IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i12p2057-d1533890.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Different Paths Lead to the Same Success: Examining Design Principles in Grassland Collective Governance in China

Author

Listed:
  • Jianing Li

    (College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Zhentong Hu

    (College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Di Liu

    (Rural Development Institute Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing 100732, China)

  • Leshan Jin

    (College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

Collective action remains a fundamental approach to governing common pool resources, and Ostrom’s design principles (DPs) have been widely used for analyzing such governance. However, grasslands, as typical common pool resources, have received limited attention within this framework in China. Based on the village-level survey data in Yushu, Qinghai, we utilized DPs as fuzzy sets to discern nuances among cases and identify necessary and sufficient conditions for successful collective governance using the fsQCA method. Our findings are as follows: (i) Diverse combinations of institutional rules can lead to favorable collective governance outcomes. Achieving good outcomes requires a comprehensive approach that encompasses rules, rule enforcement, and rule-making arenas. (ii) Congruence with local conditions (DP2) emerges as a pivotal and foundational condition in collective grassland governance. Therefore, it is crucial to formulate strategic governance rules that adapt to local realities and capitalize on regional advantages to ensure long-term success. (iii) The establishment of ecological husbandry cooperatives is in line with local realities and can help achieve high grassland governance performance. The improvement in ecological, economic, and social benefits brought about by cooperatives constitutes a crucial factor for promoting herders’ active involvement in the collective management of grasslands.

Suggested Citation

  • Jianing Li & Zhentong Hu & Di Liu & Leshan Jin, 2024. "Different Paths Lead to the Same Success: Examining Design Principles in Grassland Collective Governance in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2057-:d:1533890
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2057/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/12/2057/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ana Alicia Dipierri & Dimitrios Zikos, 2020. "The Role of Common-Pool Resources’ Institutional Robustness in a Collective Action Dilemma under Environmental Variations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Liangzhen Zang & Yahua Wang & Yiqing Su, 2021. "Does Farmland Scale Management Promote Rural Collective Action? An Empirical Study of Canal Irrigation Systems in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, November.
    3. Yu, Haiyan Helen & Edmunds, Mike & Lora-Wainwright, Anna & Thomas, David, 2016. "Governance of the irrigation commons under integrated water resources management – A comparative study in contemporary rural China," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(P1), pages 65-74.
    4. Shi, Yuxing & Cai, Yu & Zhao, Minjuan, 2021. "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," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Nguyen Thi Quynh, Chi & Schilizzi, Steven & Hailu, Atakelty & Iftekhar, Sayed, 2020. "Vietnam’s Territorial Use Rights for Fisheries: How do they perform against Ostrom’s institutional design principles?," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    6. Melville, Emilia & Christie, Ian & Burningham, Kate & Way, Celia & Hampshire, Phil, 2017. "The electric commons: A qualitative study of community accountability," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 12-21.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chatzigeorgiou, I.M. & Andreou, G.T., 2021. "A systematic review on feedback research for residential energy behavior change through mobile and web interfaces," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    2. Yajing Zhang & Ruifang Hao & Yu Qin, 2024. "Temporal and Spatial Variation of Agricultural and Pastoral Production in the Eastern Section of the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone in Northern China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Grimley, Matthew & Chan, Gabriel, 2023. "“Cooperative is an oxymoron!”: A polycentric energy transition perspective on distributed energy deployment in the Upper Midwestern United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    4. Majid Hashemi & Glenn Jenkins, 2021. "The Economic Benefits of Mitigating the Risk of Unplanned Power Outages," Working Paper 1468, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    5. Ning Geng & Mengyao Wang & Zengjin Liu, 2022. "Farmland Transfer, Scale Management and Economies of Scale Assessment: Evidence from the Main Grain-Producing Shandong Province in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    6. Geiguen Shin, 2022. "How Ostrom's design principles apply to large‐scale commons: Cooperation over international river basins," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 39(5), pages 674-697, September.
    7. Milchram, Christine & Künneke, Rolf & Doorn, Neelke & van de Kaa, Geerten & Hillerbrand, Rafaela, 2020. "Designing for justice in electricity systems: A comparison of smart grid experiments in the Netherlands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    8. Luo, Yaping & Wu, Jianxian & Xu, Ying, 2022. "Can self-governance tackle the water commons? — Causal evidence of the effect of rural water pollution treatment on farmers' health in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    9. Müller, Simon C. & Welpe, Isabell M., 2018. "Sharing electricity storage at the community level: An empirical analysis of potential business models and barriers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 492-503.
    10. Jantzen, Jan & Kristensen, Michael & Christensen, Toke Haunstrup, 2018. "Sociotechnical transition to smart energy: The case of Samso 1997–2030," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 20-34.
    11. Nessica Nässén & Maja Lilja & Stefan Sjöberg & Johan Colding, 2025. "Community climate commons for collective climate action," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2078-2095, April.
    12. Anzhen Qin & Dongfeng Ning & Zhandong Liu & Sen Li & Ben Zhao & Aiwang Duan, 2022. "Impacts of Irrigation Time and Well Depths on Farmers’ Costs and Benefits in Maize Production," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, March.
    13. Chia-Nan Wang & Thi-Ly Nguyen & Thanh-Tuan Dang & Thi-Hong Bui, 2021. "Performance Evaluation of Fishery Enterprises Using Data Envelopment Analysis—A Malmquist Model," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-20, February.
    14. Cristina Acosta & Mariana Ortega & Till Bunsen & Binod Prasad Koirala & Amineh Ghorbani, 2018. "Facilitating Energy Transition through Energy Commons: An Application of Socio-Ecological Systems Framework for Integrated Community Energy Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, January.
    15. Schlesewsky Lisa, 2018. "Think small – Das deutsche Stromnetz als Hindernis für die Energiewende," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 69(1), pages 309-338, July.
    16. Sarami Foroushani, Taraneh & Balali, Hamid & Movahedi, Reza & Partelow, Stefan, 2024. "Using local knowledge to assess the sustainability of groundwater resources: applying the social-ecological systems framework to the Hamedan-Bahar Plain, Iran," EconStor Preprints 289209, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    17. Yevheniia Varyvoda & Douglas Taren, 2022. "Considering Ecosystem Services in Food System Resilience," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-16, March.
    18. Liu Yang & Anthony Rezitis & Yang Ren, 2022. "How Significant Are the Roles Moral Obligation and Formal Institutions Play in Participatory Irrigation Management?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, November.
    19. Nate Kauffman & Kristina Hill, 2021. "Climate Change, Adaptation Planning and Institutional Integration: A Literature Review and Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-28, September.
    20. Xiao-Kang Wang & Yi-Ting Wang & Jian-Qiang Wang & Peng-Fei Cheng & Lin Li, 2020. "A TODIM-PROMETHEE Ⅱ Based Multi-Criteria Group Decision Making Method for Risk Evaluation of Water Resource Carrying Capacity under Probabilistic Linguistic Z-Number Circumstances," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-27, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:12:p:2057-:d:1533890. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.