Mongolia: Country Features, the Main Causes of Desertification and Remediation Efforts - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 210

4 Desertification in Mongolia

Mongolia's land area is 1,564,416 ha, with 8.3 % covered by forest, 80 %
pastureland, and 1 % for cultivated farmland. About 90 % of the total area of the
country has the potential for desertification and 41.3 % is considered as desert and
desert steppe zone. Main causes of desertification are anthropogenic impacts, which
accelerate the process of land degradation created by natural impacts such as global
warming, drought and climate change. These factors are interrelated; sometimes
they are affecting each other positively, and other times negatively. Human activities
as a factor of desertification occur in the frame of natural dryness, causing negative
impacts. Within these anthropogenic factors, animal husbandry has the strongest
influence throughout the years by its exploitation of pasturelands that covers 80 %
of the total territory. There has been a shift from sheep keeping to goat keeping
among herders who are trying to respond to the growing international demand for
cashmere fiber. Goats, however, are much more harmful to the environment than
sheep because they disturb the pasture's regenerative capacities by feeding on roots
and flowers. Consequently, the shift to goat keeping is putting increasing pressure
on the pasturelands in Mongolia, threatening to accelerate pasture degradation and
processes of desertification. Over the decade ending 2010, the number of goats has
increased significantly by ten million. In 2010 goats made up 47 % of the total
number of livestock in Mongolia.
Therefore, effective pastureland management is the best solution in combating
desertification. Pasturelands constitute one of the key resources for the livestock
based economy in Mongolia. According to the 2005 Land Inventory Report, 116
million ha or 73.9 % of the total land surface of Mongolia can be considered as
pastureland. Being one of the key resources in the Mongolian economy, therefore,
effective pastureland management is the best solution in combating desertification.
Improved pastureland management has the potential to improve both rangeland
health and rural livelihoods (Bedunah and Schmidt 2004 ; Nixson and Walters 2006 )
Mongolia is divided into six natural zones: tundra; high mountain; forest steppe;
typical steppe; desert steppe; and desert (see Fig. 11.4 ). The pasture productivity,
dominant species and type, length of growing season and phenology are different for
each of these natural zones. The pasture productivity, for instance, ranges between
150 and 1,500 kg/ha increasing from the deserts in the south to the forests and forest
steppes in the north.

4.1 Factors Influencing Pasture Resources

Historic changes in pasture resources have been examined (Saizen et al. 2010 ;
Shestakovich 2010 ) with a view to understanding how these changes can be related
to shifts in climate and to socio-economic developments.