While implementing the “8337” development strategy of “building Inner Mongolia into an important ecological safety shield in North China,” Xilin Gol League has struck a deeper chord in the hearts of the people with its philosophy that “protecting the eco-environment is to protect productivity and improving the eco-environment means to develop productivity.”

 

Herdmen praise eco-protection incentive and compensation mechanism

“The grassland eco-protection incentive and compensation mechanism is very flexible, 6.36 yuan ($1.04) per mu per year will be subsidized for herdsmen with a larger pasture, while a subsidy of 5,000 yuan per year for each person will be granted to herdsmen with a smaller pasture. Hence, every herdsman can benefit from this mechanism,” said Buhebater, chief of Jiren village in Jirengaole town, Xilin Gol League’s West Ujimqin Banner. “Our life has gotten better and better these years. Our income is almost the same as before the implementation of such an incentive and compensation system, but the grassland ecosystem has indeed become better. As herdsmen, we’ll lose our source of income if the grassland is gone. Only if the grassland ecosystem gets better can our posterity have a future.”

 

As a role model in implementing the grassland eco-protection mechanism in Inner Mongolia, the project of eco-protection incentive and compensation mechanism in Xilin Gol League has reached a total scale of 270 million mu (18 million hectares), which almost covers all available pastures in the league. Involving more than 70,000 households and 230,000 herdsmen, the project realizes the eco-protection incentive and compensation funding of 860 million yuan.

 

Rotation pasture benefits a lot

In Duribuleji village, which is more than 90 kilometers from West Ujimqin Banner, the 41-year-old herdsman Si Qintu is busy decorating his new house.

Scenery of West Ujimqin Banner in Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

The town will support 10 key livestock farmers this year. The herdsmen raised one-third of the fund on their own, and the government contributes the rest of the fund to help herdsmen improve their residential and farming environment and establish new family ranches. All facilities including living room, shed and forage room are subject to uniform standards, and even the color of exterior walls and the color of day-lighting panels are strictly regulated. The family ranch looks like a villa from afar.

 

Scenery of West Ujimqin Banner in Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Xinhua]

Si’s family is a local giant engaged in pasture-livestock balance. They’ve not only operated in strict accordance with the policy, for example breeding only one sheep for every 20 mu of pasture, but have also constructed specific zones for rotation pasture. The Qi’s divided the pasture into several zones for rotation grazing. The benefits from rotation grazing are many. The pasture vegetation recovers well, and there is an increase of 10kg of hay per mu. Labor force is saved as no shepherds are employed, and costs are cut. Livestock will stay away from other herds, thus reducing disease infection.

 

Reconvert farmland into grassland for eco-protection

Grassland reform is changing the grassland profoundly and improving people's livelihood.

 

As early as the mid 1980s, Xilin Gol League has taken the lead nationwide in conducting the “pasture-livestock double contracting” reform and implementing the “dual-right one-system” mechanism for land and pasture, which has greatly stimulated the herdsmen and raised their income rank to first across the nation. In recent years, the pasturing area has given priority to protecting the grassland ecosystem and guiding the migration of herdsmen for the purpose of realizing sustainable development.

 

Walking on the local customs cultural street of West Ujimqin Banner, visitors can feel the distinctively simple but real folk customs here. All family handiworks of herdsmen have been commercialized here, including Mongolian clothing stores, milk food shops and handicraft stores.

 

It is noteworthy that most of these bosses are migrant herdsmen.

 

Herdsmen on horseback have created nostalgia for the grasslands. They’d rather live in poverty than breed more livestock to damage the grassland. When the government took measures to protect and recover the grassland ecosystem, these herdsmen offered full cooperation.

 

Change from “finding grassland in sand” to “finding sand in grassland”

Ecological development cannot be separated from protection and construction.

 

Xilin Gol League has a total of 180,000 square kilometers of natural grassland, which is a vital ecological safety shield in North China as well as the nearest natural grassland from Beijing. While such pasturing areas as West Ujimqin Banner and Zhenglan Banner implement the grassland protection policy, Duolun county, which is located in the south rim of Hunshandake Sandy Land, is changing the ecosystem and improving the environment by virtue of tree planting and forestation.

 

When visiting Hunshandake Sandy Land on May 12, 2000, former Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council issued important directives that “it is extremely urgent to carry out sand control and desertification prevention, and it is imperative to build green barriers.” The government has initiated the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm-Control Project urgently. The people of Duolun county have started on a long journey of sand control.

 

Through unremitting efforts for dozens of years, the desertification condition has been controlled effectively in Duolun county, where a northern Beijing natural barrier has been preliminarily built. Thanks to its outstanding achievements in eco-construction, Duolun county has won many national awards for tree planting and reconverting farmland into grassland.

　

The grassland recovers its beautiful look

In September, the grassland entered a stage of mowing grass. According to one herdsman: “The grass has been growing well in recent years, especially this year. The grassland has become green in early May.”

 

In 2001, Xilin Gol League proposed an enclosing and transfer strategy, guiding the areas with grassland degradation and desertification to implement the strategy of “forbidding pasturing and transferring farmers and herdsmen.” It promoted the transformation of animal husbandry from a quantity expansion model to quality-benefit model through reducing the number of herdsmen and livestock to relieve the grassland burden and change the operation model of animal husbandry.

 

Finally the farmers and herdsmen selected the transformation after further consideration.

 

In 2003, Xilin Gol League held the Blue Flag conference, which was a milestone in its development history. At this conference, Xilin Gol League proposed a new type of industrialization, solemnly promised to give priority to environmental protection in the process of industrialization, and conducted economic restructuring to revitalize Xilin Gol.

 

Currently, the ecological management area in the entire league amounts to 34.9 million mu, including 9.28 million mu for forestry ecological development. The current afforestation area has exceeded the total area of the previous 50 years. The forest coverage rate has doubled, and the area of shifting and semi-shifting sandy land has decreased by 6.8 million mu.

 

Therefore, the ecological environment of the league has improved greatly. In the whole league, a total of 160,000 people in the rural pasturing area were transferred. The total livestock decreased by 30 percent, and the grazing capacity of the western desert and semi-desert grassland decreased by nearly 50 percent. The advantage in green and organic animal products is gradually turning into economic profit, and the income of farmers and herdsmen has doubled. The wage of farmers and herdsmen accounts for 40.7 percent of their total income.