Western Development or Extractive Exploitation?
More recently, the Chinese government has blamed overpopulation, over cultivation of fragile soils, overgrazing, and global climate change for accelerating desertification in Inner Mongolia.

The government hasn't found its own program of industrialization guilty, though it is, say herders. In 1998 the central government began the Western Development program, which among other things has promoted mining in Inner Mongolia. The young herder, Temtsel, has studied the mines and estimated that just one mine uses 10,500 tons (2.6 million gallons) of water a day, enough to rapidly deplete the groundwater and aquifers below, or grow thousands of acres of sand-stabilizing grass. The mines also discharge a comparable amount of toxic, mineral and acid-laden wastewater onto the grasslands, systematically poisoning land, streams, and aquifers.

The fate of Arxiaot Lake, a mile from the Nomad Family site, is a graphic example of the Western Development program's affect on the grasslands of East Ujumchin County. Arxiaot Lake was over 10-feet deep in the late 1990s. Migratory birds used the lake as a breeding site. Herders watered their livestock along its banks. Farmers irrigated their crops.

Today Arxiaot is a lake of sand.

Several hundred miles west of the Nomad Family site, the Wulagai Wetland, officially listed as a wetland of international importance according to the United Nations, dried up completely in 2003. Mining companies and some government officials assert that climate change—hotter, drier weather that prevents precipitation and accelerates evaporation—is why hundreds of Inner Mongolian lakes and wetlands have gone dry since 2000.

Whose Land and Water?
Another feature of the Western Development campaign was containment. Like sentries in the desert, herders stand in opposition to this sobering mixture of government policy that is producing conflicting results.

Bailinbaolige, a small village just north of Xilinhot, is an example of what can happen when the herders are forced to stay in one area, said Chen Jiqun. The area was known for its rich water resources and lush grasslands, with its name literally meaning "abundant water." Local herders were so proud of their grasslands that in 1998, a year after the enclosure policy went into effect; they commissioned a mural of grasslands and traditional Mongol cultural scenes to be painted in the local cultural center. The finished mural depicts a colorful display of Inner Mongolia's breathtaking scenery.

It is also a depiction of a time that so quickly passed. Starting in 1998, rains came much later in the season for three consecutive years. The herders relied more and more on local wells, further drawing down the aquifer. By 2000, the grasslands were already severely degraded, with many herders forced to sell their herds and move away. By 2001, the local school, which had had over 100 students when the mural was commissioned, was forced to close because there were only seven students left. The land surrounding the village is now covered with sparse, low grass that barely holds the topsoil in place. Bailinbaolige, says Chen, is fast on its way to becoming a ghost town in the desert.

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