Goal of the project: The overall goal of the project is to combat land degradation and desertification in Mongolia in order to protect and restore ecosystems and essential ecosystem services that are key to reducing poverty.
Immediate objectives: The principal objective of the project is to strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable land management (SLM) by building capacities in appropriate government institutions and user groups and demonstrating good practice in SLM through on-ground interventions that are integrated with national economic and social development policies.
The project has three outcomes:
- Strengthened coordination mechanisms, institutional and human resources capacity and knowledge base to promote SLM and desertification control.
- SLM mainstreamed into national, provincial and local policies, strategies and regulatory framework; and
- Pilot testing, demonstrations and scaling-up community based approaches in integrated natural resources management with focus on grassland and water management and sylvopastoralism
Land degradation has been identified as one of the priority concerns in Mongolia. The fundamental project concept is to help address root causes of land degradation and desertification by strengthening institutions at all levels. The rationale is that weak institutions and mechanisms for collaborative planning and management are the most significant and most systemic barrier to sustainable land management and effective control of desertification. This key barrier is partly related to the country’s transformation process from a command to a market economy. A highly organized system of seasonal grazing patterns, mobility was severely restricted after 1990 when the collapse of the socialist collectives left a vacuum in local institutions for natural resources management (NRM).
To restore mobility, customary pastoral institutions have seen a revival and new social organization for joint NRM and livelihood improvement has gained momentum among communities and recognition as partners in co-management and as legitimate rural civil society organizations of pastoral community organizations by local governments is growing. An institutional framework for integrated NRM is currently evolving in Mongolia.
Further, land degradation and poverty are inextricably linked. Land degradation impacts the livelihood of rural populations in many ways. The majority of the rural population in Mongolia is herders and depends heavily on pasturelands and derives their food sustenance and cash income almost entirely from their animals. Thus degradation of pasturelands directly impacts the livelihoods of herders and to fight poverty means improving the management of pasturelands.
The proposed project support, with a focus on rangelands, is embedded in this process of institutional strengthening and employs different strategies at different levels. At local level, it develops joint planning and management mechanisms, thereby testing new policies, piloting technologies, strengthening institutions and developing models for scaling-up and for application in different resource management, conservation and rehabilitation contexts. Lessons on developing an effective local institutional framework in the target areas will be applicable country-wide.
On-the-ground investments will focus on areas related to sustainable grassland management and sylvopastoralism and will be implemented in 13 soums located in 4 Aimags. Pilot projects will demonstrate, validate, and scale-up best practices in local-level institutional strengthening, joint planning, including financial management mechanisms, participatory processes, and good governance. Pilot projects will cover best practices on community based water management, pasture rehabilitation, fodder production, local protected area management, fuel efficiency, renewable energy, alternative livelihood, sustainable sylvopastoralism and integration of forest conservation, landscape values and biodiversity conservation in the context of sustainable pastoralism.
This project is part of a broad framework to tackle land degradation and desertification in the country. It is a key element of the country's long-term and concerted effort to arrest land degradation in the light of severe threats to the environment and rural livelihoods due to greater climate variability. Through the development of inter agency partnerships and the mobilization of development resources, this project seeks to reverse the land degradation process. The intervention will be integrated with, and complement, on-going efforts for promoting sustainable land management practices and combating desertification. |
