Desertification threatening MONGOLIA
Desertification has already become a global environmental issue and is one of the major challenges that countries will face in the 21st century. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defined the term “desertification” as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.” According to a study conducted under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), land degradation, which is defined as the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity of drylands, affects one third of the Earth’s surface and more than one billion people. Mongolia has recently been included in the list of the countries that seriously suffer from land degradation. A serious and widespread desertification in Mongolia is caused by climatic factors as well as human activities. Ninety percent of Mongolian territory can be regarded as vulnerable to desertification. These areas are almost exclusively used as rangelands, home to about 30 million heads of livestock and many more species.
Therefore, proper policies and management have to be taken into effect in order to protect rangelands from desertification and properly cope with the consequences of desertification. Mongolia has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers. Precipitation is highest in the north and lowest in the south. Some regions of Gobi sometimes receive no precipitation at all.
Moreover, Mongolia is very vulnerable to droughts and dzuds. The word “dzud” is a term to describe a multiple natural disaster consisting of a summer drought followed by heavy winter snow and extremely low temperatures (reaching minus 50 degrees Celsius in certain areas) in which livestock die of starvation due to inability to find grass and fodder. Because of droughts and dzud, there is often a lack of pastureland for livestock to graze on. Therefore, herders move their livestock to areas where they think there is sufficient grass. However, those areas become occupied by too many livestock putting the soil in that area at risk of erosion. Also, fluctuations in temperature are extreme in Mongolia due to continental climate. The annual mean temperature of Mongolia has risen by 2.140C since the 1940s. These climatic factors mentioned above accelerate desertification by damaging soil ecosystems and making rangelands highly vulnerable to land degradation. There are several human activities that have led to widespread land degradation. The most essential factor of desertification in Mongolia is probably animal husbandry. As livestock number is increasing every year in Mongolia, more and more land is being put under pressure of excessive grazing.
A pasture area is often occupied by too many livestock, which exceeds the pasture’s capacity. In order to decrease land degradation caused by overgrazing, it is necessary to develop an animal husbandry management strategy based on both the traditional practices of livestock herding and modern scientific methods. Also, undermining water resources is one of the factors that contribute to desertification. In addition to droughts, human activities such as water irrigation and mining have had serious impact on water resources of Mongolia. Crop cultivation is one of the most prominent reasons of land degradation in Mongolia as well.
Half of all cultivated land in Mongolia is considered to be degraded to some degree of erosion. Land cultivation always makes the soil ecosystem vulnerable to land degradation. Moreover, deforestation caused by timber harvest, wildfires and other factors contributes to the degradation of land. As the mining industry develops in Mongolia, a lot of land has been degraded by mining activities. Furthermore, land degraded by mining activities is almost never restored.
Road systems in the countryside are a hidden factor behind land degradation. There are too many vehicle tracks in the countryside than there needs to be. Drivers do not seem to care about the soil ecosystem when they are creating new vehicle tracks just because some tracks are too rough to drive on. These human activities that accelerate soil erosion and lead to land degradation do not seem to stop unless initiatives to decrease harming effects of those activities are taken. There are many negative consequences caused by desertification. Soil in degraded land becomes less productive and makes it harder for plants to grow. Also, vegetation is often lacking or damaged due to land degradation. When land is overgrazed, edible plant species may be lost in that area allowing inedible plants to invade. Land resilience is very low in degraded lands making it difficult for soil to recover from climatic disturbances such as drought. Desertification may also threaten animal and plant species in that area. Moreover, desertification undermines food production. If desertification is not stopped and reversed, food yields in many affected areas will continue to decline. It may even cause famine in some cases. There are also indirect effects of desertification. In recent years, there have been many people moving into the city from the countryside in Mongolia. Some of them might have been forced to move because of lack of rangelands for their livestock to graze on due to desertification. In addition, the economic cost of desertification might be very high even though it is hard to calculate.
According to a World Bank study, the annual income foregone in the areas affected by desertification equates up to approximately USD 42 billion each year. The indirect economic and social costs suffered outside the affected areas, including losses to national food production, may be much greater. It is evident that desertification is present in Mongolia. Vulnerability to desertification of Mongolian rangelands is expected to increase due to its extreme continental climate combined with the ongoing climate change and other factors. Moreover, direct and indirect negative effects of desertification continue to impact on not only the ecosystem but also people’s lives. The ongoing process of desertification in Mongolia is caused more by human activities such as overgrazing of pastureland, inappropriate management of land and water resources and destruction of forests. Therefore, appropriate policies that should be immediately taken into effect in order to mitigate negative effects of desertification in Mongolia.
