Biodiversity conservation in Mongolia
The biodiversity of Mongolia, including fascinating species like Saiga antelope, Khulan and the two humped Bactrian camel, is at threat.
Mongolia contains a variety of ecological zones from taiga forests and wetlands to high mountains, vast grasslands, steppe and desert, supporting a beautiful and diverse wildlife. However issues such as unregulated mining and illegal hunting of wildlife, as well as a huge increase in livestock numbers over the past 20 years, are putting these natural resources as risk.
The Mongolian government has expressed a strong commitment to biodiversity conservation and has set up a system of national parks. However, basic information on species biology, distribution and abundance, vital for conservation planning is lacking. So too are the skills required by Mongolians to carry out scientific ecological studies to address this problem.
The Steppe Forward Programme, set up in May 2003 as a co-operation between the National University of Mongolia and ZSL, empowers Mongolians to create and manage conservation programmes by providing them with the tools necessary to design and monitor their own conservation initiatives, assess wildlife populations and design ecological studies.
The programme directly encourages understanding and importance of measures required for biological conservation and produces educational material, runs community projects and conducts public awareness campaigns. The first three years serve as a training period for Mongolian counterparts to learn project management skills, with the aim of Mongolians ultimately managing an established programme.