| BATJARGAL Zamba | |
| Interference impact of global warming and globalization on the society in Mongolia | |
| There still is a significant portion of uncertainties with regard to the global climate change despite that the last Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC increased a worldwide common understanding about the present trend of global climate change and human activities as its main cause. Estimated future climate scenarios vary from model to model due to the limitation of global climate models (GCMs) and accordingly climate projections are different for given particular areas. Mongolia has developed the National Climate Change Programme referring to the results of projections based on well known GCMs. However, the scientific and professional communities engaged in this exercise are not able to guarantee full confidence in these projections due to the fact that the current GCMs had not captured all intrinsic components in driving factors and possible imperative non-linear feedback effects. The current level of warming at the territory of Mongolia based on instrumental records also needs to be shaped taking into account the locations of specifics of meteorological stations and gradually increasing localized “smog cap” effect in cold seasons in some key settlement areas. Studies on climate change undertaken so far mostly focused on the expected stresses of climate change on ecosystems, while interaction between natural and managed socio-economic systems were considered in simplified ways. In the IPCC Synthesis Report on Climate Change it was recognized that the “effects of climate change on human and some natural systems are difficult to detect due to adaptation and non-climatic drivers”. Mongolian society in recent years has been experiencing series of “shocks” induced by globalization related pressures. At the same time, Mongolia has a limited background to absorb these shocks as a nation due to its past political isolation with non market economic system and culturally “land locked” situation with limited access to a broader cultural domain in the world due to its imposed ideological barriers. Therefore, it is important for Mongolia to consider possible combined effects of global warming and globalization on the society in the process of developing its adaptation strategy anticipating both long term variability and non reversible change in climate conditions. | |
| ISHII Reiichiro, FUJITA Noboru and SUGITA Michiaki | |
| Why discontinuous vegetation transitions occur at the topographical scale in Mongolia? A study to test the hypothesis on positive feed-back between soil water and plant growth | |
| In Mongolia, plant growth is generally limited by water availability. In fact, the vegetation pattern of Mongolia matches the distribution pattern of precipitation rate at the country scale: the vegetation changes from forest to steppe, and finally to desert, as the precipitation decreases with the latitude. At the topographic scale, however, the vegetation exhibits discontinuous transition. This cannot to be accounted for by the precipitation distribution alone, and suggests another mechanism to be taken into consideration. Since it is well known that plants in dry area often exhibit discontinuous spatial patterns as the consequence of positive feed back interaction between soil water-plant mass (e.g., plant enhances water infiltration and/or reduces evaporation from soil surface), we hypothesized that such mechanism should be dominant at the geographical scale in Mongolia. To test the hypothesis and clarify the mechanism, we conducted both the analysis of a theoretical model and in situ field observations. The theoretical model incorporates the dynamic interactions among soil-water contents and the competing two plants types with trade-off in drought resistance and maximum plant mass. From the analysis it was clarified that, under the existence of the positive-feedback, either of the two plant types may become dominant of an area with the same precipitation depending on the initial density (“Bistability”). This could give a feasible explanation for the observed discontinuity. We set Automated Weather Systems (AWS) in three vegetation transition zones (i.e., forest-steppe, Caragana-steppe and steppe-Nitraria). In each zone, AWS was set in each side of the boundary so that we could compare the effects of different vegetation covers on soil water contents eliminating the effect of variance in the precipitation. After one year measurement, we observed that the soil-water contents often became larger within the vegetations with larger plant mass. This supports the assumption of the theoretical model, the positive feed back mechanism. Although the field evidence is still not complete, the results so far suggest that the vegetation pattern of different scales are regulated by different mechanism, although water always remains as the principal limiting factor in Mongolia. | |
