Green Gold Rangeland ecosystem management project in Mongolia
Project facts
Date
30/11/2004 30/12/2020
Payment Mechanisms / Support
Funded jointly by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Mongolia and Government of Mongolia and Mongolian National Federation of Pasture User Groups of herders
Country
Mongolia
Region
East-SE Asia
Site
Mongolia
Contact
Ts. Enkh-Amgalan, Project Manager, Sky Plaza Business Centre, Embassy street-9, Khoroo-1 Sukhbaatar district
Mongolian National Federation of PUGs greenmongolia.mn
Case overview
Main Challenges
Knowledge sharing, Pasture degradation, Improve sustainable livestock production, Restoring grassland, Sustainable grassland management
Starting point/ Challenges
Degradation of Mongolia’s rangelands has reached an alarming level. The rangelands, which comprise 70 percent of the total national territory, are the backbone of the rural economy and provide food security for the entire nation. According to the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism (MNET), more than 70 percent of all rangeland is degraded from a moderate to heavy level. The primary cause is overgrazing resulting from the post-transition era of open access to rangelands and a lack of government and community control. During Green Gold’s first phase from 2004-2008, research trials were conducted on a range of modern technologies in order to identify how pastures could recover from degradation. Those trials revealed that the rehabilitation of degraded rangelands was both difficult and costly, and that the best method is a return to traditional rotational grazing practices and pasture-resting regulated via a grassroots system of collective user control and supported by improvements to the legal framework for land-user rights.
Purpose/ Objectives addressed, Results expected
In order to strengthen customary institutions of range management, Green Gold developed a territory-based, herder-centered, collective range-management approach - Pasture-User Groups (PUGs). A group of herders who share customary access of from two to four seasonal rangelands create a PUG. PUG members define the boundaries of grazing areas and regulate their use based on a common plan. These plans form the basis for the establishment of Randland use agreement (RUAs) between PUGs and local government, which serve as a means to enforce and monitor PUG rotational grazing and rangeland-resting plans. During Green Gold’s transition phase from January to December 2009, an independent study carried out to assess the effectiveness of the PUG approach concluded that it significantly contributed to strengthening community control of open-access rangelands. During Phase III-IV Green Gold scaled up the PUG approach from 28 to 130 soums. About 850 PUGs concluded long-term RUAs from five to 15 years with local government. Seven years of Green Gold data-gathering in the target soums showed a growing trend among herders of actively participating in the planning and regulated use of common rangelands. This was reflected in the increasing amount of rangelands controlled by herders themselves and the decrease in conflicts related to access to rangelands and water. Records show that 3.4 million (18% of target rangelands) ha of degraded rangelands are now being rested for a period of two to five years based on contracts negotiated between herders and local government in the past five years. RUAs provide herders with the security to invest in improved rangeland management.
Type of Case
Capacity building, Land development, Conservation
Exploring potentials / Specific Payments
Exploring potentials for livestock product development and traceability system inclusive of sustainable rangeland practices called responsible nomads to increase market appreciation and value of nomadic livestock herding products
| Agroecological zone | Semi-arid (75 < x < 180 LGP) |
| Land area size (km2) | 800 million ha |
| Number of people | 800 000 nomadic herders |
| Sub-area | In 155 soums (In Inner Mongolia, a sumu is a township-level political/administrative division. The sumu division is equivalent to a township but is unique to Inner Mongolia) of 21 aimags (administrativ identification) of Mongolia reaching out to 60 000 herder families. |
| Land ownership | Collective |
| Ownership comments | Accoring to current land legislation, herders may get collective user rights to their traditional seasonal rangelands |
| Livestock system | Grazing |
| Livestock Type: | Cattle, Camels, Goats, Horses, Sheep, Yak |
| Comment livestock systems: | Nomadic and semi nomadic herding |
| Operating environment: | Free market |
| Participants in the case/project: | Nomadic herder families, local and central government agencies, and research institutions of Mongolia |
| Methods / Approaches applied to reach objectives: | Participatory R and D and community participation and empowerment methods |
Outcome/ Beneficiaries/ Issues
Sustainability regarding economic issues
Inclusion of sustainable rangeland management practices/indicators in livestock product value chain development
Sustainability regarding social issues
Development of herders' self governing institutions (NGOs or economic entities such as cooperatives) to ensure their interest and demand is addressed in the government policy and decision making. GG AHP has facilitated establishment of Mongolian National Federation of PUGs. please visit its website: greenmongolia.mn
Sustainability regarding ecological issues
Herder centered rangeland health monitoring and assessment system
Knowledge Exchange
GG AHP has developed extensive knowledge sharing at the Mongolian National PUG federation specially with peer learning among herders and different communities
Key Conflicts / Problems
Not favorable legal and policy environment for sustainable rangeland ecosystem management
Lessons learnt
Strong national-level coordination is needed to integrate and ensure coherence among different local and international projects and initiatives working on pastureland health monitoring and assessment methodologies and desertification assessments. Formalizing herders’ user rights may have some implications for mining operations as many former pasturelands are being opened up to mining. Increasing number of local communities are lodging legal cases against mining companies for alleged irresponsible mining practices that are causing irreparable damage to ecosystems.The development of active and effective PUGs and APUGs takes time, leadership and continual support. More mature APUGs are able to facilitate negotiation of land use contracts with local government, and support herders’ range management activities with technical support for forage and livestock management, and with business enterprises. Soum and aimag-level federations of APUGs are able to increase the reach of technical extension agencies at low cost. The experience of older groups is invaluable in refining methods and practices for supporting the establishment of new PUGs.
Research Gaps
Inclusive livestock product value chain development of sustainable rangeland management practices
Source of information
https://greenmongolia.mn/
Keywords:
Sustainable rangeland management in Mongolia, Pasture user groups of herders, PUGs, Rangeland use agreement, RUAs, Rangeland recovery classes, ESD based rangeland health monitoring and assessment