Biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of livestock management in high-altitude Xizang, China

Abstract

Livestock management plays a crucial role in environmental protection, food security, and sustainable livelihoods worldwide. However, comprehensive research on its microeconomic dimensions remains limited. Here, we used piecewise structural equation modeling to identify key drivers of livestock management among rural smallholders, focusing on livestock stocking rates (LSR) and livestock offtake rates (LOR). Data were collected via semi-structured questionnaires and household head interviews in 54 villages in northern Xizang between 2018 and 2020 (n = 549). Our findings revealed pronounced spatial heterogeneity in livestock management, with households in alpine meadows showing the highest LSR (2.14 standardized sheep units per hectare, SSU· ha⁻¹) and the lowest LOR (9 %), in contrast to households in desert steppe areas (0.27 SSU· ha⁻¹ and 15 %, respectively). Across northern Xizang, five grouped environmental factors—climatic conditions, natural resource endowment, market conditions, demographics, and household income—jointly explained 66 % and 20 % of the variance in LSR and LOR, respectively. Biophysical factors had a greater influence than socioeconomic ones, though demographic variables and market conditions were also positively correlated with LSR and LOR, respectively. Given the consistently low LOR among species (9 %–15 %), with marked differences between yaks and sheep (5 %) and goats (2 %), targeted policies are needed to encourage herders to adopt circular economy practices to balance ecological conservation with economic growth. This study highlights an underutilized livestock economy in high-altitude pastoral communities and clarifies the interplay of biophysical and socioeconomic factors in herders’ decision-making. The findings offer valuable insights for refining policy frameworks related to livestock and environmental management in rural China and beyond.

Keywords

Smallholder / Pastoral communities / Livestock management / Sustainable development / Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

Ethical statement

This study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (date of approval: 2019.7, 2020.7). Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data availability

Data are available upon request from the authors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Yu Zhang: Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Ben Niu: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. Zhipeng Wang: Writing – review & editing. Meng Li: Writing – review & editing. Jianshuang Wu: Writing – review & editing, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. Xianzhou Zhang: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interests

No conflict of interests exits in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication. I would like to declare on behalf of my co-authors that the work described was original research that has not been published previously, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. All the authors listed have approved the manuscript that is enclosed.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (Grant No. 2019QZKK1002) and the Innovation Talent Exchange of Foreign Expert Program under the Belt and Road Initiative (Grant No. DL2021056001L).

Supplementary materials

Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100377.

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