The Problem
The Land
Mongolia's wool and cashmere sector sustains a third of the country — and is also the sector most directly bound to the health of the land.
How overgrazing degrades the land
Mongolia already has a flourishing cashmere industry — but the methods and animal numbers behind it are not sustainable. Cashmere is farmed from goats, and when too many goats graze the same area, they can contribute directly to desertification. Goats eat the leaves, stems and shoots of a plant, preventing it from producing new leaves and seeds. Repeated grazing of the same area, before the plant has had time to recover, eventually depletes the nutrient reserves in its roots and prevents future growth. Once vegetation disappears, overgrazing also exposes the soil, letting wind and water strip away the topsoil — making it far harder for new plants to establish.
How do you maintain herder livelihoods and cashmere income without putting unsustainable pressure on the rangelands they depend on?
A 2022 systematic review examined 114 studies of Mongolian rangelands published between 1952 and 2021. It found reported degradation estimates ranging from 22% to 95%, depending heavily on how "degradation" was defined and measured — grazing and climate were the most frequently identified drivers. (Source: ScienceDirect)
A problem bigger than livestock
It would be easy to blame livestock alone. The reality is more complicated: Mongolian rangelands are affected by a combination of overgrazing, drought, changing rainfall patterns, rising temperatures and extreme weather events. Climate change makes vegetation recovery more difficult, while growing livestock numbers put additional pressure on already vulnerable pastures.
UNDP reports that Mongolia's total livestock population has doubled to around 70 million animals since 2000, with numbers exceeding the carrying capacity of the land in some areas — and that goat numbers in particular rose sharply after restrictions on herd growth were lifted in 1990. Traditional Mongolian grazing systems maintained a ratio of roughly three sheep for every goat, partly because goats place greater pressure on vegetation; rising cashmere demand has pulled that balance much closer together in some areas.
The herder's math
A herder earns so little per animal that the only way to lift income is to keep more livestock — which overgrazes the very pasture the fibre depends on. The raw material moves to middlemen at a low price, and any reason to chase quality over quantity disappears with it. Closing that loop, from the demand side, is exactly what Nogoon Nutag and Wollken Studio are built to do together. Read the full story →
Where this goes next
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. Read about the Responsible Production Standard →