Silk Road Caravan arrives in Mongolia
The Silk Road Caravan, a global initiative to highlight the importance of rangeland ecosystems and pastoralist livelihoods, has entered Mongolia after traveling 6,000 km. Its arrival comes just weeks before the COP17 UNCCD conference in Ulaanbaatar, Qazinform News Agency cites MONTSAME.
It will travel through Dundgobi, Uvurkhangai, Arkhangai, Bulgan, and Tuv aimags and visit Khustai National Park, the Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape (UNESCO World Heritage), and Ugii Lake (Ramsar site).
Participants are expected to meet nomadic households, researchers, and cooperatives, while observing land restoration projects.
Organized under the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, it revives the spirit of the ancient Silk Road, connecting Asia and Europe.
The caravan brings together pastoralists, policymakers, youth, and researchers to share solutions for land degradation and drought resilience.
UNCCD emphasizes that people are at the heart of land restoration.
Mongolia’s rangelands cover 70% of its territory, supporting one-third of the population, but face increasing degradation and climate risks.
Rangelands globally cover 54% of Earth’s land, support 2 billion people, and store vast carbon reserves — yet half are already degraded.
The experiences gathered during the caravan will feed into discussions at COP17, where countries will explore scaling up local practices into global action.
To note, Mongolia intensified its efforts to combat desertification, land degradation.
