Mongolian Grassland Degradation as an Environmental Issue
Tiffany Tong
October 5th, 2007
An environmental issue is defined as “a clash of interests in which someone causes or will cause a harm or perceived harm on someone else’s interest by way of the natural environment1.” The principle theme of the Mongolian grassland degradation problem has all the main components of an environmental issue: conflicting lifestyles and harm caused to all the inhabitants of the grasslands.
The clash of interests occurs between the new and old lifestyles of the Mongolian plains. Traditionally, the lifestyle was centred on the principle “love nature as your parents (Moyers 2001).” The size and health of one’s herd represented one’s wealth (Moyers 2001); herders had the incentive to take good care of the grasslands which supported their herds. Both traditionally and under communist control, rotation of grazing land was practised and flock size was kept to an optimum. When the Soviet Union collapsed, however, the economy became a market economy, and started to be driven purely by profit. Now the new symbol of wealth is money. Herders have started to decrease rotation, to increase herd size, and to keep more animals for profit rather than sustenance, like goats for cashmere (Moyers 2001).
The new practices ultimately harm all the herders, since their livelihood is totally dependent on the resources the natural environment provides. Rotation used to be sufficient in letting the grass grow again after a grazing season, but now the fields seem constantly barren. As one elder said, the grass used to grow up to his stirrups when he was young; now it is barely 3 inches high (Moyers 2001). Moreover, the spread of Western culture encouraged people to settle down close to large roads, where transportation is more convenient (Moyers 2001): less mobility of the herders means higher strain on the grasslands (Moyers 2001). As a consequence, the grassland degradation problem is increasingly becoming an environmental issue that has a major effect on the future of the Mongolian people.
1 Wood, Paul. Associate Professor, University of British Columbia. 7 September 2007. Pers. Comm.
References
Moyer, W. 2001. Earth on Edge. Public Broadcasting System.