Mongolian national rangeland forum towards responsible rangeland management

Oyundelger 2018-10-29 04:10

Agriculture

Mongolian national rangeland forum towards responsible rangeland management.

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” was presented, summarizing the results of nationwide rangeland health monitoring conducted from 2014 to 2016. The forum key note presentation and discussions focuses on the current state of Mongolia’s rangeland health; implementation of resilience-based responsible rangeland management - achievements, lessons learned and the grazing impact monitoring system as a tool for responsible and sustainable livestock management, moreover on aspirations and strategies for the sustainability of global rangelands  and the “Responsible Nomads” standard for improved marketing of livestock products: Sustainable, Ethical, High Quality. 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 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. 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 6 percent, rangeland communities are shifted into the lower alternative states. 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.