Annotations - desertification

Consequently, an estimated Consequently, an estimated 70 percent 70 percent of Mongolia’s grazing lands are presently considered of Mongolia’s grazing lands are presently considered degraded. Herders are forced onto progressively smaller patches of land, further hastening soil degraded. Herders are forced onto progressively smaller patches of land, further hastening soil erosion.

After the collapse of the communist Mongolian People’s Republic in 1990, Mongolia abandoned the quota system that previously governed the number of animals permitted to graze on its lands. Since then, its grazing livestock population has jumped from 20 million to 61.5 million. Goats now account for more than half of all livestock, which has proven environmentally disastrous: Goats eat the roots and flowers needed to seed new grasses, so when a herd uproots a pasture, what grows back is sparser and often poisonous (inedible plants generally replace native grasses). Unmoored soil is swept up into dust storms, reaching as far south as Beijing and Hong Kong.

And the demand is understandably high — which has led to dangerous overgrazing in Mongolia and essential grasslands being turned into deserts.

although cashmere may be the first word that resonates with you, the meaning behind this material runs far deeper than that. Each piece is a result of the Nomad’s hard work fighting desertification, preventing overgrazing, and enduring long Mongolian winters. The amount of work and the rich historical practices that go into producing just one garment is what makes our cashmere and yak wool pieces unlike anything you will find in the world of fast fashion.

The work to combat desertification and overgrazing is interestingly linked to a capacity to survive in an extreme climate; the Nomad is resilient and hard-working. This is perhaps intended as a counter-narrative to #overgrazing and #desertification , implying that herders have always practised sustainable livelihoods: #indigenous-sustainability .

Cashmere production is harmful to the environment because it is a significant contributor to soil degradation followed by desertification. Cashmere goats, who must consume 10% of their bodyweight in food each day, eat the roots of grasses, so they can never grow back. In fact, 65% of Mongolia’s grasslands have already been degraded, and 90% of Mongolia is in danger of desertification, which has led to some of the world’s worst dust storms on record and air pollution dense enough to reach North America

The mass production of cashmere, once solely a luxury good, is fueling ecological de­ struction that has fashion la­ bels searching for new sources of the fiber—or giving it up al­ together. Herds of cashmere goats, whose hair is used to produce the soft fabric, have grown sharply since the turn of the century in China and Mongo­ lia, which supply 90% of the world’s cashmere. The once-scarce fiber has become cheap enough for mass-market labels, resulting in billions of dollars in sales, but with ecological consequences. Millions of goats are chewing through the vast grasslands, known as steppe, that straddle the Mongolian-Chinese border. Nearly 60% of Mongolian pas­ ture land is degraded, the Mon­ golian government says, includ­ ing large swaths that have turned into desert.

Presentation of the problem, as one facing fashion labels.

n the 1990s, Mongolia abandoned its communist system of government and with it, strict quotas on the number of grazing animals allowed across the vast grasslands. Since then, the country has gone from 20 million grazing livestock to 61.5 million, eating their way across the land. When animals eat more plants than can grow back naturally, the landscape begins to shift in subtle ways. Plants become sparser and patchy and dead areas emerge, which accelerates soil erosion. Native grasses are replaced with poisonous, inedible species.

Meanwhile, development, especially mining, has exponentially increased water usage. Twelve percent of rivers and 21% of lakes have dried up entirely. An increasing number of people, vehicles, and heavy equipment put additional stress on the land

A perfect storm of factors is damaging Mongolia's grasslands, says Troy Sternberg, a researcher at the University of Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment in the United Kingdom. From 1940 to 2014, annual mean temperatures here have increased by 2.07°C, more than double the global average. Ten of the warmest years on record have occurred since 1997, while rainfall has decreased and seasonal weather patterns have shifted. This has exacerbated soil erosion, which has begun to alter the vegetation, a trend that projections show will intensify in the

#climate-change : rising temperatures and decreased precipitation --> soil erosion and #desertification (desert / arid species of vegetation)

As with a lot of natural materials, sourcing those cashmere fibres can have a negative impact on the animals it comes from, and the planet, too. If the goats are sheared too soon in the year, they won’t have a thick enough coat to protect them from the elements. A higher demand for cheaper cashmere means more goats, and the land they live on is suffering because of that. More hungry goats means less grass, which can turn that once-green land into a desert. There’s a human impact, as well, with questionable conditions for the goat herders, and less pay as cashmere gets cheaper.