Tenure and Management Arrangements for China's Grassland Resources: Fieldwork Findings and Legal and Policy Recommendations

摘要

About two-thirds of China's population resides in rural areas, relying on collectively owned rural land as a primary source of both current income and long-term security. The institutional arrangements under which rights to such land are held largelydetermine both the economic viability of rural households and the long-term sustainability of the land. The first stage of China's recent rural land system reforms involved the transition from collective ownership and management of rural land to a systemunder which the rights to use and manage collectively owned rural land were contracted directly to households. Although the earliest steps of the Household Responsibility System reforms involved only arable land, grassland resources would soon follow. For nearly 20 years, institutionalisation of the Household Responsibility System reforms has remained the underlying principle of Chinese rural land laws and policies.