Mongolia's Wool & Cashmere Sector and Rangeland Responsibility

The 17th session of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (COP17) brought governments, scientists, pastoralists, farmers, businesses, Indigenous communities and civil society together in Ulaanbaatar. The conference focused on desertification, land degradation, drought, rangelands, pastoralism, food systems, soil health, water, and financing for restoration. One of its central messages: land degradation isn't only an environmental problem — it also affects food production, water availability, livestock, rural economies, biodiversity, migration, poverty and national security. The UNCCD estimates land degradation is already affecting up to 40% of the world's land.

For Mongolia specifically, this is particularly urgent: its vast rangelands support the country's entire pastoral livestock economy. Cashmere creates a specific challenge here, because it comes primarily from goats, and rising global demand for cashmere has encouraged the expansion of goat herding. COP17 put this issue directly in front of the fashion industry — at the Fashion for Land Forum, Mongolia's Foreign Minister highlighted that the country accounts for approximately 40% of global raw cashmere production, involving around 190,000 herder households and 27 million goats.

Nogoon Nutag took shape as a public side event within this — a tri-voice panel on responsible production, rangeland stewardship, and international markets, titled "Pasture Land and Sustainable Production." It continues the #Fashion4Land conversation the UNCCD began at COP16 in Riyadh, this time organised from Mongolian soil, with Mongolian voices. One panel at COP17, "The Cashmere–Desertification Paradox," asked the question directly: can cashmere become part of the solution to desertification, rather than part of the problem?

Green Gold — Mongolian Rangeland Research Center. UNCCD-accredited NGO, Co-Chair of the Global Support Group for the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026.

Wollken Studio (Wollken Design UG, Berlin) — initiator of the side event concept and the EU-market voice on the panel.

The Three Voices

Women leaders of Mongolia's wool & cashmere sector · the EU-market and supply-chain perspective · rangeland science from Green Gold MRRC.

A note on voices: all organising voices, keynote speakers, and panellists are women — the most accurate representation of who this industry is.

"Land is our most vital infrastructure — underpinning food security, water, livelihoods and stability."
— Yasmine Fouad, UNCCD Executive Secretary

"77% of our land… is affected by desertification and land degradation."
— Mongolian Prime Minister, opening address

Diversifying beyond goats

Yaks are well adapted to Mongolia's high-altitude pastoral environments, and expanding yak fibre production could provide herders with another source of income — diversifying fibre production away from an exclusive dependence on goats.

The Standard — From the Pasture to the Product

Sustainability should not simply be a promise. It should be traceable and transparent.

A Producer-Led Initiative

Nogoon Nutag calls on Mongolia's wool and cashmere sector to actively support rangeland management research and restoration — as sectoral responsibility, not charity. It looks to the mining sector for a model: just as reclamation obligations require mining to invest in the land it uses, fibre producers can invest in the rangeland they depend on.

A Responsible Production Standard

The longer aim is a Responsible Production Standard — drawing on Green Gold's Pasture User Group methodology, adaptable for certification and recognition in international markets. A shared standard across the global cashmere value chain, so that responsible fibre can be identified, verified, and trusted.

Digital Traceability

During UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, we invited the Mongolian National Federation of Pasture User Groups of Herders to our side panel, where we explored how digital traceability can connect Mongolia's rangelands, herders and fibre products. Their existing digital traceability system already provides a foundation for a Digital Product Passport: it records information about livestock, raw materials and their origin, allowing products to be traced back through the supply chain — making the origin of Mongolian fibres more visible than it has ever been.

We believe a Digital Product Passport can go further. Wollken is building on this existing foundation to create a more comprehensive passport that connects the pasture, the herder, the animal, the fibre, the processing, and the final product — one continuous record from land to garment.

Sources

1. COP17 Side Event Proposal — Mongolia's Wool & Cashmere Sector and Rangeland Responsibility. Green Gold MRRC & Wollken Studio, 2026.
2. UNCCD / UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion — Fashion4Land initiative, COP16 Riyadh, December 2024.
3. UNCCD / UNDP — Mongolia land degradation estimates.
4. Green Gold MRRC — organisation profile and IYRP 2026 Co-Chair status.