Optimal water and land resource allocation in pastoral areas based on a water–land forage–livestock balance: a case study of Otog Front Banner, Inner Mongolia, China

Natural grasslands provide important land resources in pastoral areas, and greatly contribute to ecological functioning. Overgrazing and other unreasonable exploitations have led to the degradation and desertification of natural grasslands, exacerbating the forage–livestock imbalance. In areas suffering from water shortage, this imbalance gradually evolves into a water–land forage–livestock imbalance. In this study, a water–land forage–livestock balance–based model was developed to optimise the allocation of water, land, and forage resources in pastoral areas, while addressing economic and ecological benefits in a coupled manner. The model was applied in a case study of Otog Front Banner to simulate the comprehensive economic and ecological benefits to the development of water, land, and forage resources in different coupled allocations of artificial and natural grasslands. The results showed that as the duration of supplementary and barn feeding increased, local development was first constrained by the availability of natural grasslands and then by the availability of water resources. The optimal resource allocation in Otog Front Banner predicted for 2030 included a water consumption of 266,000,000 m3, an irrigation area of 43,000 ha, a natural grassland utilisation area of 684,700 ha, and a livestock farming scale of 1,188,500 sheep units.