GB/T 21439-2026Assessment of rangeland health status (English PDF)

Foreword

This document complies with the provisions of GB/T 1.1-2020 "Standardization Work Guidelines Part

1.Structure and Drafting Rules of Standardization Documents". Drafting. This document replaces GB/T 21439-2008 "Grassland Health Status Assessment". Compared with GB/T 21439-2008, except for structural adjustments and... Aside from editorial changes, the main technical changes are as follows:

---The terms "territory," "soil (territory) stability," "hydrological function," "biological integrity," "ecological reference zone," "bare land," "soil compaction," "soil bulk density," "wind erosion," "water flow traces," "ditches," "grooves," "plant communities," "surface stock," "litter," "dominant species," and "invasive plant species" have been deleted (see 3.3-

3.20 of the.2008 edition);

---The definitions of the terms "grassland," "grassland health," and "important value" have been revised (see 3.1, 3.2, 3.10; 3.1, 3.2,

3.19 in the.2008 edition);

---The following terms have been added. "vitality," "organization," "resilience," "above-ground biomass," "grass height," "coverage," "edible forage," "stress tolerance index," and "reference value" (see 3.3-3.9, 3.11, and 3.12);

---The "Grassland Health Status Evaluation Indicators and Explanations" have been revised (see Table 1, Table 1 in the.2008 edition);

---The measurement and classification of "bare land", "wind erosion", "soil compaction", "water flow traces", "ditches", "grooving", "litter movement", "dominant species", "litter amount", "surface stock", and "invasive species" have been deleted (see 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.4~

4.2.12 of the.2008 edition);

---Added settings and measurement methods for "sample plots and quadrats" (see 4.2);

---Added "relative aboveground biomass", "relative grass height", "relative community cover", "species diversity index", and "perennial species prevalence". The calculation of indicators such as "ratio of edible forage grass", "soil bulk density", and "relative stress tolerance index" (see 4.3.1~4.3.7, 4.3.9);

---Added "Health Indicator Score" (see 5.1);

---Steps one through four and step six of the evaluation process have been removed (see sections 5.1-

1 Scope

GB/T 21439-2026 is the Chinese national standard covering whether a grassland is healthy or degrading - the vegetation cover and composition, the palatable species remaining, the soil surface condition and erosion, and the classification into health grades that determines the grazing allowed. China's rangelands cover some 40% of its land area and much of it is degraded. It replaces GB/T 21439-2008 and has been in force since 1 October 2026. It was issued on 31 March 2026 and takes effect on 1 October 2026, replacing GB/T 21439-2008. The document is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. This page is published from the official record of the 2026 edition; the clause text of a standard this recent is not yet in circulation, and the figures, limits and tables it contains are those of the document itself, delivered in full with the English translation.

This document establishes the evaluation indicators for grassland health status assessment, specifies the scoring of health indicators, the calculation of the health index, and the health status. Classification. This document applies to the assessment of grassland health status.

4 Evaluation Indicators

4.1 Indicator Description The grassland health status evaluation indicators include 3 primary indicators and 9 secondary indicators, as shown in Table 1.

5 Health Assessment

5.1 Health Indicator Scores Based on the above nine evaluation indicators and their measurement results, the grassland health status is scored using a 5-point scale, with scores of 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Scoring is based on 4 or 5 points; the higher the score, the better the grassland's health. Scoring is done according to Table 2.