Besieged by the Gobi

by Luca Catalano Gonzaga
Part of Child survival in a changing climate
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Mongolia, although always prone to extreme weather conditions, is in the grip of substantial climate changes. It rains less and less, rivers are drying out and in the past few years harsh winters were recorded, the followed by long periods of drought. The phenomenon of desertification caused by temperature increase has remarkably intensified the progressive expansion of the Gobi Desert. Most herds, which are the only asset of its nomadic population, cannot be fed due to the lack of grasslands, and this has already caused the death of thousands of livestock. Without animals, Mongolians are not able to eat, dress, warm up, build or move. Those who lost their cattle did not only lose their livelihood, but also the possibility of survival for their own family. Thousands of Mongolian shepherds are therefore forced to move to the capital city of Ulan-Bator. The suburbs have become a tent area of impoverished people fleeing from deserts and steppes, camped in precarious sanitary conditions, without access to safe drinking water or sanitation facilities. (text by Luca Catalano Gonzaga).

  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Landscape on the road from Baruun Bayan Ulaan to Orog Lake. The drought hits areas adjacent the Gobi Desert, causing an increase of the desertification and menacing the survival of people who inhabit these places breeding their animals. Thousands of people move with their families to the outskirts of the capital Ulan Bator.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A goat seeking food on the bark of a tree. Over the past 70 years, the average temperature in Mongolia has increased by 2.07 degrees, which is more than twice the global average (0.85 degrees).
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Shearing a camel. The Gobi Desert is inhabited by camels and goats’ shepherds. However, the hardest thing for shepherds is to draw water from the wells. A camel drink at least 50 liters of water a day.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. In these extreme lands where the sun shines for about 250 days a year, about 900.000 nomadic shepherds, who live in Mongolian traditional ger, use the solar energy system.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Children playing nearby their ger (tent) in an area affected by desertification caused by climate change.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Climate change is putting a strain on the lives of children who are the most vulnerable. They have difficulty in accessing nutritious food and drinking water.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Due to the increased desertification, a woman is dismantling her tent (ger) to move to a greener area, so to find more food for her animals.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Family nearby their dismantled tent, and about to move to the outskirts of the capital Ulan Bator, just like thousands of other people affected by drought in this region.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The Gobi Desert is expanding at an alarming rate due to desertification, more rapidly on the southern edge into China, which is seeing 3.600 km2 (1.390 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Goats grazing in a strip of arid land in the area adjacent to the Gobi Desert, in the Chingeltei District.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The Gobi Desert is expanding at an alarming rate due to desertification, more rapidly on the southern edge into China, which is seeing 3.600 km2 (1.390 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherds try to capture wild horses near Tusgalt village.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A Mongolian shepherd waits for the rain in a desert area near the village of Tusgalt.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherds near the village of Tusgalt, in an ordinary day of their nomadic lifestyle; by breeding herds of goats and sheep, they have dairy products; thus, these animals ensure their survival.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the livestock market was liberalized and privatized and, with no more adjustments on the numbers, the size of livestock increased exponentially (from about 20 million to more than 30 million), involving less land available but more animals to feed. This has led to land conflicts which, combined with the climate change, have made this practice and lifestyle unsustainable for many families.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherds near the village of Tusgalt, in an ordinary day of their nomadic lifestyle; by breeding herds of goats and sheep, they have dairy products; thus, these animals ensure their survival.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherds think the nomadic grazing method does not affect the environment and does not increase the degradation of the ecosystem. After eating grass from one pasture, the cattle move to the next one. The manure that remains on the ground is useful for the growth and health of the prairie.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherd in his home.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The increasingly uncertain availability of food resources, caused by the increase in desertification, makes Mongolian pastoral families more and more vulnerable.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Moment of leisure inside a ger. Thanks to solar panels, most of the houses have electricity.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Portrait of Mongolian child.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A Mongolian family is relaxing inside their home. Mongolia is extremely poor: 20% of the population live on 1,25 US dollars a day and 30% suffer from malnutrition. The climate changes are challenging the already precarious state of this nation, hitting their pride and national identity established on the nomadic lifestyle.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A young farmer with her herd in the District of Chingeltei, along the borders with the desert.