Rangeland Mapping and Information Gathering for Rangeland Environmental Assessment

Name of Client: MCA Mongolia.

Description of Project:

• To identify tracts of rangeland in the peri-urban areas of Darkhan, Erdenet, Ulaanbaatar cities and Choibalsan and Kharkhorin regional centers suitable for leasing to herder groups. 465 tracts will be leased under the Peri-Urban Activity.
• To identify and document baseline environmental and social information in the targeted peri-urban areas suitable for the development of a Framework Environmental Assessment (FEA) and an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Peri-Urban Activity.

Detailed Description of Actual Services provided :

• Gathered and analyzed a wide range of information in the target areas to be used in the analysis of potential tracts of land suitable for leasing focusing on the existing land rights to the agricultural land, including all formal and informal rights and attributes of each, and who holds them (herder families, herder groups); assessment of land resources, including quality of the pastureland and forage vegetation thereon, extent to which the land has been degraded, and estimates of the land’s forage potential if properly managed;
• Organized field survey of 1300 herders’ households to identify the pastureland use patterns, household characteristics and income, livestock species structure, current livestock risks, willingness to engage in intensive and semi-intensive farming etc.
• Prepared a GIS on key components of the pastureland use including, among others water sources; aimag, soum and bag boundaries; vegetation cover; socially sensitive sites with a description of their sensitivity attributes; herder migratory routes; specific resources (like salt licks); stocking density with attributes on density and type of animal; land use with relevant attributes
• In close consultation with local officials and herders both project beneficiaries and their neighbors, identified 403 tracts of land suitable for intensive dairy and semi-intensive mixed livestock farming using the predetermined criteria – grass yield, well depth and yield, water quality, and the consistency with local land use plans 
• Organized extensive training to local government officials and herders on pastureland management, the need for and ways to run the  intensive and semi-intensive farming in the context of each aimag and soum in the project regions
• Closely coordinated project activities with the project PIU, relevant central government agencies such as the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry and local governments of all aimags and soums.