Benefit analysis of grassland and its classification management in Qinghai Province

Due to the global climate change and improper utilization, the grassland degradation is threatening the grassland ecosystem health in Qinghai Province. The classification management for grassland proposes a new approach of solving the contradiction between grassland protection and utilization in order to control the grassland degradation and achieve the sustainable utilization of grassland resources. Based on the estimation and analysis of ecological and economic benefits of grassland, the index of benefit difference index (BDI) was provided to divide the management regions and the grassland was grouped into conservation region and production region. In which, the grassland areas for conservation and production were 2.841 44107 hm2(46.27% of total grassland area) and 3.299 04107 hm2(53.73% of total grassland area) respectively.