Land use/cover and land degradation across the Eurasian steppe: Dynamics, patterns and driving factors

Despite the ecological and socio-economic importance of Eurasian steppe, the land use/cover change, land degradation and the threats facing this precious ecosystem still have not been comprehensively understood. Taking advantages of the land use/cover change monitoring platform (FROM-GLC Plus), this study developed the annual land use/cover maps during 2000-2022, and the land use/cover change, especially the change of grassland, was further analyzed. The grassland area exhibited a net increase, predominantly transformed from cropland, forest, and bareland, accounting for 17.64 %, 31.91 %, and 45.60 %, respectively. To monitor land degradation, we adopted the framework suggested by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). According to the monitoring result, grassland constituted the highest proportion of degraded land (39.82 %). This may due to its dominance in the Eurasian steppe's land use/cover, as the extent of grassland degradation (1.92 %) was lower than the overall land degradation level (2.83 %) across the region. To offer tailored and sustainable development recommendations, we quantified the driving factors behind land dynamics using the geographical detector model and convergent cross mapping (CCM), considering both spatial and temporal dimensions. Environmental and socio-economic factors, such as precipitation, temperature, urbanization, mining and grazing intensity, etc., were integrated into the analysis. We found that urbanization, cropland and moisture distribution emerged as key drivers influencing land degradation's spatial distribution in the Eurasian steppe, while temperature variations between years impacted vegetation changes. This research thus provides a deeper understanding of the region's land dynamics, enhancing comprehensive monitoring of the Eurasian steppe's land dynamics. Moreover, it serves as a foundation for policymakers and land managers to devise conservation strategies and sustainable development initiatives for this critical ecosystem.

What Type of Households in Mongolia Are Most Hit by COVID-19?

The study aims to validate the measures taken by the government of Mongolia against COVID-19 and to analyse the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the livelihood of different types of households. The survey covers 362 households consisting of five different types, namely, apartment households, ger district households, herder households, vegetable growing households, and small farmer households. Principal component analysis is used to reduce the number of variables to a few factors that best explain the variation in the variables. Two to three components were found from the principal component analyses that describe (i) government policy, (ii) challenges due to COVID-19, and (iii) risk and vulnerability that occurred due to COVID-19. Multiple regression models attributed by the household’s type were used to analyse the impact of the selected variables on the households’ income. According to the regression results, herding households are the least affected, compared to the other four types of households. The government measures to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 have better results for apartment households and ger district households. Rural households are less affected and seem to be more resilient to COVID-19 shocks than other households.

Herders’ Perceptions about Rangeland Degradation and Herd Management: A Case among Traditional and Non-Traditional Herders in Khentii Province of Mongolia

Herders play essential roles in sustaining Mongolia’s economy and rangeland conditions. As about 90% of Mongolia’s livestock grazes on natural pasture, how herders manage it largely affects the future sustainability of the livestock industry. Since Mongolia transformed its grazing practices from communal management into loosely regulated household practices in 1990, overgrazing has become a growing concern. Considering this concern, this paper examines the extent to which traditional and non-traditional herders perceive pasture conditions and practice management. We conducted the questionnaire survey among 120 herders in Murun Soum of Khentii Province and asked about rangeland degradation and their coping strategies. To determine correlations between their perceptions/practices and sociodemographic characteristics, we conducted multiple regression analyses. We found that, overall, most herders identified rangeland conditions degrading and grass yield declining with less plant diversity and more soil damage by Brandt’s vole. Herders’ mobility and herd movement frequency have decreased since 1990, placing more strains on limited pasture areas. In coping with overgrazing, about 20% of the respondents had practiced traditional rangeland management, whereas many others had overlooked pasture conditions and increased goat production as the world’s demand for cashmere rose. In response to our question about herders’ future contribution of their traditional knowledge to sustainable rangeland management, traditional herders demonstrated their willingness to help local officials manage the pasture. This paper then explores how local administrations and herders may collaborate in the future.

