implications for sustainable use of grassland: Evidence from pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, China

Given the relative inefficiency of China's grassland utilisation compared to that of developed countries, this study analyses the social interaction effect of rotational grazing and its mechanisms of influence on the individual rotational grazing behaviour of herders from the perspective of social economics. In doing so, we conducted an empirical evaluation with micro survey data from 820 herders in Inner Mongolia and the Gansu pastoral areas. The results generally indicate that there is a positive social interaction effect of rotational grazing on the behaviour of herders. Specifically, social interaction affects herders’ rotational grazing behaviour via two channels: endogenous interaction and contextual interaction. Endogenous interaction increases the likelihood of rotational grazing being adopted through the information acquisition and experience communication mechanisms. Contextual interaction improves the likelihood of rotational grazing being adopted through the ecological demonstration effect. In addition, the social interaction effect on rotational grazing is heterogeneous due to differences in natural capital and the human capital of herders, and this effect is stronger in herders with more grassland plots, lower education levels, and a higher animal husbandry labour force. Finally, this study also discovered that rotational grazing improves herders’ evaluation of grassland ecology; this corresponds to the conclusions of grazing experiments. The policy implications of these findings regarding the sustainable use of grassland are as follows: first, rotational grazing can be considered to be an incentive item that should be included in China's Subsidy and Incentive System for Grassland Conservation (SISGC) in order to promote the sustainable use of grasslands. Second, policy incentives can generate a social multiplier effect through the social interaction effect of rotational grazing, which amplifies the effect of the policy, promotes the formation of a rotational grazing system, and improves the overall grazing method. Finally, this policy can prioritise pastoral areas with severe grassland fragmentation and animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood for herders.