Desertification in Mongolia is causing major problems with dust in China’s northern capital, Beijing. The Chinese attribute the degradation in Mongolia’s lands to overuse of herding and other agriculture and mining along with a climate that is getting warmer and drier. But the demand for what Mongolia produces by China is encouraging this overuse of the land, so friction has built up between the Mongolians and Chinese over what to do. This Physics Today article (from The Conversation) describes how the dust storms are increasing and steps they are taking to reduce the amount of dust that is produced and blown into China.