| OYUNBAATAR Dambaravjaa, DAVAA Gombo | |
| Hydrology and Water resources of Mongolia | |
| The climate of Mongolia is harsh continental with well defined seasons, high annual and diurnal fluctuations, and low rainfall. According to the last 60 year’s meteorological record an average annual temperature is around 8.5°C in the Gobi and –7.8°C in the high mountain area. The total water resource of the country is estimated as 599 cubic km composed mainly from water stored in lakes (500 cub.km) and glaciers (62.9 cub.km). Only 4 and 2 percent of total water resources are other surface and ground water, respectively. Annual average precipitation is 224 mm of which 90.1 per cent evaporates, only 9.9 per cent forms surface runoff, partially recharging into ground water aquifers. Mongolian rivers take their origin from Central Asian high mountains ranges and drain into three main river basins, Arctic Ocean basin, Pacific Ocean basin and Central Asian Internal basin. 70 percent of water resources of Mongolia forms in Altai, Khangai, Khentei, Khovsgol and Greate Khayangan high mountain ranges. The mentioned runoff formation zones occupies about 30 perecnet of the country’s territory. Mongolia has around 4100 rivers with total length of 65 000 km and average channel density for the country is 0.05 km/km2. Number of lakes exceeding surface area of 0.1 km2 are 3060 and biggest lake by the area is Uvs with surface area of 3518.3 km. By the volume and depth, the Khovsogol is biggest one among others and the lake contains 93.6 per cent of total fresh water resources in the country. Mainly surface runoff in Mongolia forms from rainfall (up to 75 per cent) for warm period of year, from May to September. However, proportion of runoff components in its annual value varies in time and space, reflecting geographic and climatic peculiarities of a region. There is well-defined seasonal variation in runoff and dominance of runoff sources. For instance rainfall component dominates in northern part or in Arctic and Pacific Ocean Basins, in warm period of year. As for, base flow component, it is estimated to be on average 15-40 percent of total annual runoff, fed by ground water. These are typical features of surface runoff regime and its components. According to flow regime classification, Mongolian rivers divided into three groups: 1) Rivers with spring snow melting and rainfall floods in warm period, 2) Rivers with spring melting flood and 3) Rivers with rainfall flood in warm period. Stationary monitoring on regime of river and lake waters began in early 1900th and at present days 126 gauging stations are operating at 75 rivers and 12 lakes. According to the long term variation of river runoff, surface water runoff increases gradually from 1978 reaching its maximum amount in 1993 with 78.4 km3 .Since 1993 surface water runoff had decreasing tendenvy up to now and lowest value was observed in 2002.Due to climate change and human impacts, forest, vegetation and soil coverage of a river basins have changed significantly and there is clearly observed decreasing tendency of water resources and change of flow regime. | |
| SUGITA Michiaki，SATOH Takashi, YOSHIZAWA Shintaroh, YAMANAKA Tsutomu and TSUJIMURA Maki | |
| Hydrology and water use of plant and vegetation in Mongolia | |
| Water scarcity is the main limiting factor of arid regions for vegetation growth and also for nomadic life As such, it is important to understand the water use and consumption by variety of living forms. In the case of Mongolian steppe areas, the main water losses are due to livestock and vegetation, in addition to the natural loss to the atmosphere through soil evaporation. The main water source is soil water and groundwater, although water resources in river and lakes can also be used in the northern regions where more precipitation is common and perennial rivers exist. In the present study, two small watersheds were selected in Mandalgobi of Mongolia, where the mean annual precipitation is around 150 mm and only the ephemeral river exists. In order to determine the water budget of each watersheds, rainfall has been monitored since summer of 2008. At the same time, soil moisture from surface down to 1 m, groundwater level and additional meteorological factors are being measured. A chamber method was applied to determine the soil evaporation and transpiration. A preliminary analysis has shown that the major water budget components are rainfall and evapotranspiration (of which transpiration tends to dominate), and only remaining small portions go to soil water, groundwater storage and groundwater discharge. Only rarely surface runoff plays a role. Thus local