Mongolia: Nomads No More

Mongolia · Photographs by Taylor Weidman

Mongolian pastoral herders make up one of the world's largest remaining nomadic cultures. For millennia they have lived on the steppes, grazing their livestock on the lush grasslands. But today, their traditional way of life is at risk on multiple fronts. Alongside a rapidly changing economic landscape, climate change and desertification are also threatening nomadic life, killing both herds and grazing land. Due to severe winters and poor pasture, many thousands of herders have traded in their centuries-old way of life for employment in mining towns and urban areas. The ger (yurt) camps that ring the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, house a permanent population of displaced nomads. There, they live without running water or a tangible use for the skills and crafts that were practiced on the steppes. The younger generation is no longer learning these essential aspects of their nomadic heritage.

A herder rides out to collect his animals during a snowstorm in the early spring.

A young nomad herds his animals by motorcycle after an early spring snowstorm. Mongolian herders adopt technology quickly and it is not uncommon to see trucks and motorcycles replacing work animals.

After an overnight snowstorm, a nomad brushes snow off of his solar unit, which powers the lightbulb, TV, and cell phone in his ger (yurt).

Decreased precipitation and stronger winds, a product of climate change, has led to the erosion of fertile topsoil and the expansion of the Gobi Desert.

After the closing of a large, Soviet coal mine in Nalaikh, a town about 35 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar, many small mining operations took over. These small mines often employ herding families who have had to give up life on the steppe.

Mining, though dangerous, is an attractive employment option for former herders whose levels of education often don't extend beyond grade school.

A Mongolian boy brings water to his home in the ger district. Housing 70 percent of Ulaanbaatar's population, these ger camps have no sanitation services or running water and have high rates of unemployment, alcoholism and crime.

Two young men help their drunk friend to a waiting car. In 2006, a joint Mongolian Ministry of Health/World Health Organization study found that 22 percent of Mongolian men were dependent on alcohol—a rate that is 3 times higher than Europe.

Two wrestlers compete at a small Naadam festival in the countryside. Naadam was traditionally a celebration of victorious conquests, but in the Soviet era, the celebration was organized into a yearly, nationwide festival.

The ger districts that ring the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, house a permanent population of displaced nomads. During the winter, Ulaanbaatar is the second most air-polluted capital in the world due largely to coal burning.

The view of a construction site in Ulaanbaatar from the ferris wheel of the city's Children's Park. Alongside private enterprises, the Mongolian government plans to build 100,000 new housing units for low-income families.

A woman stretches on a hilltop overlooking Ulaanbaatar's sprawl. With the fastest growing economy in the world in 2011 and a constant stream of rural-to-urban migrants, Mongolia's capital is expanding quickly.

Two Mongolian youth slaughter goats and sheep at a countryside resort for wealthy city dwellers. Mongolian men slaughter these animals by making a small incision in the chest , reaching into the cavity, and pinching or snapping the aorta so the animal bleeds out internally.

With the advent of solar panels and satellite television, flat screen TV's are becoming increasingly common across the steppe.

In Azraga, a pile of bones from animals killed during the 2010 dzud lies on the frozen ground. Azraga has been especially unlucky. The winter of 2012 was relatively mild in most of Mongolia, but in this region, a localized dzud killed an estimated 30 percent of the livestock.

A thirsty goat drinks from a laundry machine in the Gobi Desert. Along with herding, family members here work at a nearby mine, providing extra income for amenities like this solar-powered washing machine.