Mongolian desertification in Art

Your Futuristic Archeology project looks at desertification in Mongolia. How did you come to that subject?

My projects follow the theme of globalization and its impact. Between 2008 and 2010, I worked on a project looking at the relationship between natural resource and the global economy, and its impact on Asian countries. I later started looking at climate change as a result of a global economic system that relies on fossil fuel. My first subject focused on rising sea levels, so in 2011, I photographed the disappearance of an island in India. Futuristic Archaeology is the second chapter of this project.

How is desertification affecting the lives of local populations?

Many nomads have given up their traditional life as a result of desertification, but 35 percent of the population still leads nomadic lives. Land in Mongolia is not fit for agriculture, and nomadic life is a way of adapting to an environment with limited resources. If desertification continues to spread, it will pose a huge threat to these people. To live as nomads, they don't need much money, but to give up that way of life, they have to become part of the contemporary economic system. Many nomads have been pushed to the capital of Ulanbator, but that situation is causing social problems. Many make a living collecting waste to be recycled.

What are you hoping to achieve through this project?

I would like to address the preservation of this culture and society as it exists rather than allow the impacts of climate change, which is a man-made problem, to turn it into a fossil in a museum. The impact of the global economic system is far greater than we imagine, and there is a butterfly effect. Mass production and consumerism occur on an unnecessarily grand scale, and because they go hand-in-hand with the exploitation of natural resources, pollution and CO2 emissions, they have a major impact on people all over the world. We are all responsible as long as we live in this economic system.

What are the main drivers behind desertification?

There are so many natural resources - oil, copper, coal - in Mongolia, and mining them pollutes the water and land where livestock feed. The cashmere industry is also partly to blame. There is global demand from the cashmere industry, but the goats eat the roots of grass, and that accelerates desertification.

Is anything being done to tackle the problem?

There are NGO's trying to tackle it, but it is a vast territory, and they can only operate locally. They plant trees around villages to stop the desert from spreading.

How do the nomadic populations you worked with see their future?

They know that desertification will change their lives, but they have not adapted well to urban life. Most of them only know about nomadic life, and do not have the skills needed for a job in the city. That is why nomads end up collecting recycled waste for a living. The people in the images are former nomads who gave up their lifestyle as a result of desertification. They are hired and paid by the Korean NGO ‘Green Asia Network' to grow and plant trees. The same NGO helped me with my project.

Daesung Lee is a Paris-based photographer whose work deals with issues relating to globalization and the environment. See more of his workhere.