Afforestation
PROGRAMME · DEGRADED STEPPE
Planting trees on already-degraded grassland and city-edge land — never on intact native steppe. The goal: stabilise soil, mitigate dust, and create new habitat at the urban–steppe interface.
Why this programme exists
Decades of overgrazing have left swaths of Mongolian grassland soil-bare and wind-eroded — not productive grassland anymore, but not yet desert. These edge sites are appropriate for tree cover; they need it to anchor soil and break wind. The line we hold: never plant on intact native steppe, which is a healthy ecosystem in its own right.
How it works
- 1
GIS site suitability
Layer historic land cover, soil organic carbon, and grazing pressure data. Only sites already degraded — typically peri-urban and along major roads — make the cut.
- 2
Drought-tolerant species
Siberian elm, Russian olive, poplar and larch — species that survive on <400mm rainfall without supplemental irrigation past Year 1.
- 3
Row planting
1.5m within-row spacing, 3m between rows. Sufficient density to shade out competing weeds but spaced for individual canopy at maturity.
- 4
Year-1 watering + fencing
Monthly irrigation in dry months, fenced against grazing. Year 2-3 typically rain-fed only.
- 5
Y1/Y3 audit + soil tracking
Survival audit plus soil organic carbon sampling at planting + Y3 to confirm soil health improvement, not just tree count.
Where we plant
- Töv
- Darkhan-Uul
- Orkhon
- Selenge (city edge)
Measured impact
- Selbe Flagship target
- 160,000 saplings
- CO₂ over 20 yrs
- ~180 kg / tree
- Wind speed reduction
- 30-50% at 5x tree height downwind