Restoring soil function and resilience to degraded grasslands

Soil degradation presents a major threat to food security and human wellbeing. As highlighted in a recent UN report, some 33% of the world's soils are moderately to highly degraded and as much as 40 billion tons of topsoil are lost annually as a result of soil erosion. Further, these problems are especially acute in developing countries, where soil erosion can cause dramatic declines in food production and result in poverty and hunger. Much focus on soil degradation is centered on arable lands, but it is also a major problem across the world's grasslands, which cover ~ 37% of the earth's land surface and are of major importance for food supply and livelihoods. One such hotspot of severe soil degradation is the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. This region is the largest area of grassland on the Eurasian continent, covering 25% of the land area in China. It is also the highest and largest plateau on Earth with an area of 2.5 million km2 and an average altitude of 4500 m. Some 8 million people live on the plateau, of which 48% live in poverty, largely due to widespread degradation of the grasslands on which rural people depend. Grasslands cover 65% of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and play a major role in providing food and ecosystem services for rural people, largely through traditional yak, sheep and goat grazing, but also as a source of wild plants and fungi used in traditional Chinese medicine. However, livestock stocking rates on these grasslands have more than doubled in recent years, and overgrazing has contributed to massive grassland degradation and soil erosion, leading to increased rural poverty. These problems are also exacerbated by climate change, especially extreme events such as droughts, which are becoming more frequent, making soils more vulnerable to erosion. At present, estimates suggest that some 30-50% of grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau are degraded, and in many cases soils have completely lost their ability to support grassland production, with extreme consequences for local people; many traditional herders live in poverty in this region, which is the third poorest in China. Despite this, land managers and policy makers remain puzzled about how to restore degraded grasslands to their once healthy state, and how to make them better able to buffer the vagaries of climate change. Grassland degradation is caused by many factors, so restoring them is not straightforward. But key is the re-building of a fully functioning soil, on which plants that support livestock depend. We also argue that this recovery of soil health requires a holistic approach, involving the rebuilding of chemical, physical and biological properties of soil on which its functioning and resilience to climate change depends. Our goal is to restore fertility to degraded grassland soils of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and enhance their ability to buffer future climate change. We build on our research in UK grasslands where we have shown soil health and resilience can be promoted through manipulating the diversity and make up of grassland plant communities. We want to test this approach for restoring the functioning and resilience of degraded grassland soils of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, thereby helping to increase food production and improve human welfare in this region. To achieve this, we not only plan to carry out novel research, testing our ideas developed in UK grasslands on the degraded soils of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau; but also we will build a multi-disciplinary team, including grassland scientists and stakeholders, with the capacity to develop robust solutions, based on sound ecological and socio-economic principles, for the restoration of soil functioning and resilience to degraded grassland in this and other low to middle income countries.

Soil degradation presents a major threat to food security, economic development, and human wellbeing. One such hotspot of soil degradation is the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, which contains the largest area of grassland on the Eurasian continent, and covers 25% of the land area in China. Grasslands cover 65% of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and are crucial for providing food and ecosystem services for rural people, largely through traditional livestock grazing. However, stocking rates on these grasslands have more than doubled in recent years, contributing to massive grassland degradation and soil erosion, and increased poverty of rural people. Further, these problems are exacerbated by climate change, especially extreme events such as droughts, which are increasing in frequency and making soils more vulnerable to erosion. A key starting point for the restoration of degraded grasslands is rebuilding soil functioning and resilience to climate change. We recently discovered, via our BBSRC research, that manipulating grassland plant functional diversity can be used to enhance soil functions of fundamental importance to soil health; knowledge that we propose can provide a basis for restoring functioning of degraded grassland soils of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Our goal here is to tackle this challenge by: (a) conducting novel research to test the idea that plant functional diversity can help to restore soil health and resilience to degraded grasslands; and (b) building a multi-disciplinary team, including key stakeholders, with the capacity to develop robust solutions for the restoration of soil functioning and resilience to degraded grassland in this and other low to middle income countries. A key outcome will be a road map for a future, more wide-ranging consortium to conduct research on sustainable grassland management, including consideration of agronomic practices and socio-economic factors, to promote economic development and welfare on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

The main beneficiaries of our research will be scientists, policy makers and land managers concerned with the restoration of soil functioning in degraded grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau and other regions, and, in the longer term, grassland herders who will implement new approaches to grassland restoration developed in this project. Our project also addresses fundamental questions about the functioning and resilience of grassland soils in this region, and will draw together experts working on related topics in other LMICs; as such, our project will generate new scientific understanding of the functioning of grasslands and their resilience to future climate change. Finally, our project will also be of interest to the general public. The Qinghai-Tibetan plateau is an iconic place and is fast becoming a major eco-tourism destination; as such, we expect considerable interest in our project among the general public with interests in this region.

Engagement with stakeholders: The principal vehicle for engagement and dissemination of our findings is via WP3, which sets out to build a multi-disciplinary research consortium with the capacity to develop policy and management tools, based on sound ecological and socio-economic principles, to restore soil functioning and resilience to degraded grasslands in this and other LMICs. We take a step-by-step approach to capacity building, which will involve (1) a participatory regional meeting in Xining, China, in May 2017, which will include local experts and stakeholders with interests in grassland restoration and soil functioning on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, building on existing links from our previous NERC ESPA Development Grant and the contacts of our project partners; (2) a systematic literature review to develop a framework for grassland restoration and sustainable management for resilience to climate change, that is underpinned by scientifically relevant approaches to soil restoration and improvement; (3) a 'Global Grasslands Summit', to be held in Manchester, Nov 2018, which will engage grassland and soil experts and stakeholders from China, other LMICs, and the UK with the goal of developing core understanding of key solutions to grassland degradation and sustainable grassland soil management; and (4) Finally, at the end of the project in Feb 2019, we will hold a final project meeting in Xining, China, with the aim of consolidating understanding and putting together a 'road map' for a future comprehensive research proposal aimed at sustainable grassland management to promote economic development and welfare in this and other LMICs.

Dissemination of research findings: A key mechanism for dissemination of research findings from our research will be the publication of peer reviewed papers in leading international journals, and the presentation of research findings at international meetings. Our goal is to publish at least two research papers, each based on WP 1 and WP 2, and an overview conceptual paper on 'sustainable solutions to grassland degradation" based largely on the 'Global Grassland Summit' to be held in Manchester, Nov 2018. In addition to publication of our work, we will encourage the PDRA's to present findings at national and international conferences.

To raise public awareness: We have a strong track record of being actively involved in outreach activities. Here we will For this project, we will raise public awareness via two primary routes. First, we propose to make a short film on grassland degradation and the work we are doing to tackle the problem, focussing on building healthy soil; second, we will use the "Global Grassland Summit" in Manchester as a vehicle to promote awareness of our research and its longer-term goals.

Transferable skills training: A key outcome will be the delivery of highly trained staff with training in multi-disciplinary approaches required to address major GCRF challenges in sustainable grassland management in LMICs.