Spatio-Temporal Pattern of Land Degradation from 1990 to 2015 in Mongolia

Altansukh Ochir,Davaadorj Davaasuren,Juanle Wang,Pengfei Li,Kai Cheng,Faith Ka Shun Chan,Haishuo Wei,Elbegjargal Nasanbat

doi:10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100497

Abstract

Land degradation is an important environmental problem facing the world. “Land Degradation Neutrality” is one of the core indicators in the 15th goal of the “United Nations Sustainable Development Goals” for 2030. Mongolia is an important country for global land degradation. The increasingly serious land degradation has caused a direct impact on the ecosystem of the entire Mongolian plateau. We analyzed the patterns of land degradation and restoration during 1990–2010 and 2010–2015 and determined the driving forces behind the variations, by using fine resolution land cover data for the first time in Mongolia. The results showed that the spatial distribution of newly increased land degradation and restoration have a strong transitional nature. For the past 25 years, the trend of land change in Mongolia was dominated by land degradation. However, land degradation was accompanied by ongoing restoration of some land areas, and the capacity for land restoration has been gradually improved. This study discovers a series of typical land degradation and restoration regions and provides an interpretation of the driving forces in these areas. The joint effects of natural and socioeconomic factors have been found to result in land degradation and restoration in different regions.

Highlights

Land degradation is an important ecological and environmental problem facing the world
It can be discovered that in the past 25 years, the land degradation areas in the northwest of Mongolia have gradually expanded to the northeast, the land degradation areas in the middle have gradually expanded to the north, and the land degradation areas in the northeast of Mongolia has shown a trend of development from northeast to northwest
Through the analysis of land degradation and restoration, it was found that the spatial distribution of regions of newly-increased land degradation and restoration have a strongly transitional nature

Summary

Introduction

Land degradation is an important ecological and environmental problem facing the world. Land degradation leads to a loss of available grassland resources, a decrease in biological production, and the deterioration of the ecological environment (Li, 2018). One of the top 15th main tasks of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, which is "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss". During 1961 2006, the numbers of vegetation species in Mongolia's forest steppe, natural grassland, mountain meadow, desert steppe, and desert have largely decreased by 50.0%, 44.7%, 30.3%, 23.8%, and 26.7%, respectively. The numbers of vegetation species have continued to decrease annually, and the grasslands have continued to become severely degraded (Buren, 2011)

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