Annotations - threatened herders

"We've been wintering in this valley for 30 years," she says, looking away from her cows toward the hills in the distance. "Back then, the grass came up to my chest. It grew so tall that we had use a sickle and horse-drawn equipment to cut through it. But the grass of my time is gone. There's no longer enough to feed the animals."

Even Mongolia's nomads have been caught up in the country's debt problem. Loans have become an annual ritual on Mongolia's steppes, where herders capitalising on a growing market for cashmere are hostage to a downward cycle of falling margins and deteriorating pastures

[publisher] It was one of the fastest-growing emerging markets during the commodities boom. Since the bust, the government and ordinary Mongolians have traded a culture of self-sufficiency for deep indebtedness.

We know that the goats have sharp hooves that can break through the topsoil. The way they eat is they eat the grass and the plants all the way from the roots up, so that it's really hard for the grass to regenerate," she says. "That combination of having so many goats that the land can't handle — and that [the land]

doesn't really have a chance to recuperate — is a big issue, as well as concern for the herders' well-being and welfare."] (Sarah Hayes from Patagonia)

NOMGON SOUM, MONGOLIA—A massive sandstorm is crashing in over South Gobi province, darkening afternoon skies over the village meeting house where dozens of chattering herders from far-

The opening paragraph, introducing a sense of threat and uncertainty. #dust-storms #dzud #threatened-herders #volatile-prices #china-price-fixing #pressure-for-quality -- Set up as a cluster of factors, the situation appears to be so complex that herders themselves would be unable to untangle things.

The cashmere herders in Mongolia already face several problems regarding the production, including income instability and uncertainty, and are often indebted to intermediaries for cash advances. The need for more sustainability and traceability in the sector is also required because of the decreasing quality of cashmere due to climate change, rise in unethical sustainable sourcing, and demands for proof of sustainability. The farmers of the region have welcomed the decision to use technology to better trace their products

(i.e., sustainable sourcing which is "unethical"). The "demands for proof of sustainability" implies that whereas herders are unable to provide this themselves, an outside technological solution is possible.

uxury fashion house Kering, owners of Gucci and Stella McCartney, identified a challenge in their supply chain: exponentially increasing demand for cashmere had led to a four-fold increase in goats nationwide over the span of a decade. The challenges were multi-faceted. The overabundance of goats were devouring local vegetation, even the roots. With nothing to anchor the soil, giant dust storms began to form, causing significant problems for the herders and reducing air quality in cities from Beijing to California. Local biodiversity suffered, with less forage available for already rare wildlife. Herders were also struggling; as the quality of the cashmere was decreasing, prices per goat were falling.

This cluster of arguments summarizes the frame presented by the Sustainable Cashmere Project.

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.