Editing Ningxia (section)

===Grasslands===
It was reported that approximately 34 percent (33.85 million [[Mu (unit)|mu]]; {{val|{{#expr:(33.85 * 1000000 * 0.00066667)round-2}}|fmt=commas|u=km2}}) of the region's total surface consisted of [[Grasslands of China|grassland]].<ref>Ningxia Bureau of Statistics, 2013, 1.2</ref> This figure is down from approximately 40 percent in the 1990s. The grasslands are spread over the dry desert-steppe area in the northeast (which forms a part of the Inner Mongolian steppe region), and the hilly pastures located on the semi-arid Loess Plateau in the south.<ref name="Ho 2016">{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=Peter |date=2016 |title=Empty Institutions, Non-Credibility and Pastoralism: China's Grazing Ban, Mining and Ethnicity |journal=The Journal of Peasant Studies |language=en |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=1145–1176 |doi=10.1080/03066150.2016.1239617|s2cid=157632052 }}</ref> It is ascertained that the grasslands of Ningxia have been degraded to various degrees.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ho |first1=Peter |last2=Azadi |first2=Hossein |date=2010 |title=Rangeland Degradation in North China: Perceptions of Pastoralists |journal=Environmental Research |language=en |volume=110 |issue=3 |pages=302–307 |doi=10.1016/j.envres.2009.12.007 |pmid=20106474|bibcode=2010ER....110..302H }}</ref> Scientists debate the extent to which this degradation occurs over space and time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=P. |date=2001 |title=Rangeland Degradation in North China Revisited? A Preliminary Statistical Analysis to Validate Non-Equilibrium Range Ecology |journal=The Journal of Development Studies |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=99–133 |doi=10.1080/00220380412331321991 |s2cid=154397243}}</ref> Historical research has also found limited evidence of expanding grassland degradation and [[desertification]] in Ningxia.<ref name="Ho 2000">{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=Peter |date=2000 |title=The Myth of Desertification at China's Northwestern Frontier: The Case of Ningxia Province, 1929–1958 |journal=Modern China |language=en |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=348–395 |doi=10.1177/009770040002600304 |s2cid=83080752}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ho |first=Peter |date=2003 |title=Mao's War against Nature? The Environmental Impact of the Grain-First Campaign in China |journal=The China Journal |language=en |volume=50 |issue=50 |pages=37–59 |doi=10.2307/3182245 |jstor=3182245 |s2cid=144410824}}</ref> A major component of land management in Ningxia is a ban on open grazing, which has been in place since 2003.<ref>Zhou, Z. 2013. A view of Ningxia ten years since the grazing ban [Jìn mù yī nián kàn Níngxià]. People's Daily, 29 June. p. 10.</ref> The ecological and socio-economic effects of this Grazing Ban in relation to the grasslands and pastoralists' livelihood are contested.<ref name="Ho 2016"/> The ban stipulates that animal husbandry be limited to enclosed pens and no open grazing be permitted in certain time periods set by the Autonomous Region's People's Government.