What we've learned

Mongolian cashmere has increased in volume but decreased in quality. The roots of the problem stem from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The production system has enabled a host of cheap cashmere brands to churn out cheap products at the expense of nature and livelihoods. There's a fix - a decisive shift away from volume to quality. But it requires a system shift to a better, regenerative, economics.

We take from nature at scale. But selectively. It's both destructive and wasteful. The selective focus on single commodities drives a monoculture and an income dependency which traps rural communities into activities that further harm the grasslands, simply to keep afloat. That's the real tragedy of the commons.