CLAIM: attribution

myangat Excessive herd sizes are promoted by misguided policies of honouring the largest-scale herders with titles such as 'myangat' and awards such as 'sain malchin'. Mongolia's government should instead recognize herders who have intensified production, achieving higher yields from smaller herds, or reimpose a quota system.

destructive mining Mining development causes ecological degradation and contributes to desertification through unsustainable use of water and land erosion caused by increased traffic.

too many herders Overgrazing is caused by too many people attempting to make a living from cashmere production. Possibly tied to proposed interventions to support alternative (urban) livelihoods, increased processing (vs. raw production), and the consolidation or reduction of herds. May be interpreted as a herder deficit or as a structural problem (e.g., poverty, lack of meaningful income alternatives).

herder expenses As standards of living have risen and integration with a market economy has increased, herders' cash expenses have correspondingly risen. The need for greater cash has contributed to unsustainable pastoral production, exceeding carrying capacity of grasslands.

ecological degradation Textiles production, and specifically cashmere production, causes ecological degradation. This may specifically take the form of #desertification. The mechanism for degradation in Mongolia is #overgrazing.

poor cashmere quality from overgrazing Overgrazing has led to reduced rangeland productivity and increased competition among goats for forage resources. The reduction in nourishment has led to poor cashmere quality. Declining quality may also be attributed to the lack of market controls (#quantity-over-quality).

market transition Sustainability or productivity issues can generally be explained by the transition from a command economy to a free market system. Specific factors here may include the lack of #governance or #inadequate-investments. The abandonment of quotas may also be associated with a tragedy of the commons scenario.

tragedy of the commons Mongolian rangelands are subject to an 'open access' property regime. In the absence of land tenure and #collective-action, rangeland users will not invest in sustainable production as they stand to gain more from over-appropriation of the resource.

china overproduction Cashmere supply is excessive due to overproduction in China, supported by government policy.

consumer demand The ultimate cause of ecological damage in Mongolia is over-production to meet global consumer demand. Sustainability-focused interventions should thus address consumer demand first. A demand-side intervention can involve either shifting herders out of production, OR reducing production through increased price levels (#cashmere-price-too-low).

volatile prices Instability of cashmere prices contributes to herders' inability to produce cashmere at stable, sustainable levels. A sudden drop in commodity prices may wipe out much of a household's projected annual income. Price fluctuations may be related to the activity of private traders and intermediaries, #chenj. Large herd sizes are a response to uncertainty.

herder debt Herders experience high levels of household debt. This has the effect of keeping them in poverty and preventing them from investing in improved, diversified, or otherwise more sustainable forms of production; it also places artificial demands on them to produce more to achieve a reasonable standard of living.

disposability The opposite of sustainable practices is the use of disposable consumer goods and the mindset of disposability. In the context of the fashion industry, a mitigating trend is #slow-fashion.

herd composition The proportion of goats to other livestock in herds is a problem. More balanced herds can be sustainable.

dust storms Dust storms, attributable to overgrazing and desertification, reach sites beyond Mongolia's borders (potentially as far as California). Rangeland health is therefore an issue of global impact, deserving international attention.

traditionalism Cultural traditionalism manifests in a political resistance to changes to the herding sector that would ensure its long-term sustainability. In particular, this includes resistance to grasslands regulation (to avoid #tragedy-of-the-commons by shifting away from an open-access property regime) or to modern (foreign) herding techniques.

supply driven overproduction Higher production levels of cashmere are driven by increased supply of raw cashmere

modernization Material progress and technology are drivers of development.

quantity over quality The lack of market controls has incentivized herders to produce quantity over quality. There are no significant price premiums for higher-quality cashmere, and grading processes are poor. This microeconomic frame describes breeding and production strategies that deliberately increase cashmere weight (e.g., by interbreeding goats to produce higher volumes of coarser cashmere), as opposed to the ecological competition frame (#poor-cashmere-quality-from-overgrazing).

designer overproduction Overuse of cashmere within the fashion industry has driven overproduction in Mongolia.

pastoralism biodiversity Mobile pastoralism contributes to the biodiversity of grassland ecosystems, due to the co-evolution of livestock and grassland vegetation species.

herder poverty from low prices Low / depressed cashmere prices cause poverty among herders and reduce their welfare.

densification Herders are making use of smaller land areas, causing more intensive damage.

china price fixing Cashmere prices are depressed or volatile due to price fixing by the Chinese government

climate change Climate change (as distinct from herder activity / overgrazing) leads to rangeland impoverishment and the loss of livestock through drought and extreme weather. Alternatively (or additionally) climate change results in lower-quality cashmere or lower productivity.

moral economy Sustainable production and consumption must be guided by an ethics of 'fair price' rather than 'optimal price' for the buyer or seller. Where cashmere trade is unsustainable, it is a result of the logic of capitalism. This frame may be, but is not necessarily, associated with #fair-trade as market-based intervention.

slow fashion 'Fast fashion' contributes unnecessarily to global waste. Sustainable fashion is slow; garments are designed to be durable and wearable for many years without becoming dated.

overgrazing There are too many cashmere goats in Mongolia. The number of goats exceeds rangeland carrying capacity. This assertion may be associated with factual information about increased numbers of goats, changing herd composition, numbers of herders, density of goats, etc.

dzud Extreme weather events are more common due to overgrazing, and create increased vulnerability / insecurity among herders.

destructive goats Goats are particularly destructive to rangelands due to their grazing habits. By uprooting palatable vegetation, they cause desertification or the transition of a landscape into one dominated by invasive or otherwise undesirable species. Other livestock species are inherently more sustainable. Consumers may be advised to seek animal-based fibres from animals that graze more lightly or more selectively. Herders may be encouraged to keep mixed herds.

inadequate investments There are not enough capital investments in cashmere production at the supply level. Such investments might come from herders themselves (e.g., through PUGs) or from outside collaborators. The lack of investment fosters a logic of short-term appropriation (resource use) as opposed to long-term sustainability.

cashmere price too low Cashmere prices are too low. There is a focus on quantity (mass production, affordability) over quality. Mass-market cashmere is unsustainable, whereas #luxury-cashmere might resolve the problem. For the Government of Mongolia, interventions to raise prices should occur at the supply side through a commodities exchange that circumvents brokers (#chenj).

chenj Trader intermediaries (*chenj*) are a major obstacle to implementing sustainable production chains in Mongolia. Traders prevent collective action by herders, conspire to depress prices, and may keep herders in perpetual debt indenture (#herder-debt), such that herders are deprived of potential income. As traders are only interested in maximizing short-term profit, they have no motivation to invest in an ethical and sustainable commodity chain -- and indeed their interests may be threatened by initiatives to increase sustainability through collective action.