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A farmer is checking her flock of sheep in the village of Tamir.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A family working on the production of cashmere in the village of Tusgal. Goats undergo a hairdo in spring, when the animals change their hair. The sale of cashmere is a valuable source of income for Mongolian shepherds.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A Mongolian shepherd tries to tame a wild horse closed to Tusgalt village.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A wolf just killed by a Mongolian shepherd. Livestock depredation is a major cause of economic losses for pastoral communities and often results in the killing of predators.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. A wolf just killed by a Mongolian shepherd. Livestock depredation is a major cause of economic losses for pastoral communities and often results in the killing of predators.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The arrival of a dust storm near the village of Barun Bayan Ulan. Dust storms are closely connected to the increasing desertification.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The arrival of a dust storm near the village of Barun Bayan Ulan. Dust storms are closely connected to the increasing desertification.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The arrival of a dust storm near the village of Barun Bayan Ulan. Dust storms are closely connected to the increasing desertification.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. The arrival of a dust storm near the village of Barun Bayan Ulan. Dust storms are closely connected to the increasing desertification.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011.
  • Deserto del Gobi, Mongolia 2011. Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Currently, the Gobi Desert is considered the fifth largest desert in the world. However, it is constantly expanding due to the increase in temperatures.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. View close to Baga Gazriin Chuluu Mountains. “Gobi” is the Mongolian word used to define a large expanse of land with a very dry climate. The Gobi Desert is a vast arid landscape sprawling across 500.000 square miles in northern China and southern Mongolia.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Sunset in the village of Baatsagan right after a dust storm.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Boon Tsagan lake, drying up due to the desertification of this area.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Searching for water in a river that has dried up due to rising temperatures.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherds in the Bayongol district.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Illegal gold miners. There are hundreds of artisanal gold mines in the country. They lack all minimum technological equipment, wear no personal protection and work in conditions of extreme danger. They are the so-called ‘ninja’ miners, 300.000 people fascinated by the illusion of gold, in a country that lives in conditions of utmost poverty.
  • Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2011. Mongolia is three times larger than France. Almost half of its population lives in the capital, Ulan Bator, which hosts over a million people. Half of them live in the shanty towns that have risen on the outskirts of the city, in an area known as Yurt District, which lacks any form of urban planning and has no water or electricity supplies.
  • Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2011. Much of Mongolia’s population, and mostly children, are vulnerable to extreme weather events, the frequency and severity of which are expected to increase due to climate change.
  • Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2011. Suburbs of the city. The rise of poverty and famine on a large scale has led to alcoholism being the main plague of the Mongolian capital.
  • Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2011. Suburbs of the city. Ulan Bator is home to half of the entire Mongolian population – 1.5 out of 3 million people – and in recent decades it has been welcoming more and more families of shepherds who abandon the steppe hills for the urban center.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Playtime. The level of food insecurity is high amongst children in Mongolia. Seasonal food insecurity is severely exacerbated by increasingly adverse weather and climate patterns caused by climate change.
  • Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2011. Outskirts of the city.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. In Mongolia, 28.4% of the population lives below the national poverty line.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Khustai Nuruu National Park, 100 kilometers southeast of the capital Ulan Bator, is well-known for hosting herds of wild horses called Takhi.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Boon Tsagaan lake. During the periods of drought, rivers often cannot reach the lake and this makes it dry up.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian landscape in the Bayongol district. More than 2.250 miles of grassland are being swallowed by the Gobi Desert each and every year.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Mongolian shepherd inside his ger.
  • Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2011. A child inside her home in the outskirts of the Ulan Bator: these areas developed as a tent city for the most desperate people, who are fleeing away from the desert and the steppes. They camp in extremely poor hygienic conditions, without any access to clean water or proper toilets.
  • Gobi Desert, Mongolia 2011. Bulguunscher, 12 years old, inside his gher at Baatsagan village. The increase in the prevalence of drought and the scarcity of water sources determine serious risks for the health of children: infectious diseases transmitted by water and caused by livestock deaths and food insecurity for children who belong to pastoral families.

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