traditionalism

Yet sweeping changes to protect the grasslands have been politically unpalatable in a democracy whose voters feel a deep connection to the open, unregulated grassland. With urbanization on the rise, herders also face new

“Unfortunately, the ap­ proaches are very strong on pa­ per and very weak in fact,” said Giovanni Schneider, chief exec­ utive of Schneider Group, which trades cashmere out of Mongoha. Mr. Schneider, who is work­ ing with Kering, said the chal­ lenge is getting herders scattered across Mongolia’s vast steppe to follow guidehnes. “It’s very difficult to engage the herder and explain that growing sustainable cashmere is a good thing to do,” he said. While herders have been re­ ceptive, “it’s very hard to go against the tradition of no­ madic life,” he added

For Bayasgalan, the stakes are clear. When she studied in the United States, she took a trip across Montana and Wyoming, places with landscapes remarkably similar to Mongolia's but for one important thing: fences. Bayasgalan blanches at the idea of locking up Mongolia's land; the notion of open grasslands where herders and animals roam freely is, to her and many others, the country's essence. Whether that ideal can be saved in a world of cheap cashmere sweaters and climate change is the question Mongolia is now facing

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.