Ecological management of degraded alpine pasture areas under the development of the tourism industry

Ecological management of degraded grassland in alpine pastoral areas is the ecological and environmental construction goal in the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, we created an Ⅳ Probit Regression Model based on an investigation of 354 households in Nam Co Lake Basin to analyze the interaction between the development of the tourism industry and the indigenous people’s behaviors. Results showed that: 1) The participation of indigenous people in the development of the tourism industry had a positive effect on the household’s behavior to choose ecological ways to manage degraded grassland; 2)The development of the tourism industry stimulated indigenous people’s willingness to participate in off-agricultural industries, improving the ability of the local government to manage rural public affairs; and 3) The bottom-up rural governance approach, which starts from the micro households’ perspective and behavior, is the basis and premise of China’s implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. We believe that the development of rural tourism in underdeveloped areas can improve the effectiveness of the ecological management of rural degraded environments, providing a theoretical basis for the rural revitalization strategy.