Theoretical Approaches and Practical Assessment of Socio-Economic Effects of Desertification in Mongolia

In this paper, we consider the effects of desertification in Mongolia, where the area of degraded land has increased significantly in the recent decade. Currently, almost the entire territory of the country is subject to varying degrees of degradation. The intensity of the desertification processes in different natural zones is influenced by both natural climatic and anthropogenic factors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of desertification on environmental and socio-economic living conditions, as well as on living standards of the local population. In this work, for the first time, the socio-economic aspects of desertification have been studied on a common methodological basis in different Mongolian aimags over a ten-year period. In order to carry out in-depth research, we used the submeridional and sublatitudinal principles for selecting the model study areas, as well as specific criteria and expert assessment. We used a sociological survey as the main method, based on a designed questionnaire, which was translated into Mongolian. The questionnaire includes questions regarding the influence of desertification on traditional nomadic farming, health of family members, water supply of households, water quality, living standards, etc. The results of the sociological surveys made it possible to draw conclusions on the impact of desertification on households, to identify the main problems of local people, and to describe the dynamics of the socio-economic status of the population living in the model areas. Our studies have demonstrated the intensification of the impact of desertification processes in different natural zones, administrative-territorial units and settlement systems in Mongolia.

Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Remote Sensing for Monitoring Rangeland Dynamics in the Altai Mountain Region

Integrating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with remote sensing capabilities to monitor rangeland dynamics could lead to more acceptable, efficient, and beneficial rangeland management schemes for stakeholders of grazing systems. We contrasted pastoralists' perception of summer pasture quality in the Altai Mountains of Central Asia with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) metrics obtained from Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensor. The spatial relationship between satellite-based assessment of the grassland quality and on-the-ground evaluation by local herders was first assessed for a single year using 49, 1 × 1 km grassland blocks sampled in July 2013. Herder-derived forage value was positively and strongly (63% of variance explained) related to satellite-derived NDVI values (MODIS 1 km monthly data, MOD13A3) as well as field estimates of % vegetation cover (62% explained) and to a lesser degree to vegetation height (28% explained). Herders' multi-year perception (i.e., recall ability) was also contrasted with satellite observations of their herding areas over the period of 2006-2016 during which NDVI temporal anomaly explained >11% of variance in estimates of pasture quality recalled. Few herders in Kazakhstan could recall pasture conditions, most herders in Russia and China could but inconsistently (4 and 7% variation explained, respectively), whereas most herders in Mongolia could recall pasture conditions in strong agreement with NDVI anomaly (30% variation explained), patterns reflecting herders' regional dependence on herding as a livelihood. Corroboration of herder-derived estimates and satellite-derived vegetation indices creates opportunity for re-expression of satellite data in map form as TEK-derived indices more compatible with herder perceptions.

Degraded or Just Dusty? Examining Ecological Change in Arid Lands

The ecological history of rangelands is often presented as a tale of devastation, where fragile drylands are irreversibly degraded through inappropriate land use. However, there is confusion about how to recognize and measure degradation, especially in low-productivity environments characterized by extreme natural variability and where abrupt and comprehensive management upheavals preclude benchmarks. These issues have important consequences for rangeland management programs, which are typically founded on presumptions of substantial and ongoing degradation from former “natural” states. We explore complementary approaches to critically assess degradation: the historical record, long-term grazing exclosures, surveys for potentially rare and sensitive plant species, and assessment of water-remote areas in relation to rare plant occurrence. Employing these approaches in inland Australia, we show that prevailing paradigms have become entrenched despite being inconsistent with empirical evidence. Our methodology can be applied to drylands with abrupt changes in management and contentious ecological narratives.

‘This country just hangs tight’: perspectives on managing land degradation and climate change in far west NSW

Discussions of land degradation often display a disconnect between global and local scales. Although global-scale discussions often focus on measuring and reversing land degradation through metrics and policy measures, local-scale discussions can highlight a diversity of viewpoints and the importance of local knowledge and context-specific strategies for sustainable land management. Similarly, although scientific studies clearly link anthropogenic climate change to land degradation as both cause and consequence, the connection may not be so clear for local rangelands communities due to the complex temporal and spatial scales of change and management in such environments. In research conducted in October 2015, we interviewed 18 stakeholders in the far west of New South Wales about their perspectives on sustainable land management. The results revealed highly variable views on what constitutes land degradation, its causes and appropriate responses. For the pastoral land managers, the most important sign of good land management was the maintenance of groundcover, through the management of total grazing pressure. Participants viewed overgrazing as a contributor to land degradation in some cases and they identified episodes of land degradation in the region. However, other more contentious factors were also highlighted, such as wind erosion, grazing by goats and kangaroos and the spread of undesired ‘invasive native scrub’ at the expense of more desirable pasture, and alternative views that these can offer productive benefits. Although few participants were concerned about anthropogenic climate change, many described their rangeland management styles as adaptive to the fluctuations of the climate, regardless of the reasons for these variations. Rather than focusing on whether landholders ‘believe in’ climate change or agree on common definitions or measurement approaches for land degradation, these results suggest that their culture of adaptation may provide a strong basis for coping with an uncertain future. The culture of adaption developed through managing land in a highly variable climate may help even if the specific conditions that landholders need to adapt to are unlike those experienced in living memory. Such an approach requires scientific and expert knowledge to be integrated alongside the context-specific knowledge, values and existing management strategies of local stakeholders.

