Introduction to the Special issue of The Rangeland Journal on 'Social and ecological aspects of grassland use in northern China: implications for adaptation to climate change'

The idea of this Special Issue was originally conceived by Xiangyang Hou, Director General of the Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IGR, CAAS), Hohhot, China to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the setting up of the Grassland Research Institute in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. The title, 'Social and ecological aspects of grassland use in northern China: implications for adaptation to climate change' was chosen to reflect the key issues of climate change and overgrazing by livestock of the grasslands of northern China and on the social and ecological impacts that they were having on grassland use. Professor Hou identified a list of topics and invited the authors of papers on these topics that reflected the issues raised in the title. The authors have acted as the Associate Editors of this Special Issue in evaluating the papers on the basis of the comments of the reviewers and using our expertise in reviewing and editing manuscripts.