Econometric analysis of the impacts of climate change on the livestock production in Qinghai Province

This study aims to investigate the effect of the impact mechanism of climate change on the livestock production at small watershed level and county level with the Multi-level Model (MLM) in Qinghai Province. The result indicated that the gross livestock output value was greatly influenced by the climatic factors of the small watershed level. Higher temperature promoted also by the increase of precipitation, relative humidity and sunshine duration was found to be beneficial to the development of livestock production, except in some areas where temperature rise restrained the development of local livestock production to some degree when exceeding a certain level; besides, the impact of the socioeconomic factors on the livestock output value is obvious at the county level. The gross economic output measured with GDP has some inhibitory effects on the reinvestment of livestock production, while population growth promotes development of livestock production to some degree. The results not only provide scientific basis for the management of livestock production in Qinghai Province, but also provide reference for formulating the policies and adaptation measures targeted at climate change to promote the sustainable development of livestock production in other regions.