Courtesy of Danielle Langloism, Wikipedia CCLGoats denude Mongolia
Mongolia’s cashmere market bottomed out in the global recession but not before taking an environmental toll on the fabled steppes occupied for centuries by nomadic herders.
The boom years for cashmere saw Mongolia’s goat population rise from an estimated 25 million in 1993 to 40 million in 2007, when the market began to soften. That enormous demand for cashmere took its toll on the fragile landscape.
This story from The Times Online warns as much as 96 percent of Mongolia could become desert if land management isn’t improved amid changes brought by global warming.
Market loss combined with the reduced quality of pasture land has been a double whammy for Mongolian herding families, as seen in this New York Times story and slideshow.
