A pathway to biodiversity-friendly, sustainable cashmere production under climate change

Nature-related risks of cashmere production in the Eurasian continent was evaluated by spatial dynamics of grassland biomass and biodiversity: especially in Inner Mongolia, the analyses combining satellite remote sensing of vegetation and stacked species distribution modeling revealed that priority areas of biodiversity conservation and suitable areas for cashmere goat herding shifted dramatically during 2000 to 2022. A grazing scenario ensuring minor reduction in grassland biomass and plant species richness could be implemented under the condition of less than 10 goats per hectare in the grasslands with more than 400 mm annual precipitation. In conclusion, suitable grazing areas and goat density for biodiversity-friendly, sustainable production should be determined adaptively according to the dynamics of grassland biomass and species richness, which was governed by shifting biome from cold deserts to grasslands, grassland to shrub lands, and/or shrub lands to grasslands, in response to climate change involving high rainfall and drought.