The most prevalent human activity in Mongolia that can potentially induce anthropogenic land degradation augmenting desertification risk is animal husbandry, characterized by livestock grazing. This is most pronounced at locations where climatic, topoedaphic, and human influences create a ?convergence? of factors that lead to accelerated degradation. Grazing pressure is greatest near settlements and water sources. The carrying capacity of pasture land is frequently exceeded in the areas receiving the greatest grazing pressure, resulting in degradation of the composition of plant species and soil denudation. Animal husbandry continues to be the dominant economic sector in Mongolia, with

daily impacts on virtually all the population. The semi-nomadic livestock herders were estimated as 183.6 thousand households or 410.0 thousand herdsmen with total 31.3 million livestock in 1997 (Mongolian Statistical Yearbook 1998). During the last 10 years, between 1987 and 1997, the number of livestock in Mongolia increased by 38%. An increase in total livestock numbers is of concern because the country has lost the original traditional livestock herding system due to moderization of the socio-economic system, including grazing control practices, and at the same time has not yet established mechanisms to ensure the sustainable use of rangelands through livestock control and monitoring. In order to decrease the desertification risk, it is necessary to develop animal husbandry management strategy based on both the best traditional livestock herding practices and modern scientific methods. It should be taken into account that nomadic pastoralists, particularly in the Mongolian territory, have grazed different ecosystems for thousand of years in a sustainable manner.