Divergent processes and trends of desertification in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia

Abstract

Desertification and the expansion of deserts are regarded as a major threat to human livelihoods and ecosystem services, as well as achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Humans have been recognized as significant agents in the expansion of desert-like conditions, through the agency of desertification/land degradation, and through contributions to global climate change. Yet, how desertification changes and whether human or climate change drives these processes and trends over the whole Mongolia Plateau is still not clear. Here we first use MODIS data for 2000-2019 to assess the long-term vegetation changes across the Mongolian Plateau, both in Inner Mongolia of PR China and the Mongolian People's Republic. We then appied a General Linear Model to analyze the additional climate and human attribute data sets to explore relationships between the observed desert extent reduction and their potential drivers. Results show that from 2000-2019, desert extent declined by over 7%, comprised of an almost 11% reduction in Inner Mongolia and 5% reduction in Mongolia, and a reduction in the degree of desert conditions, as measured by vegetation cover grades, across the whole region (37.5% decline -one grade in PR China, 28.75% in Mongolia). The majority of desert area reduction occurs in the northern and eastern areas of the Mongolia Plateau. We found that the main drivers of changing desert extent is not because of a reduction in human pressures on the land, but an increasing trend of both precipitation and temperature, which explains over 75% of all the observed changes. Besides, urbanization, and a reduction of population pressures on the land, contribute to most of the remaining changes. Our results suggest that although the climate has been the primary driver of changing desert area and severity, human interventions have played an important role, although the way it intervenes and the intensity varies in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia. Human's active response to land degradation in the desert contributes to more land restoration in Inner Mongolia than in Mongolia.

Untangling the impacts of socioeconomic and climatic changes on vegetation greenness and productivity in Kazakhstan

“…Some efforts have been made at smaller scales in Mongolia (Fernández-Giménez et al 2018), Inner Mongolia (Wang et al 2017, Yan et al 2020b), and Uzbekistan (Yang et al 2016). Most of these studies used either regression models or trend analysis to examine the contribution of climatic and socioeconomic drivers to vegetation dynamics (Zhang et al 2020, Guo et al 2021. In contrast, we identified the joint interactive influences between SES drivers and the seasonal effect of these drivers on ESF using SEM in Kazakhstan.…”

Precipitation and Anthropogenic Activities Jointly Green the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor

“…The desertification process is closely related to the surface vegetation condition and directly influences the regional FVC. Considering the unique climate conditions and vegetation distributions in CMREC, areas that suffered from desertification are mostly wind-eroded grassland caused by climate change and excessive logging and grazing [53,54]. According to the Land Desertification Monitoring Method GB/T20483 (http://c.gb688.cn/ bzgk/gb/showGb?type=online&hcno=62E00314AFED9EDF6BAC3562FA2AB276 (accessed on 16 December 2021)), the National Standards of PR China, we divide the desertification degree in CMREC into five categories: non-desertification, mild desertification, moderate desertification, severe desertification, and extremely severe desertification, corresponding to the FVC of more than 70%, 50-70%, 30-50%, 10-30%, and less than 10%, respectively.…”

Documentary Evidence of 17th Century Landcover and Climate Change in Northern China and Mongolia Compared to Modern Spectral Greening Trends

“…Recent articles have shown that land degradation has reduced considerably during the past 20 years and that desert extent reduction is not primarily caused by a reduction in human grazing activity but rather by an increase in precipitation [112]. Guo et al (2020) reported a decrease in active desertification; however, this is mostly restricted to the more sub-humid northern part of Mongolia and the eastern parts of Inner Mongolia and does not totally affect the transitional zone between Inner Mongolia's and Mongolia's grasslands [112].…”

“…Recent articles have shown that land degradation has reduced considerably during the past 20 years and that desert extent reduction is not primarily caused by a reduction in human grazing activity but rather by an increase in precipitation [112]. Guo et al (2020) reported a decrease in active desertification; however, this is mostly restricted to the more sub-humid northern part of Mongolia and the eastern parts of Inner Mongolia and does not totally affect the transitional zone between Inner Mongolia's and Mongolia's grasslands [112]. Cao et al (2019;2018a;2018b) reported significantly reduced numbers of livestock in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau between 2001 and 2013 as a result of China's livestock reduction policy and that grazing activity cannot solely be considered the trigger of extensive grassland degradation [11].…”

“…There is ongoing debate about whether desertification processes are caused by anthropogenic overstraining and particularly overgrazing activity or by climate change phenomena [108,112,115,116]. Climate change and natural response cycles have been determined to trigger land degradation and the human impact caused extensive desertification at variable scales.…”