Ulaanbaatar
‘Mongolia’s network of Managed Resource Protected Areas’ project completed
Environment
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ ‘Mongolia’s network of Managed Resource Protected Areas’ project was implemented by Ministry of Environment and Tourism with the aid of United Nations Development Programme and Global Environment Facility. Closing workshop of the project, which has been implemented for the last 5 years, was held on June 14. The opening speech was delivered by P.Tsogtsaikhan, director of the Public Administration Department of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and Daniela Gasparikova, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative.
Two goals of conserving biodiversity and improving people’s livelihoods were successfully pursued on 780 thousand hectares of land in local protected areas such as Gulzat, Khavtgar and Tumenkhaan-Shalz, which are located in Sagil and Bokhmoron soums of Uvs aimag, Batshireet and Norovlin soums of Khentii aimag and Tsagaan-Ovoo and Bayan-Uul soums of Dornod aimag. As part of the project, the capacity of natural resource management participants was strengthened, providing 72 per cent of them with GPS devices, 51 per cent with telescopes and 32 per cent with motorcycles.
Two goals of conserving biodiversity and improving people’s livelihoods were successfully pursued on 780 thousand hectares of land in local protected areas such as Gulzat, Khavtgar and Tumenkhaan-Shalz, which are located in Sagil and Bokhmoron soums of Uvs aimag, Batshireet and Norovlin soums of Khentii aimag and Tsagaan-Ovoo and Bayan-Uul soums of Dornod aimag. As part of the project, the capacity of natural resource management participants was strengthened, providing 72 per cent of them with GPS devices, 51 per cent with telescopes and 32 per cent with motorcycles.
As a consequence of the project, 470 thousand hectares of pasture land used by 435 herder families was protected and there was about 30 per cent increase in the number of wild sheep and 20 per centincrease in the number of red deer, moose and marmots.
Within the local protected area, 1250 contract workers from 33 environmental protection cooperatives and 418 families and 50 volunteer rangers are operating. Accreditation Fund was established in cooperation with the Mongolian Association of Pastureland Consumers with the aim of protecting pasture and wildlife in complex to maintain the sustainability of the project results. The beneficiaries of the project founded a database of natural resource co-management, and created leverage for protecting pasture and nature, and ensuring animal health.
In addition, over 1300 local protected areas covering 23.7 million ha and 4,7 hectares of land are under 1078 environmental protection cooperatives.
M.Anudari
