Mongolia: Country Features, the Main Causes of Desertification and Remediation Efforts - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 209

Fig. 11.3 Livestock production zones based on description by Suttie ( 2005 )

herders produce meat, milk, dairy products, wool, cashmere and leather. Vast pasture
resources, the harsh climate and low population densities have favored the evolution
of extensive livestock/pastoral livestock production in Mongolia (Fig. 11.3 ). New
livestock breeds of cattle, sheep and goats were developed for the extensive livestock
production system. The intensive livestock subsector is characterized by using
foreign breeds which have a higher productivity. The subsectors raise or produce
mainly dairy cattle, sheep, pig and poultry.

3 Mongolian Gobi

The Mongolian Gobi is a vast zone of deserts and desert steppe covering almost
30 % of the Mongolian territory and also of the Northeastern China. The gobi is
often imagined as a lifeless desert, but in reality it is a land of steppes that serve as a
viable habitat to humans and wildlife alike. Many camel breeders inhabit this zone,
which is also rich in wildlife and vegetation.
The Mongolians say that there are 33 different Gobi, from which sandy deserts
occupies a mere 3 % of the total area. The gobi's climate is extreme, with 40 ı C

C

40 ı C in winter. It has very little precipitation. The Mongolian
Government established the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area in 1975. In 1991 the
United Nations designated the Great Gobi as the fourth largest biosphere reserve
in the world. The protected area is divided into two ecologically distinct parts, the
southern Altai Gobi and the Dzungarian Gobi. The Gobi was originally an ancient
island sea basin. Later it became home to many species of dinosaurs, and today has
reservoirs of fossilized dinosaur bones and eggs. A complete dinosaur skeleton and
eggs are exhibited at the Museum of Natural History.

in summer to