Abstract:

The grazing intensity reduction behavior of herders plays a key role in the process of grassland degradation. To a certain extent, rural regulations and folk agreements, as a way of self-governance at the grassroot level, have a positive effect on the institutionalization and legalization of grassland environmental governance. Thus, the study investigated the influence of rural regulations and folk agreements on herder’s decision-making behavior to reduce grazing intensity and thereafter put forward several policy suggestions on controlling herder’s over-grazing behavior from the perspective of informal institution. The paper analyzed the influence mechanism of the rural regulations and folk agreements on herders’ decision-making behavior of grassland protection. Then, Double-Hurdle model was applied to figure the impact of the rural regulations and folk agreements on herders’ decision-making behavior based on a field survey data of 193 herder households in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. The results showed that the rural regulations and folk agreements which were formulated in written form and had unchanged content during the past 5 years significantly increased herders’ willingness to reduce grazing intensity. Herders with religious belief and poor Chinese proficiency had a significant lower willingness to reduce grazing intensity. Moreover，herders who were greaterly influenced by rural regulations and folk agreements on their production and life had higher degree of grazing intensity reduction. The education level and family income of herders were significantly and negatively correlated with their grazing intensity reduction ratio, respectively. Finally, policy suggestions, such as paying more attention to the formulation’s standardization and the content stability of rural regulations and folk agreements, improving herders’ compliance and recognition of rural regulations and folk agreements, and regularly carrying out Chinese training to upgrade herders’ Chinese proficiency, are highly recommended to guide herders to make decisions on reducing grazing intensity.

Key words: rural regulations and folk agreements, grassland ecologic protection, grazing intensity reduction, decision-making behavior, herder