nomadic activities make use of the groundwater resources through existing shallow wells. It has been shown that except for exceptionally dry condition, use of groundwater by livestock at their present number does not cause significant decrease of groundwater resources. Isotopic analysis of waters in rainfall, soil, groundwater, and vegetation has also indicated the source of water use by vegetation. (Caragana and Allium are the main species). It was found that Caragana utilizes water at deeper depth of around 50 cm, while water use by Allium is limited to shallower depth of 10 cm. This was also confirmed by profile measurements of roots system, which shows the concentration of belowground biomass of Allium near the surface while Caragana's root system extends deeper (about 1 m) down to the ground. However, there is no evidence that either uses groundwater directly. | |
| HIROBE Muneto and KONDO Junji | |
| Effects of livestock grazing on surface soil properties in three types of Mongolian grassland ecosystems along a latitudinal aridity gradient | |
| The primal productivity and/or nutrient cycling in grasslands could be accelerated or decelerated with grazing by large mammals, and climate is one of the most important factor to determine the direction of the ecosystem response to grazing. In Mongolian grasslands, the livestock grazing is common and there is a latitudinal gradient in the degree of aridity. The degree of aridity increases from north to south, and the type of grassland changes from forest-steppe to steppe, further to gobi-steppe. To examine the effects of livestock grazing and climate, and their interaction in Mongolian grasslands, we compared the chemical properties of the surface soils (0-10cm) at the inside and outside of the fence in the three types of grasslands. The soil chemical environment got worse with the greater degree of aridity (e.g. soil pH increased and total nitrogen (N) concentration decreased), while the effects of grazing were not prominent. Laboratory rates of net soil N transformations, an index of N cycling, were slower in steppe and gobi-steppe than in forest steppe, and the livestock grazing decelerated net soil N transformations, especially under drier incubation condition. These results suggested that the livestock grazing decelerated nutrient cycling, irrespective of the degree of aridity, in Mongolian grasslands. | |
| TSOGTBAATAR Jamsran | |
| Issues on Deforestation and reforestation of degraded forestland in Mongolia | |
| In this presentation, main factors and impacts of human activities on forest disturbance and deforestation in Mongolia including forest fires, illegal logging and uncontrolled grazing activities will be identified. In addition, some scientific outputs of the studies on forest natural regeneration after clear cutting and forest fire will be introduced in this presentation. Finally, impact of uncontrolled grazing will be discussed and solutions of forest rehabilitation in selected areas will be recommended also. | |
| TUVSHINTOGTOKH Indree | |
| The long-term degraded and restored changes of Mongolian grassland vegetation under over-grazing by livestock and protection from livestock grazing, respectively | |
| The global warming and pasture degradation in Mongolia have ultimately matured in the last half century, causing serious threats to change vegetation and dominant plant species. Our study demonstrated that typical steppe vegetation changed into dry or desert steppe vegetation and the dry steppe vegetation did into the desert steppe vegetation. Livestock grazing did not strengthen its influence on some plants such as Allium polyrrhizum, Cleistognes songolica (C4 plant), Convolvulus ammanii. It may be hypothesized that these species replace dominant species, Stipa gobica and S. glareosa, by heavy and moderate grazing in the desert steppe. Even so the desert steppe and desert vegetation are more stable. Long-term effects of livestock grazing on the Mongolian steppe bring about vegetational succession. Much of it is progressive with increase in the number of plant species, plant cover, and plant biomass, and less of it is regressive with shrub domination. Two ways of succession were found by fence protection of the steppe vegetation from livestock grazing. One way is getting to old climax community after passing various stages. Another way is arriving at different climax community. In the first way, vegetation coverage and the means plant height increased 1.5-2.5 and 1.4-2.4, respectively, times. The number of plant species increased in seven fences, though it did not change in some fences. In the second way, the standing biomass of plants and environments, e.g. sand cover, were changed. When the sand cover continued to increase, grass-dominated vegetation was replaced by shrub-dominated vegetation. The same result was indicated by Zhang (1995). He showed that increase of shrub, Artemisia halodendron, after fencing for five years. | |
| FUJITA Noboru | |
| Effects of precipitation and livestock on pasture production | |
| Two topics are presented. One is pasture production in relation to precipitation. From 2006, above-ground pasture production was measured at the interval of half month from May to August at Ulaanbaatar, Mandalgobi, and Dalanzadgad. The amount of precipitation that falls in a day is a problem. The pasture production correlated with the precipitation, though low precipitation less was not effective. For annual production of the pasture, in addition to the amount of precipitation, the period of little precipitation is a problem, because above-ground plants started to die after the period of little precipitation. Another is the role of shrubs for the pasture production in the steppe and dry steppe zones. Leaf production of the shrub was higher than herbs based on the area of the pasture. Under little precipitation in the spring, shrubs emerged the leaf in spite of no leaf emergence of herbs. At present, shrub-dominated area, sparse shrub area, and no shrub area are mixed in the steppe and dry steppe zones. Because sparse and no shrub areas are distributed in the neighbor of summer and winter residence of nomads, shrub distribution has been lost gradually. The shrubs that are good food for livestock must be preserved and recovered. | |
| TAMURA Kenji, ASANO Maki and JAMSRAN Undarmaa | |
| Characteristics of soils under the steppe vegetation in Mongolia | |
| Mongolia is located in a transition zone between the Siberian taiga and Central Asian desert region, and so changes in the Mongolian environment will have an impact on forest, steppe, and/or desert ecosystems. The changes of climate and vegetation affect the processes of soil formation. The rangelands of Mongolia are primarily a region of semiarid steppe, where the most prominent soil-forming process is the translocation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surface horizon to an accumulation layer at varying depths. Typical Mongolian steppe soils are Kastanozems. At the no-grazing site, there was the O horizon, and crumb structure developed in the A horizon, but in overgrazing site there was no O horizon, and the compactness of the A horizon was very hard. The soil structure had a poorly developed CaCO3 accumulation horizon that was compact and hard. The plant roots were distributed almost entirely in the A horizon. At drier sites, soil degradation caused by grazing is more advanced due to low precipitation, thin vegetation cover, and soil compaction. These differences reflect differences in the thickness of the A horizon and the depth of the CaCO3 accumulation horizon, which is characterized by alkalinity and high salt content. | |
| NACHINSHONHOR G.U, JARGALSAIKHAN Luvsandorjiin and HIROSE Tadaki | |
| Effects of pastoral nomadism on the grassland ecosystem sustainability of Mongolian plateau | |
| In the Mongolian plateau, because of strong continental climate, about 70 percent of it area covered with grassland vegetation. Nomadic livestock had a long history in this ecosystem. However, grassland degeneration and desertification increased recent years in the Chinese part of Mongolian plateau. It had brings many environmental problems to surrounding region and countries. To clarify the relationships between nomadic livestock and sustainability of grassland ecosystem, we started an investigation from 1999 in the Mongolia. Through a ten years studies we got following results. First, Grasslands productivity shows positive correlations with precipitations and shown a great year by year changes. Second, grazing intensity of livestock was adjusted to grasslands productivity by nomadic activities. In a word, grazing intensity increased in the high primary productivity years, and decreased in the case of oppositely. Our results suggested that Mongolian pastoral nomadism have an important ecological function to sustainability of grasslands ecosystem in the regions. | |
| JARGALSAIKHAN Luvsandorjiin | |
| Results of long term study on relationship between precipitation and productivity of main pasture vegetation of steppe ecosystem in eastern Mongolia | |
| Large-scale global changes on natural environment at present become more obvious. They are tracked on different levels in all geosphere of the land and render all increasing influence upon development human society. The main factor of the global change is the climate warming, which lasts already more 100 years (Kasimov, Klige, 2006). In the last decades both global climate change and inconvenient conduct facilities cause in degradation of ecosystem such as soil erosioning, vegetation cover decreasing, and reduction of the area or even disappearance for some plant species. Particularly this concerns the ecosystem, located in dry climate zone, as steppe ecosystem in Eastern Mongolia. Conservation and rational use of natural resource is not only the promotion of conservation an ecosystem and some species, but also it provides the stable development of the country that particularly in new economic conditions currently. | |
