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Monitoring and management of grassland in Northern China
by Professor Chen Zhongxin, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science

In China, spatial information technology, as well as remote sensing has been extensively and intensively adopted in the monitoring and management of grassland. It brought and is still bringing great benefits for the management and utilization of grassland eco-systems in regional and national scales in Northern China. Main progresses include: 1, Based on satellite remotely-sensed data and field observations, a cluster of grassland biomass models were set up to study the dynamic balance between livestock and grassland capacity. The operational monitoring system for dynamic balance between livestock and grassland capacity in Northern China was set up and is being operated year by year, providing useful information to the decision-makers. 2, The new-generation EOS-MODIS remote sensing data has been used in the monitoring of grass growth, biomass and grassland disasters. We set up and grassland monitoring and early warning system to monitoring the grassland degradation, productivity and support-capacity for livestock in Northern China. 3, With the integration of spatial information technology and evaluation model, we analyzed the global change’s impact on desertification, which is critical to sustainable grassland management. Our experiences showed that remote sensing, as well as spatial information technology or geo-technology is promising in the monitoring and management of grassland at regional and national scales, then it should be a priority field for the Sino-Australian cooperation in sustainable grassland management.