**4. Why grasslands development needed?**

Grasslands development occupies a pivotal position keeping in view the fact that these are located in regions wherein their rainfall is insufficient to effectively support the growth of trees to form a rain trees forest, but not so scarce to form a desert. Thus, it may be inferred that grasslands often serve as a transition zone between deserts and forests. These serve as one of the prime ecosystems and cover over one-third of the terrestrial surface worldwide. Extensively managed grasslands have emerged as one of the most secure habitats to ensure plant biodiversity. The need for their development even becomes more important as grasslands in conjunction with different rangelands contribute significantly to boost livestock productivity through the provision of cost-effective and nutritious forage abundantly and that too throughout the year owing to grasses diversity containing perennial grass species. Another aspect emphasizes the pertinence of grasslands development as

#### *Introductory Chapter: Grasslands Development - Green Ecological Economy and Ecosystem… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105345*

grasslands (both natural and semi-natural grasslands) play a vital role in the provision of life-sustaining livelihood to people by providing animal feed. Developing grasslands has become mandatory, keeping in view the rapidly increasing supply needs for animal products owing to skyrocketing human population. In addition, gradually hiking consumption patterns and demand for livestock products (milk, meat, wool, etc.) on per capita basis has made it necessary to increase the conversion of natural grasslands into improved grasslands. It should be kept in mind that competition and land-use patterns are predicted to multiply considerably by 2050, which may be accentuated by the recent scenario of climate change. This scenario increased the intense focus on sustainable food production for ensuring food security through alteration of agricultural sciences research approaches and policymaking at state, regional, and global levels. Grasslands development can be achieved by putting into use the sustainable intensification concept, in terms of increasing the productivity of grasslands in order to supplement the production potential of croplands. However, up till now, the role of improved grasslands through biologically viable improvement and development has been direly neglected and thus compromising the food security of many tropical grassland regions of Africa and Asia [11–14].

The developed grasslands might be of unprecedented pertinence due to having very high conservation value and the potential to support sustainable food production. The co-development of grasslands adjacent with various types of rangelands, including shrubland and savannas can contribute significantly in ensuring the survival and food security of the surrounding population. Grassland development has to be initiated by keeping in view their local importance in terms of ensuring and maintaining the species biodiversity as well as food production. In addition, these also influence a variety of ecological processes at the local landscape (pollination), regional level (water regulation and recreation activities), and global scales (climate regulation) which necessitate their development in an integrated manner without disruption of prevalent ecosystems. Grasslands provide feed base to grazing livestock for producing high-quality food products, and in return get organic manures, a source of pollination and planting material transportation through natural means along with the provision of leather for human utilization for various purposes. In addition, grassland development can potentially provide vital services and roles such as water catchments, reserves of biodiversity, and fulfilling cultural as well as recreational needs. More importantly, grassland development has the potential to increase their capacity to serve as a carbon sink for alleviating the emissions of greenhouse gases which have contributed heavily to global warming and climate change. Inevitably, grasslands development might invoke plenty of challenges, but those have to be confronted and tackled through target-oriented and collaborative research and policymaking in a coherent manner.
