APRIL: MONGOLIAN CASHMERE

In April, the days in Mongolia start getting warmer. Before the days get too warm and their animals voluntarily shed their winter coat, Mongolian herders corral their goats and comb out their undercoats. Cashmere goats have a coarser overcoat that protects them year-round and a fine undercoat that they grow in the fall to protect them from the long, cold winters. For the 1.2 million nomadic herders in Mongolia’s vast grasslands, this undercoat is their main source of income. 

Figure 1: A Mongolian herder with her cashmere goats. source

DEMOCRATIZATION 

More than 50% of Mongolia’s population depends on livestock for their livelihood– it is one of the last truly pastoral countries in the world. Open grassland where animals and herders roam freely is the core characteristic of the country. Up until the past three decades, Mongolian communities have expertly preserved the delicate ecosystem surrounding the Gobi Desert while raising a diversity of ​​horses, goats, camels, cows, and sheep. 

Historically, pastures were organized by nobles and monastic representatives in a feudal system that managed resources and regulated herding practices and stock numbers. Great inequality existed amongst herders– resources were allocated based on their relationship with the ruling class. A revolution in 1921 resulted in the world’s second communist state after the Soviet Union- the Mongolian’s People Republic. A powerful centralized government ran the pastures and created collectivized farms. 

Early in the transition, many herders chose to cull their herds rather than see them as part of the collective, state-run farms– a loss of six to seven million heads of livestock. The remaining herders heavily relied on state assistance that provided transport that ensured mobility and controlled livestock numbers and movement—a system that maintained the natural ecosystem of the grassland. All harvests went to the state, shielding herders from free-market pressures, creating consistent, albeit low-wage, income and work. 

In 1990, a non-violent democratic movement resulted in a shift from communist control and a rapid introduction to the democratic market economy. Rural Mongolia underwent rapid structural reform. Herds were de-collectivized, state-sponsored goods and services dried up, and the burden of risk of raising livestock was back on the individual herders. 

Herders’ motivation shifted from meeting state quotas and receiving income from the state to relying on a convoluted system of middlemen buying their yield and selling to the global market. Maximizing livestock, specifically high-earning livestock like cashmere goats, was the easiest way to increase income. The number of cashmere goats went from five and a half million in 1990 to eleven million in 2000. Now there are 27 million (it takes the hair of three to four goats to make one sweater). 

Mongolian cashmere flooded the global market. The resulting cashmere trend of the 1990s meant the once exclusively luxury material became a mainstay at most stores. Cashmere moved away from its fringe status as an investment purchase for few, to a commodity available to most. 

The democratization of cashmere sweaters in Western markets and the glut of cashmere in Mongolia caused a drop in the price of raw cashmere. This created a positive feedback loop in both markets– more goats roaming Mongolia meant more money to herders and cashmere available for Western brands, which meant capital for more cashmere processing infrastructure to accommodate even more sheep supplying even more sweaters.

DESERTIFICATION

Although the power dynamics shifted from the collective to the individual, the main resources needed to grow cashmere, land and water, remained common. The sharp increase in livestock population meant the common quickly met and exceeded its carrying capacity. 

Now the most prevalent livestock, cashmere goats, are the most destructive of Mongolia’s native grazers. Unlike other grazing animals, goats eat the entire plants including the roots and when they eat more than can grow back naturally, the landscape changes. Native grasses are replaced by inedible ones, soil erosion increases, and water retention decreases. Grasslands become deserts. 

Herd volume is not the only culprit of land degradation. Mongolia's low precipitation and variable weather mean herds must adapt by moving often and herders must have extensive knowledge of rangeland vegetation. Historically, the nomadic herds moved 14 times per year and chose new locations based on species distribution. This allowed the rangeland to recover before the next herd arrived. 

During the Soviet era, the state built water infrastructure, defined grazing patterns, and provided transport to new pastures. Now with weak government oversight, water infrastructure has deteriorated and individualistic competition for resources prevails. Most herders move only twice a year and settle in camps near water, intensely grazing pastures nearby. 

DECOMMODIFICATION

One solution to overgrazing is herders focusing on quality instead of quantity. If a herder has fewer goats, they could offset the lost income with a well-bred stock so that the quality of fiber is higher. The only way this solution works is for the herders to sell directly to mills because most herders sell to Chinese middlemen who do not adjust prices based on fiber quality.

Another is to look towards management strategies in other places with similar environments, like Montana and Wyoming. Both have similar grasslands to Mongolia with one major difference: fences. An unrealistic option in a democracy whose voters believe in free, unregulated grasslands. 

A final option is to wait. In 1999, the New Yorker published “The Crisis in Cashmere” by Rebecca Mead. Mead interviewed Ronnie Lamb, the executive director of a cashmere processing facility called Mongol Amicale, who said “Cashmere cannot afford to be a commodity.” Twenty-five years later, cashmere makes up $4 billion of the luxury market. 70% of all grazing lands in Mongolia is degraded to some degree, twelve percent of rivers, and 21% of lakes have dried up entirely. Although climate change and other anthropogenic factors contribute, overgrazing is the main factor. Mongolia’s grasslands are becoming increasingly inhospitable for goats. Like the grasslands, the supply of virgin cashmere fiber will eventually dry up too. 

NOTES

https://www.science.org/content/article/exploding-demand-cashmere-wool-ruining-mongolia-s-grasslands

https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/8516/Community,%20Collective%20Action%20and%20Common%20Grazing.pdf?sequence=1

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/01/the-crisis-in-cashmere

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140196307003503?via%3Dihub

https://cfda.com/resources/materials/detail/cashmere