In June 2011 four civil society organisations from across the globe -- CEE Bankwatch Network in eastern Europe, urgewald from Germany, Bank Information Center in the US and Oyu Tolgoi Watch from Mongolia -- traveled to Mongolia's south Gobi desert. The purpose of the visit was to better understand the environmental and social impacts of the development of the Tavan Tolgoi and Oyu Tolgoi mining projects in the Gobi. What they discovered was that the pressures from mining placed on the desert's scarce natural resources was driving the Gobi's traditional herder's to the edge of survival.