The Mongolian National Rangeland Forum provides a platform for discourse and an exchange of views and experiences on sustainable rangeland and livestock management in Mongolia among stakeholders, and facilitates the reaching of an agreement on policy measures and follow-up actions. During the forum, the “Mongolian National Rangeland Health Report 2017” will be presented, summarising the results of nationwide rangeland health monitoring conducted from 2014 to 2016.
At the initiative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s Green Gold Project , National Agency of Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring, and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, the first nationwide rangeland health assessment was conducted in 2014 at 1516 monitoring spots in each of Mongolia’s 1576 baghs.
The National Rangeland Health Report released in 2015 provided the baseline data against which the new report is compared, and shows changes to rangeland health and observable trends. Notably, the percentage of degraded rangelands has declined from 65 percent in 2014 to to 57 percent in 2017, which researchers have attributed to the high recovery capacity of Mongolia’s rangelands, reduced grazing pressure, and a demonstrable commitment by herders to improve grazing management practices. Of that 57 percent of degraded rangeland, 13.5 percent is slightly degraded, 21.1 percent in moderately degraded, 12.8 percent is heavily degraded, and 10.3 percent is completely degraded.
However, compared with conditions in 2014, the degree of degradation had increased in past two years; the proportion of sites that were not degraded to slightly degraded rose by up to 10 percent, while sites classified as heavily or completely degraded level rose to 4.3-5.9 percent, rangeland communities are shifted into the lower alternative states. A large number of the sites that had become more degraded were located in Arkhangai, Tuv, Selenge and Dundgobi aimags, while Sukhbaatar and Dornogobi aimags had the highest number of highly degraded sites.
One of the important statements from previous national report was that a vast majority of monitoring sites representing more than half of Mongolian rangelands suggest that changes to grazing management could result in recovery, or progress toward recovery, within ten years. In 2017, we found that there is still a great opportunity for recovery through improved grazing management, but the number of monitoring sites assigned that demand more than 10 years for recovery being close to the biological threshold of natural recovery has been increased by 5 percent.
At present, there are opportunities for changes in management and policy that improve rangeland health, that enable adaptation to climate and land use changes, and that secure the future of pastoral production and food security in Mongolia. But it is important to act decisively and promptly before those opportunities are lost.
The forum key note presentation and discussions will focus on five topics: 1) The current state of Mongolia’s rangeland health; 2) Implementation of resilience-based responsible rangeland management - achievements, lessons learned; 3) The grazing impact monitoring system as a tool for responsible and sustainable livestock management; 4) Aspirations and strategies for the sustainability of global rangelands; and 5) The “Responsible Nomads” standard for improved marketing of livestock products: Sustainable, Ethical, High Quality.
Participants at the forum will include directors of the aimag departments of Land Affairs, Geodesy, Cartography, Food and Agriculture, Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring, aimag and soum associations of Pasture-User Groups of herders, land managers, and rangeland specialists from 20 soums where sustainable rangeland management practices have been adopted.
Organisers:
Mongolian National Federation of PUGs
SDC Green Gold-Animal Health Project
The Research Institite of Botany, Academy of
Science of Mongolia
Mongolian National University of Applied Science;
Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
Agency of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography
National Agency of Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring.
The Mongolian National Rangeland Forum provides a platform for discourse and an exchange of views and experiences on sustainable rangeland and livestock management in Mongolia among stakeholders, and facilitates the reaching of an agreement on policy measures and follow-up actions. During the forum, the “Mongolian National Rangeland Health Report 2017” will be presented, summarising the results of nationwide rangeland health monitoring conducted from 2014 to 2016.
At the initiative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s Green Gold Project , National Agency of Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring, and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, the first nationwide rangeland health assessment was conducted in 2014 at 1516 monitoring spots in each of Mongolia’s 1576 baghs.
The National Rangeland Health Report released in 2015 provided the baseline data against which the new report is compared, and shows changes to rangeland health and observable trends. Notably, the percentage of degraded rangelands has declined from 65 percent in 2014 to to 57 percent in 2017, which researchers have attributed to the high recovery capacity of Mongolia’s rangelands, reduced grazing pressure, and a demonstrable commitment by herders to improve grazing management practices. Of that 57 percent of degraded rangeland, 13.5 percent is slightly degraded, 21.1 percent in moderately degraded, 12.8 percent is heavily degraded, and 10.3 percent is completely degraded.
However, compared with conditions in 2014, the degree of degradation had increased in past two years; the proportion of sites that were not degraded to slightly degraded rose by up to 10 percent, while sites classified as heavily or completely degraded level rose to 4.3-5.9 percent, rangeland communities are shifted into the lower alternative states. A large number of the sites that had become more degraded were located in Arkhangai, Tuv, Selenge and Dundgobi aimags, while Sukhbaatar and Dornogobi aimags had the highest number of highly degraded sites.
One of the important statements from previous national report was that a vast majority of monitoring sites representing more than half of Mongolian rangelands suggest that changes to grazing management could result in recovery, or progress toward recovery, within ten years. In 2017, we found that there is still a great opportunity for recovery through improved grazing management, but the number of monitoring sites assigned that demand more than 10 years for recovery being close to the biological threshold of natural recovery has been increased by 5 percent.
At present, there are opportunities for changes in management and policy that improve rangeland health, that enable adaptation to climate and land use changes, and that secure the future of pastoral production and food security in Mongolia. But it is important to act decisively and promptly before those opportunities are lost.
The forum key note presentation and discussions will focus on five topics: 1) The current state of Mongolia’s rangeland health; 2) Implementation of resilience-based responsible rangeland management - achievements, lessons learned; 3) The grazing impact monitoring system as a tool for responsible and sustainable livestock management; 4) Aspirations and strategies for the sustainability of global rangelands; and 5) The “Responsible Nomads” standard for improved marketing of livestock products: Sustainable, Ethical, High Quality.
Participants at the forum will include directors of the aimag departments of Land Affairs, Geodesy, Cartography, Food and Agriculture, Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring, aimag and soum associations of Pasture-User Groups of herders, land managers, and rangeland specialists from 20 soums where sustainable rangeland management practices have been adopted.
Organisers:
Mongolian National Federation of PUGs
SDC Green Gold-Animal Health Project
The Research Institite of Botany, Academy of
Science of Mongolia
Mongolian National University of Applied Science;
Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry
Agency of Land Affairs, Geodesy and Cartography
National Agency of Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring.