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Mongolia May Loose Prairies, Demand for Cashmere Partly Blamed

Written by Administrator
Tuesday, July 07, 2009.
Mongolia, the land of prairies, is facing rapid desertification, due partly to the unchecked growth of animal herding for prized cashmere wool from Chinese buyers and global warming. The rapid disappearance of pasture fields has alarmed the Mongolian government. Last May, the Ministry of Nature and the Environment sent recommendations to the National Security Council, which is headed by Former President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, urging the government to step up efforts to prevent further desertification of the land. According to the ministry, the grassland is thinning out in 75 percent of the nation’s land area, while 7 percent has completely turned into deserts, Kyodo news agency reported. Banzragch, head of the Ministry of Nature and the Environment’s Sustainable Development and Strategic Planning Department, said that family livestock in Mongolia traditionally consisted of 30 percent goats and 70 percent sheep. “This balance has collapsed as buyers from China have bid up the price of cashmere,” Mr. Banzragch said in explaining the growth of Cashmere goat herding in Mongolia. Unlike sheep, goats kick up the roots of grass and uncontrolled herding devastates pasturelands. As global demand for cashmere shoots up, the population of livestock in Mongolia, a major producer of prized cashmere wool, has swollen, growing from 25.10 million heads in 1993 to 40 million in 2007, the report said. The creeping growth of barren land can be seen in Undorshiren, a hilly settlement of livestock farmers in Dorno Gobi Province in southern Mongolia. “We are seeing more and more barren land in this area,” said 19-year-old nomadic livestock tender Naranerdne as she herded her family stock on a local prairie. “In the past, the barren land you see used to be a prairie,” she said, pointing to the barren patch of land 30 km to the south. A land of mineral resources, the development of mining in Mongolia, which contributed to 29.2 percent of the gross domestic product in 2006, is believed to have added to the woes of desertification along with global warming. Since 2005, the government of Mongolia has stepped up efforts to keep the land from going barren, but the pace of desertification has shown little sign of waning. According to Mr. Banzragch, 96 percent of the country could one day become desert if nothing is done to halt the process and sought assistance from other countries to help Mongolia keep its prairies. Source: PTI