CROSSGRASS · Cross-border analysis of grassland greenness in Asia: Climate variations, grazing pressure, and land policy change
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-04-01 → 2020-03-31
- EU contribution
- €159,461
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Cross-border analysis of grassland greenness in Asia: Climate variations, grazing pressure, and land policy change
To reduce land degradation and secure the livelihoods of rural populations for the Dryland Asia. The overall goal of project “CROSSGRASS” is to analyse the drivers and extent of the changes in grassland greenness, a proxy for plant growth, for the Dryland Asia’s grassland biome. We derived these insights from the combination of remote sensing data, agricultural statistics, and climate data with high spatial and temporal resolution. Using insights from past changes, we forecasted potential future developments under various alternative climate change scenarios. A better understanding of these relationships will allow the carving out of both management options and policy solutions that will help reduce the risk of land degradation and secure the livelihoods for rural populations. The specific objectives of CROSSGRASS include: (1) comparing different remote sensing resources; (2) mapping dynamics of grassland greenness; (2) analysing the drivers of changes in grassland greenness; (3) exploring future scenarios of grassland greenness; (4) dissemination and training. Due to the delayed progress in collection work of the animal data in the five central Asia countries, we have adapted our work plan and decided to firstly conduct our research in the Mongolian Plateau, and we promise that when the data is ready, we will update the results accordingly for the whole dryland Asia including Mongolian Plateau, North-western China and the central Asia.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The Asian grasslands that stretch from the Eastern shores of the Caspian Sea to Manchuria in China are the largest continuous grassland biome worldwide and play a vital role in global carbon sequestration and in sustaining biodiversity. In recent decades, the integrity of the Asian grasslands became threatened by climate change and increasing land-use intensity, which in turn jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of residents that rely on the grassland resources for feeding their animals. To date, however, the spatial and temporal patterns of the changes in grassland resources across the region have not been systematically assessed. Moreover, it remains elusive how changing grazing intensity, climate variations, and institutional transformations have affected the grassland dynamics. This project aims to fill this gap by mapping the spatial patterns of vegetation changes across the Asian grassland biome for the past three and a half decades, and by quantifying the drivers of these changes. The dynamics of grassland greenness, as a proxy of plant growth, will be assessed using vegetation indices derived from remote sensing data. The changes in grassland greenness will then be statistically associated with climate data, subnational livestock statistics, and other control variables using spatial econometric panel analysis at fine spatial grain and annual temporal resolution. Combined, these analyses will shed light on the importance of climate variations and land-use intensity across institutional boundaries. Such insights are pertinent for deriving management options and policy solutions that simultaneously reduce grassland degradation and secure rural livelihoods in Asia. Besides the scientific goals, this action will provide a platform for the applicant and the host to share and transfer their knowledge and experiences in interdisciplinary research in human-environmental systems.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUER AGRARENTWICKLUNG IN TRANSFORMATIONSOEKONOMIEN (IAMO) · HALLE SAALECoordinatorGermany
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union