The Black Disaster

June 28, 2009 | Pulitzer Center

Sean Gallagher, for the Pulitzer Center, China

A farmer brings in his cattle at sunrise on the Inner Mongolian steppes. Due to new regulations, the farmers of the region are now not allowed to graze their cattle, although many risk prosecution and graze their cattle at night, under the cover of darkness.

A painting of traditional Inner Mongolian life hangs in the living room of farmers on the Inner Mongolian steppes. This traditional life disappeared in the 1980s.

Zamasu, a farmer who has lived on the Inner Mongolian grasslands all his life, sits in his home. His days have become less and less busy as regulations have restricted what work he can do. Most days he spends in his living room watching television.

A picture of the famous Mongolian leader Genghis Khan hangs in a colourful yurt, a traditional form of tent which was used by the nomadic farmers of before. The great Mongolian leader is still revered by many of the Inner Mongolian people who still feel close historical ties to Mongolia proper.

Sheep are kept within pens during the day to prevent them from wandering onto the fields during the day. Farmers risk prosecution if they are caught illegally grazing their cattle.

In some places, grass coverage on the grasslands has been stripped down to the bare rocky earth.

A rooster stands in front of one of the few remaining yurts on the grassland.

Horses graze on the farmland even though restrictions prohibit them from doing so. Overgrazing is on of the biggest causes of desertification. As the land is stripped of vegetation, delicate topsoil is exposed which is easily eroded by wind and water. Soil compaction also takes place resulting in the damaging of root systems.

A lone horse gallops across the Inner Mongolian grassland at sunrise.

A farmer tends to new lambs that have just returned from grazing under the cover of darkness. As new regulations have prevented farmers from purchasing new cattle, any new young that are born are carefully looked after.

The remaining grass in areas is easily degraded any activity, either man-made or animal made.

Faint glimpses of traditional life on the grasslands remain as a young woman in traditional dress adjusts her clothing.

The Inner Mongolian grasslands in northern China were once a place of traditional, nomadic life where groups of farmers were free to roam the vast expanses of grassland. This type of life rapidly disappeared in the 1980's when new regulations forced the settling of nomadic farmers into fixed, allocated farms. As farmers have been forced to graze their cattle on the same pieces of land, severe degradation of the grasslands has started to appear as overgrazing becomes a severe problem. Now, new regulations aimed at combating overgrazing by restricting the purchasing of new cattle and stopping grazing, are strangling the people that are left on these great grasslands.