Reasons and resolution approaches of environmental conflict in grassland areas: An empirical study in contemporary northern China

Environmental conflicts frequently occur in grassland areas, which form the largest terrestrial ecosystem in China. Grassland conflict not only seriously affects environmental and public governance, but also threatens social stability and economic development. Based on a field study using surveys and interviews with 5,490 respondents and a case study of 30 cases in northern China, this paper explores the reasons for and resolution approaches to environmental conflict in grassland areas and identified three key findings. First, the reasons for conflict included economic, political and administrative, technological, social, cultural, and historical factors. Economic and political and administrative factors were confirmed as the most important causes of such conflict. Although economic reasons were often deemed more important than political and administrative ones, they always played a preconditioning role. Political and administrative causes often directly led to the outbreak and deterioration of conflict. Second, although multiple approaches have been used to resolve conflicts in grassland areas, governmental intervention and mediation remain the most strongly recognized and widely used approach. The importance of judicial settlement has increased significantly in contemporary practices. Third, both the reasons for and approaches adopted to mitigate conflict affected the effectiveness of the conflict resolution, and the reasons also influenced the selection of appropriate conflict resolution approaches. These findings provide a new theoretical direction for future studies as well as practical implications for resolving conflicts in environmental and other types of public governance in contemporary China and elsewhere.