Therefore, proper policies and management have to be taken into effect in order to protect rangelands from desertification and properly cope with the consequences of desertification. Mongolia has an extreme continental climate with long, cold winters and short summers. Precipitation is highest in the north and lowest in the south. Some regions of Gobi sometimes receive no precipitation at all.
Moreover, Mongolia is very vulnerable to droughts and dzuds. The word “dzud” is a term to describe a multiple natural disaster consisting of a summer drought followed by heavy winter snow and extremely low temperatures (reaching minus 50 degrees Celsius in certain areas) in which livestock die of starvation due to inability to find grass and fodder. Because of droughts and dzud, there is often a lack of pastureland for livestock to graze on. Therefore, herders move their livestock to areas where they think there is sufficient grass. However, those areas become occupied by too many livestock putting the soil in that area at risk of erosion. Also, fluctuations in temperature are extreme in Mongolia due to continental climate. The annual mean temperature of Mongolia has risen by 2.140C since the 1940s. These climatic factors mentioned above accelerate desertification by damaging soil ecosystems and making rangelands highly vulnerable to land degradation. There are several human activities that have led to widespread land degradation. The most essential factor of desertification in Mongolia is probably animal husbandry. As livestock number is increasing every year in Mongolia, more and more land is being put under pressure of excessive grazing.
A pasture area is often occupied by too many livestock, which exceeds the pasture’s capacity. In order to decrease land degradation caused by overgrazing, it is necessary to develop an animal husbandry management strategy based on both the traditional practices of livestock herding and modern scientific methods. Also, undermining water resources is one of the factors that contribute to desertification. In addition to droughts, human activities such as water irrigation and mining have had serious impact on water resources of Mongolia. Crop cultivation is one of the most prominent reasons of land degradation in Mongolia as well.
Half of all cultivated land in Mongolia is considered to be degraded to some degree of erosion. Land cultivation always makes the soil ecosystem vulnerable to land degradation. Moreover, deforestation caused by timber harvest, wildfires and other factors contributes to the degradation of land. As the mining industry develops in Mongolia, a lot of land has been degraded by mining activities. Furthermore, land degraded by mining activities is almost never restored.
Road systems in the countryside are a hidden factor behind land degradation. There are too many vehicle tracks in the countryside than there needs to be. Drivers do not seem to care about the soil ecosystem when they are creating new vehicle tracks just because some tracks are too rough to drive on. These human activities that accelerate soil erosion and lead to land degradation do not seem to stop unless initiatives to decrease harming effects of those activities are taken. There are many negative consequences caused by desertification. Soil in degraded land becomes less productive and makes it harder for plants to grow. Also, vegetation is often lacking or damaged due to land degradation. When land is overgrazed, edible plant species may be lost in that area allowing inedible plants to invade. Land resilience is very low in degraded lands making it difficult for soil to recover from climatic disturbances such as drought. Desertification may also threaten animal and plant species in that area. Moreover, desertification undermines food production. If desertification is not stopped and reversed, food yields in many affected areas will continue to decline. It may even cause famine in some cases. There are also indirect effects of desertification. In recent years, there have been many people moving into the city from the countryside in Mongolia. Some of them might have been forced to move because of lack of rangelands for their livestock to graze on due to desertification. In addition, the economic cost of desertification might be very high even though it is hard to calculate.
According to a World Bank study, the annual income foregone in the areas affected by desertification equates up to approximately USD 42 billion each year. The indirect economic and social costs suffered outside the affected areas, including losses to national food production, may be much greater. It is evident that desertification is present in Mongolia. Vulnerability to desertification of Mongolian rangelands is expected to increase due to its extreme continental climate combined with the ongoing climate change and other factors. Moreover, direct and indirect negative effects of desertification continue to impact on not only the ecosystem but also people’s lives. The ongoing process of desertification in Mongolia is caused more by human activities such as overgrazing of pastureland, inappropriate management of land and water resources and destruction of forests. Therefore, appropriate policies that should be immediately taken into effect in order to mitigate negative effects of desertification in Mongolia.
Comments
Post a Comment