With the country’s continuing transition to democracy and urban lifestyle, human activity in and out of Mongolia has increased. The number of livestock (the main source of income for traditional nomads), as well as coal and mineral mining activities have significantly increased. With the price of cashmere wool dropping 50% from 2008, the nomads feel pressure to either increase their Kashmir goat herds or leave their cultural nomadic traditions for the economically popular mining industry. Goats are known as an important cause of soil erosion, and with both animals and miners breaking up the natural topsoil of Mongolian grasslands, there is an unstable imbalance in the country between natural restoration and ecology management.

Desertification and Asian dust and sand storms are increasing in strength and region of influence. This is a serious problem because the aerosols blown into the atmosphere by these storms pollute the air of Mongolia and neighboring regions. The dust and sand from these storms, also known as “Yellow Sand,” have been found in countries as far away as Korea and Japan, and have even been traced to the United States. There have been studies focusing on the health hazards of ADS and the resulting “Yellow Sand”, which include significant increases in respiratory conditions like pneumonia shortly after storm activity in China and Mongolia. If desertification worsens, there will be a larger region to create sand and dust.

Today, organizations and government agencies from countries around the world are determined to help research and develop land restoration projects and policies in the hopes that they may stop or slow down the rate of desertification and land degradation, changing the local and global climate. However, there is still much to be done to help preserve Mongolia’s nomadic culture and environment. MEC has created an e-database with collected information on desertification, land degradation, climate change, and their effects in order to help those interested in helping the environment in Mongolia.

If you are researching and writing about desertification and climate change in Mongolia, we would like to feature your story. Please submit your story to info@mongolec.org

If you are working on desertification and climate change issues in Mongolia, we would like to partner with you to maximize our social impact. Please visit our Partners page to see who is in our network of partners and how you can become a partner.