Applying a dryland degradation framework for rangelands: the case of Mongolia

Livestock-caused rangeland degradation remains a major policy concern globally and the subject of widespread scientific study. This concern persists in part because it is difficult to isolate the effects of livestock from climate and other factors that influence ecosystem conditions. Further, degradation studies seldom use multiple plant and soil indicators linked to a clear definition of and ecologically grounded framework for degradation assessment that distinguishes different levels of degradation. Here, we integrate two globally applicable rangeland degradation frameworks and apply them to a broad-scale empirical data set for the country of Mongolia. We compare our assessment results with two other recent national rangeland degradation assessments in Mongolia to gauge consistency of findings across assessments and evaluate the utility of our framework. We measured livestock-use impacts across Mongolia's major ecological zones: mountain and forest steppe, eastern steppe, steppe, and desert steppe. At 143 sites in 36 counties, we measured livestock-use and degradation indicators at increasing distances from livestock corrals in winter-grazed pastures. At each site, we measured multiple indicators linked to our degradation framework, including plant cover, standing biomass, palatability, species richness, forage quality, vegetation gaps, and soil surface characteristics. Livestock use had no effect on soils, plant species richness, or standing crop biomass in any ecological zone, but subtly affected plant cover and palatable plant abundance. Livestock effects were strongest in the steppe zone, moderate in the desert steppe, and limited in the mountain/forest and eastern steppes. Our results aligned closely with those of two other recent country-wide assessments, suggesting that our framework may have widespread application. All three assessments found that very severe and irreversible degradation is rare in Mongolia (1-18% of land area), with most rangelands slightly (33-53%) or moderately (25-40%) degraded. We conclude that very severe livestock-induced rangeland degradation is overstated in Mongolia. However, targeted rangeland restoration coupled with monitoring, adaptive management and stronger rangeland governance are needed to prevent further degradation where heavy grazing could cause irreversible change. Given the broad applicability of our degradation framework for Mongolia, we suggest it be tested for application in other temperate grasslands throughout Central Asia and North America.

Response of ecosystem functions to climate change and implications for sustainable development on the Inner Mongolian Plateau

The responses of ecosystem functions in Inner Mongolian grasslands to climate change have implications for ecosystem services and sustainable development. Research published in two previous Special Issues of The Rangeland Journal shows that recent climate change added to overgrazing and other factors caused increased degradation of Inner Mongolian rangelands whereas on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, climate change tended to ameliorate the impacts of overgrazing. Recent climate change on the Mongolian Plateau involved warming with increasingly variable annual precipitation and decreased summer rainfall. Future climate projections are different, involving modest increases in precipitation and further climate warming. Research published in the current Special Issue shows that precipitation is the climate factor that has the most substantial impact on ecosystem functions in this region and is positively correlated with plant species diversity, ecosystem carbon exchange and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index. Increased flows of provisioning and regulating ecosystem services are expected with future climate change indicating that its impacts will be positive in this region. However, spatial heterogeneity in the environments and climates of Inner Mongolia highlights the risk of over-generalising from local-scale studies and indicates the value of increased attention to meta-analysis and regional scale models. The enhanced flows of ecosystem services from climate change may support sustainable development by promoting recovery of degraded grasslands with flow-on benefits for livelihoods and the regional economy. However, realising these potential benefits will depend on sound landscape management and addressing the risk of herders increasing livestock numbers to take advantage of the extra forage available. Investment in education is important to improve local capacity to adapt rangeland management to climate change, as are policies and strategies that integrate social, economic and ecological considerations and are tailored to specific regions. Gaps in understanding that could be addressed through further research on ecosystem functions include; belowground carbon exchange processes; the impact of increased variability in precipitation; and the impact of different management practices under changed climates.