Net value of grassland ecosystem services in mainland China

To understand the difference between the value and the net value of ecosystem services (VES and NES, respectively), we used government statistics and data from published papers about the values and costs of grassland services to calculate their VES and NES in China. We found that when the associated costs (investment in ecological conservation and restoration, reduction of the risk of natural disasters, water consumption, and land rent) are subtracted from this total, the NES of China’s grassland ecosystem services equaled −0.12 × 103 RMB ha−1 yr−1. Except for northeastern China and Inner Mongolia, which have abundant natural resources and lower population and livestock pressure, China’s other seven regions had a negative grassland NES. The pressure on grassland by livestock has increased steeply (by 1066.1%), from 29.2 × 106 sheep units in 1977 to 340.5 × 106 sheep units in 2014. This strongly suggests that China’s grasslands are being heavily overexploited. In contrast with China’s well-funded afforestation programs, the low investments in grassland restoration and management have combined to produce severe degradation of grasslands. China’s government should re-examine the benefits of livestock culture by accounting for the costs of this land use and of various restoration methods, and should take measures to preserve and restore the country’s fragile grasslands. Our results provide a warning for managers of other ecosystems around the world where calculations of grassland VES may be ignoring significant costs of ecological restoration and preservation, leading to overuse and degradation of the ecosystem.