The president of Mongolia signed a resolution on ‘Directions to Government with regards to Climate change’

The President of Mongolia signed the resolution on ‘Directions to the Government with regards to climate change’ and its launch event was held on 18 September in Ministry of Nature, Environment and Green development. In the event, officials from the President office and the ministry, scientists, researchers and media representatives participated.

Climate change and environmental issues have been one of main focuses of the president and the aim of the resolution is awareness raising and actual implementation of measures with regards to climate change, learning from other countries as well as sharing best practices.  

Mr Elbegdorj, the president will attend in UN Assembly on Climate Change next week in New York and chair the round table discussion.
Source in Mongolian:  http://www.president.mn/mongolian/node/4177

Pasture carrying capacity in winter and spring 2014-2015 in Mongolia

 Before 1990s, Mongolia had about 25 million heads of livestock including horse, camel, goat, sheep and cattle. In December 2013, the total livestock was counted as approximately 45 million heads. Therefore, pasture and forage availability plays key role in pastoral livestock in Mongolia. 

According to the Government resolution #190 about Preventing natural disasters including drought and zud, pasture carrying capacity in winter and spring 2014-2015 have been recently estimated by the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment (IMHE) based on maximum biomass of pasture, number of animals, area of pasture and duration of grazing at the smallest administration (soum and bag) level. Generally, summer of 2014 was good in terms of biomass production because of relatively rainy weather.

 Figure. Pasture carrying capacity for winter and spring 2014-2015

Source: NAMHEM web site : http://www.tsag-agaar.mn

As the figure presents, 60 % of pasture has excessive resource (up to 50 % of capacity of pasture) and 15 % of pasture is sufficient (51-100%) for animals. 15% of pasture has exceeding animals by 100-300 % and the remaining 10 % of pasture has extreme exceeding animals (more than 300%) than its carrying capacity. Consequently, 70 % of the total pasture would have enough pasture resources for winter and spring 2014-2015. However, 30 % of the area where pasture capacity exceeds would have challenging situation in terms of pasture. In these areas, additional measures such as moving other areas (otor), additional hay mowing and preparation of supplement forage and other management actions and highly recommended to prevent animal losses in winter and spring.

For more detailed information, please refer to Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment.

Number of herders in Mongolia

Generally, number of herding families is decreasing in the past years. As of 2013, there were 210 thousand families with herds and 286 thousand herders according to the statistics (Figure). Especially young herders have been declined in numbers in recent years.

Figure 1. Multi-year number of families with animals and number of herders

Source: Statistical database 1991-2013, NSO (http://1212.mn)

Migration to urban areas, urbanization and related challenges continue to impact negatively on herders’ livelihood due to increased natural disaster such as drought and zud, decline in animal production and access to markets. 

Mongolia Technology Needs Assessment CC Adaptation

Mongolia is a developing country with a small population and vast territory where traditional nomadic livelihoods coexist with modern urban lifestyles. In recent years, climate
change related challenges have become a major risk for the country’s development. Ecosystems within the country are fragile to climate changes and livelihoods of people are directly impacted by weather and the environment. This assessment has demonstrated that climate change will affect the well-being of people and the country’s socio and economic development.
Arable farming and animal husbandry sub sectors were identified as the sectors most vulnerable to climate change and their social, economic and environmental losses due to climate change impacts are expected to be higher than those of other sectors.
Source: http://unfccc.int/ttclear/templates/render_cms_page?TNR_cre