Introduction: environmental disaster in Mongolian modern history

Figures & data

Table 1. Usage of Mongolian livestock for subsistence use and MSU.

Sheep	Meat, Wool, Skin, Dung, Milk	1
Goat	Cashmere, Meat, Milk, Dung	0.9
Cattle	Milk, Labor, Meat, Skin, Dung	6
Horse	Riding, Milk, Hair	7
Camel	Labor, Riding, Wool, Milk	5

MSU (Mongolian Sheep Unit) is a way of converting all kinds of livestock into sheep by its amount of eating grass (Bedunah et al., “Rangelands of Gobi Gurvan,” 19).

Source: Vreeland, “Mongol Community and Kinship,” 29; Ozaki, Gendai Mongol no Bokuchiku, 32.

Table 2. Comparison of average area of pasture, number of livestock and livestock density.

	Pasture (Mu)	Sheep & Goat	Cattle	Horse	MSU	MSU/ha
Ulaanchab, with banning (2013/14)	11286	236	1	15	428	0.57
Ulaanchab, w/o banning (2013/14)	8186	411	10	10	539	0.99
Shiliingol (2010)	15038	350	62	5	756	0.75
Suburban (2009/11)	4260	338	8	3	403	1.42
Shiliingol (1999/2001)	8973	536	41	18	903	1.51
Airag producers (2015)	20500	633	16	157	1826	1.34

Original data were collected by T. Ozaki from his field research in the indicated years.

Source: Ozaki, “Gendai Mongol no Bokuchiku,” 376.

Figure 1. Relationship between Mongolian natural environment, pastoralists’ food and livestock weight.

Source: Batoyun et al., “Who is Making Airag,” 9.

Figure 2. Total number of livestock in Outer Mongolia (thousand head), 1930–2019.

Figure 3. Model of pastoralism in Outer Mongolia during collectivization era.

Figure 4. Number of pastoralists in Outer Mongolia (thousands, 1985–2011).

Figure 5. Model of pastoralism in Outer Mongolia during transitional period.

Figure 6. Nominal GDP in Outer Mongolia (in million TG).

Figure 7. Rates of pastoralism (blue) and mining (red) in nominal GDP.

Figure 8. Model of pastoralism in today’s Outer Mongolia.

Photo 1. Chinese ox-wagon team at the Riverside of Nugas Gol, July 121931.

Source: Nishiaki et al., “Catalogue of the Namio,” Plate 7.