But having too many goats is harmful to the land because goats eat more grass than sheep and pull out the roots of the plants. When that happens, the dirt becomes looser and makes it easier for big windstorms to come and sweep all the minerals away from the land, leaving new desert in place of grasslands.
Nowadays, most Mongolians have cars, especially those living in the countryside. However, just like having too many goats hurts the land, so do cars. Car wheels can tear up the grass and plants holding the soil down. Because there are few paved roads in the countryside, people can drive their cars wherever they want. Of course, people have traveled across Mongolia freely for a long time, but people used to use horses which caused much less damage to the land than cars and motorcycles.
One of the other big causes of desertification is mining. Mongolia has lots of important minerals in the land, including coal, uranium, copper and gold. These are used to help people in their everyday lives, from heating up a house to making computers and smartphones. But mining, especially on a big level, hurts the environment. Digging tears away at the earth around it, and adds to the erosion (grass turning into sand and being blown away) of land. Mining can also poison the land, water and air. Lots of water is used in mining, and the water that is left is often mixed with toxic chemicals.
All of these reasons are part of why desertification is happening in Mongolia.
