Gansu and Xinjiang Pastoral Development Project

The development objective of the GXPDP is to improve the lives and livelihoods of herders and farmers in the project areas, through establishment of improved grassland management and livestock production and marketing systems, while sustaining the pastoral resources. The project would empower farmer and herder households and pastoral associations to better manage their grassland resources, thereby increasing their incomes through more efficient livestock production and generating marketable surpluses to improve their living standards. Establishment of improved livestock marketing systems would also increase the efficiency of the livestock production system that should help raising the living standards of farmers and herders. The global environment objective of the project is to improve the condition of natural grassland ecosystems and thereby enhance their global environmental benefits, including biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and river basin management. This objective would be achieved by implementing pilot community based grassland management plans in selected project areas with high global biodiversity values; providing incremental investments for implementing grassland plans; and supporting monitoring of grasslands habitats in selected pilot sites. . The proposed project consists of the following components, to be implemented over a six-year period: (a) Grassland Management and Improvement Component; (b) Livestock Productivity Improvement Component; (c) Marketing Component; and (d) Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation Component.