Livelihood Diversification Helps Herder Households on the Mongolian Plateau Reduce Emissions: A Case Study of a Typical Pastoral Area

Environmental issues caused by energy consumption have become increasingly prominent in recent years. In some ecologically vulnerable areas of developing countries, the negative environmental effects caused by farmers' household energy consumption are closely related to the local (and even global) ecological environment and human health. Taking a typical ecologically vulnerable area of the Mongolian Plateau as an example, we combined a regression model, energy popularity rate, and average energy consumption to explore the impact of livelihood diversification on herder households' energy consumption structures. We also attempted to quantify the environmental effects of the energy transition in terms of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. The findings show that the average consumption of livestock dung, gasoline, coal, liquefied gas, solar, and wind of livelihood diversification households (LDHs) is lower than that of pure herder households (PHHs), whereas the average consumption of electricity is higher than that of PHHs. As a result, the average emission of CO2 by LDHs is 5.14 t/a lower than that of PHHs. And compared with PHHs, the average emission reductions of air pollutants by LDHs are ranked as follows: CO: 153.20 kg/a, PM10: 36.56 kg/a (including PM2.5: 32.94 kg/a), VOCs: 12.47 kg/a, SO2: 3.14 kg/a, and NOx: 3.06 kg/a. Therefore, livelihood diversification can help herder households on the Mongolian Plateau reduce emissions through energy consumption transitions. Strengthening education (especially language education) can help herder households engage in livelihood diversification. This study provides a scientific means for ecologically vulnerable areas in developing countries to resolve conflicts between farming households' energy consumption and the environment.