Ulaanbaatar: Mongolia, which is in the middle of global warming like other countries, suffers from desertification and land degradation, which is one of the prominent environmental problems it encounters, as the proportion of the decertified area is about 78%. Environmentalists state the main factors that affect desertification differ from one region to another, the most important of which is climate change and the amount of precipitation in Mongolia, which has not changed at all, but the most noticeable is the change in the time of rain as there is no precipitation in the spring when the plants start while it rains heavily in July and August, damaging the soil.
To reduce the effects of climate change, Mongolia continues its research and studies to reduce desertification, as a “One Region One Road” project with China, aiming to reform the degraded lands, while the results recently showed recovery of vegetation cover in some previously degraded areas.
Mandakh. N Researcher at Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography and Geoecology said, “The percentage of desertification and land degradation in Mongolia is 78 percent of the country’s territory. The most serious of these are the areas shown in red on the map. Climate change is, of course, a key factor in these regions. Mongolia has warmed by 2.8 degrees in the region. Globally, Central Asia and Mongolia are at the heart of global warming”
Khaulanbek. A Researcher at the Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography and Geoecology said, “The main factors influencing this vary from region to region. Livestock has a greater impact in the central region. The mining impact is high in the Gobi region. In general, climate change has the greatest impact. This is because the amount of precipitation in Mongolia has not changed at all, but the most important thing is the change in the time of precipitation. There is no precipitation in the spring when the plants start to grow. Heavy rainfall occurs in July and August. As a result, the land is flooded. As a result, the soil is damaged. This is a form of water-induced desertification. Besides, there are new local dirt roads in Mongolia, not along major roads. Each herder family has 2-3 cars and is create new dirt roads everywhere. As a result, pastureland is declining by almost 30 percent.”
Dr. Davaadorj.D – Professor and Doctor of Natural Sciences at the National University of Mongolia said, “In collaboration with the Institute of Geography and Natural Resources of the Academy of Sciences of the People’s Republic of China, the One Region, One Road or Silk Road Project has been conducting a study on “Mongolia’s land cover and desertification” since 2014. is being done regularly. Within this framework, several activities are being carried out, such as teacher-researcher cooperation, student exchange, training, and exchange of research results. Land degradation research in Mongolia is based on satellite-based remote sensing. The research has been divided into 1990-2010, 2000-2015, and 2015-2020 phases. This study is a long-term analysis of Mongolia’s land cover degradation and desertification. One of the most interesting studies on how to determine how land cover is changing is the development of a methodology called “Ecological-Based Natural Rehabilitation”. Studies conducted in 2016 and 2018 showed that vegetation is recovering in previously degraded areas”
Source: A24 News Agency
