Around 90% of all agricultural land in Mongolia is pastoral land, used by 120,000 herderhouseholds (a total of about 500,000 people). However, according to recent estimates,more than 76% of the nation’s pastureland is increasingly subject to overgrazing anddesertification. How can an innovative system of land management be put in placelegally, which addresses the use of pastoral lands and seasonal migration, while at thesame time preserving the land for future use? Results from this research have been crucial in the formulation and implementation of legal framework for managing pasture land, as common property resources. Inaddition , since the approval of a new Forest Law in 2012, also ten forest communitieshave entered into co-management contracts with local governors in Jasil’s study sites. However, continued advocacy is needed to ensure that rights are given to pastoralcommunities that are currently awaiting approval of the draft Land Law (which has beenunder discussion in Parliament since 2013). The law should create a legal base for theallocation of pastureland to herder communities through co-management contractsbetween them and local governors.
Community based natural resources management (CBNRM) is new approach in the Mongolian transition context, with decentralization and privatization. Therefore our activities on empowering communities implementing according to the three, interrelated key research issues that the project is dealing with: pasture & NR co-management; livelihoods improvement; and policy/legal changes. These issues interrelated to the i) social; ii) economic; and iii) ecological improvements. The third phase of the study project on: “Sustainable Management of Common Natural Resources in Mongolia“ being implemented from July 01 2004, in the MNE, with the aid of a grant from the IDRC of Canada, as a continuation of activities of Phase II for scale-up community based co-management of pasture and natural resources in project study sites.
Project study sites represents:
Environment and Development Association