I have always been fascinated by the nomadic lifestyles of people across Asia, particularly as portrayed in Chinese and Korean films—the varieties of their cattle, sheep and horses; the vast landscapes of grasses, herbs, and shrubs; the mountains, and the way communities navigate harsh winters.
Their languages, cultures, art and traditional clothing have also intrigued me. So, when I was selected for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) media fellowship in Mongolia, I was not just excited—I saw it as an opportunity to finally realise my long-held dream of visiting Asia.
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A quick Google search about Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital and host city of COP17, described it as the world’s coldest capital city. I therefore arrived expecting the snowy, smoky and freezing landscape I had often seen in movies.
Interestingly, it is now summer in Mongolia.
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The mornings and evenings can be cold and breezy, while light rain sometimes arrives without warning. But even in summer, the landscape offers a striking reminder of how closely Mongolians live with nature.
From Nigeria to Mongolia
As part of the UNCCD media fellowship programme, the UNCCD, in collaboration with the Mongolian government, took the fellows to some of the country’s notable conservation and land-restoration sites.
Over the past 48 hours, other fellows and I, along with UNCCD officials, have spent time at Hustai National Park. This important conservation model offers a practical lens for understanding some of the issues expected to dominate the high-level negotiations at COP17, which begins on Monday.
Located about 96 kilometres west of Ulaanbaatar, Hustai National Park is internationally recognised for the successful reintroduction of the Przewalski’s horse, locally known as the Takhi—the world’s last remaining truly wild horse species.
But Hustai is about more than horses. The host other beautiful vertebrates and invertebrates such as the Golden eagle, Steppe eagle, Himalayan vulture, Amur falcon, Upland buzzard and Siberian sturgeon, among others. The flora of the area comprises mostly birch and aspen trees. Only 4 per cent (1,800 hectares) of the park is covered by forest.
The park demonstrates how biodiversity conservation, community engagement, sustainable pasture management and eco-tourism can work together to restore ecosystems while supporting local livelihoods.
During our stay, we engaged with park rangers, pastoralists and scientists. We camped in beautifully constructed traditional gers and, even if only briefly, experienced the environment in which many Mongolian pastoralists live.
The experience was designed to provide us with a practical understanding of land restoration and sustainable natural-resource management—issues closely aligned with the theme of COP17: “Restoring Land, Restoring Hope.”
A land of horses, sheep and vast horizons
According to the park manager, Hustai covers about 50,000 hectares.
During the day, the wild horses move towards the mountains and return to the lower plains in the evening.
But beyond the park lies an even more expansive landscape.
As we travelled through the Mongolian steppes, I saw vast stretches of seemingly uninhabited land and mountains disappearing into the horizon. The landscape was dominated by grasses, with shrubs scattered across the terrain.
Horses, sheep and camels are among the major livestock raised by Mongolian nomadic communities.
Mongolia has nearly 80 million livestock—far more animals than people. The concentration of people in Ulaanbaatar is striking. While the capital is increasingly congested, much of the countryside appears sparsely populated, with enormous stretches of open rangeland separating communities.
Yet beneath this seemingly endless landscape lies a growing challenge: land degradation.
When too many animals become a problem
Pastoralists told us that increasingly extreme weather is affecting the grasslands. Overgrazing is also contributing to pasture degradation.
One explanation for the explosion in livestock numbers goes back to Mongolia’s history under the Soviet Union.
The nomads explained that authorities at the time imposed minimum and maximum livestock limits for family units and would confiscate animals when herds exceeded those limits.
That system changed with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a free-market economy.
Livestock became a direct measure of household wealth and income. As a result, the number of animals increased dramatically.
More animals meant more income—but also greater pressure on the land.
The result has been overgrazing and degradation across large areas of rangeland.
This is where Hustai’s community-based interventions become particularly interesting.
Rather than simply encouraging pastoralists to reduce their herds, the park is helping communities increase the value and quality of their animal products and by-products.
The idea is simple: earn more from fewer animals rather than continually increasing herd sizes.
Learning from the Mongolian model
Communities living around the park’s buffer zones are also being introduced to alternative livelihood opportunities, including greenhouse farming and other agricultural practices.
Tourism provides another source of income.
Visitors come not only to see the landscape and wildlife but also to experience Mongolia’s distinctive nomadic culture.
And there is much to learn from the pastoralists themselves.
Unlike Nigeria, where competition over land and water between farmers and pastoralists has contributed to recurring conflicts, Mongolian herders told us that they generally do not experience farmer-herder clashes.
The explanation is partly geographical.
The country’s enormous landscape allows crop-farming settlements and pastoral communities to occupy different spaces, reducing some of the competition over land that fuels conflicts elsewhere.
That does not mean Mongolia has solved its land-management problems, far from it.
Scientists working in the country are grappling with the degradation of more than 100 million hectares of rangeland and exploring ways to restore degraded ecosystems.
At Hustai, researchers are working with endemic grass species to restore vegetation, improve plant biomass and increase ground cover.
We saw scientists working on reseeding 24 grass species, many of which are dominant native plants.
Annual precipitation in the protected area is only about 200 millimetres, making the restoration of vegetation an especially delicate task.
Wisdom of living from the land
Perhaps what struck me most during the visit was the resourcefulness of the pastoral communities.
The nomads do not rely solely on meat from their animals.
Milk is transformed into a variety of products, including cheese, milk candies and other dairy products. These products provide additional income and reduce dependence on increasing herd sizes alone.
There is a lesson here for Nigeria.
For years, conversations around pastoralism in Nigeria have largely focused on cattle numbers, grazing routes, farmer-herder conflicts and the search for land.
Mongolia offers another way of looking at pastoralism: How can pastoral communities earn more from the animals they already have while putting less pressure on the land?
The answer may lie partly in value addition, better pasture management, alternative livelihoods, science, and stronger engagement with communities.
READ ALSO: Reporter’s Diary: Reporting COP17 from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
From Sahel to Steppes
As a Nigerian journalist reporting from the Sahel and now from the Mongolian steppes, I find the similarities striking.
Different landscapes. Different cultures. Different histories.
But remarkably similar challenges.
Climate change is altering weather patterns. Extreme events are putting pressure on pastoral livelihoods. Grasslands are degrading. Communities are being forced to adapt.
Yet there is also hope.
In Hustai, I saw a conservation model in which wildlife, pastoralists, scientists, and tourism are not necessarily competing interests. They can, with the right policies and incentives, become part of the same solution.
That may be one of the most important lessons I take from Mongolia.
Restoring land is not simply about planting trees or reseeding grass. It is about restoring the relationship between people, animals and the land on which their survival depends.
And perhaps that is what Mongolia’s vast steppes are quietly teaching Nigeria and the rest of Africa: the future of pastoralism may not be about having more animals, but about creating more value from fewer animals while giving the land room to recover.
From the Sahel to the Steppes, the stories may be different—but the search for survival, healthy soils, and hope is remarkably the same.
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