| TAKATSUKI Seiki and SATO Masatoshi | |
| Effects of grazing on plants and pollinators in a forest-steppe area, northern Mongolia | |
| Plant communities and visiting pollinators at lightly grazed (LG), moderately grazed (MG), and heavily grazed (HG) places were studied at Bulgan, northern Mongolia. Numbers of plants appearing in 1 m by 1 m plots were 35.2, 31.8, and 21.5 at LG, MG, and HG, respectively. Biomass was 11.8 g/m2, 7.1 g/m2, and 4.2 g/m2, respectively in the same order. Almost all the plants decreased by grazing, but the reduction was particularly marked in erect, branched, and tall tussock forms (Gimingham, 1951), while it was slight in short growing tussock and rosette forms. In terms of pollination, reduction of entomophyllous forbs was prominent. Numbers of pollinators in 2 m by 100 m transect were 621, 299, and 46, respectively in this order. LG was characterized by abundant Sanguisorba and Geranium, and by many insects including shield bugs (Pentatomoidea), butterflies, bees and flies. MG was characterized by relatively abundant butterflies and fewer shield bugs. LG was poorly vegetated by entomophyllous forbs and only a few flies were recorded. Grazing reduces plants but the reduction was biased to entomophyllous plants, and consequently destroys flower-pollinator link. | |
| KONAGAYA Yuki | |
| The Impact of Agricultural Development on Nomadic Pastoralism in Mongolia | |
| In Mongolia, agriculture was developed as a new sector under the socialist modernization program. Compared with the traditional agriculture in western Mongolia that was small in scale and was limited in extent, the new form of modern agriculture was developed extensively all over the country and now has brought about deterioration of the grasslands. This is especially true of the second wave of agricultural development under the socialist regime, which was planned near the city in ecologically unsuitable areas in order to provide food for consumers in the capital city, unlike the first wave which was conducted in ecologically appropriate areas. After the end of the socialist regime, an affirmative policy for agriculture was never implemented, and almost all of the agricultural cooperatives have failed in retaining the assets of socialist modernization. Therefore many agricultural fields have been abandoned and have become infested with the weed Artemisia, which is an allergen that has had negative impacts on the health of Mongolian citizens. The author presents the impact of agricultural development on nomadic pastoralism in Mongolia, quoting from the narratives of the leaders who drove the development. Additionally, a third wave of agricultural development has been initiated since the beginning of 2008, which gives financial support to enterprising businessmen for buying machines to re-cultivate the former state farms. However inappropriate the land use practices may be, these businessmen do not care about sustainability because they have no private rights to the property, resulting in land being abandoned without rehabilitation. Such attitudes, devoid of environmental consciousness, may have their origin in the agricultural development practices under the socialist modernization program. | |
| Keywords; Mongolia, agricultural development, nomadic pastoralism, atar, sharalj Mongolian ‘atar’ means uncultivated or virgin land | |
| BATBUYAN Batjav | |
| Seasonal and yearly movement of nomads | |
| 1. “Ecological suitable territory”- traditional technology of herder movement. The frequency of movements varies across the different ecological zone. It is the grates in the non-equilibrium herding systems of the desert and the desert steppe. In the equilibrium herder system of the forest steppe, the inter-annual movements are needed only under the most exceptional circumstances, but seasonal movements are still very much needed. 2.The most important determinants of pastoral mobility (climate, household socioeconomic status (wealth, access to transportation,) and herd numbers and herd composition, ecological conditions). Within a seasonal pasture area, herders move 3-5 times a year, their herds and camps to different grazing areas based on forage quantity, quality and water availability as well as social factors. 3. Adaptation to the environmental and social changes In response to environmental and social changes, herders sometimes move all or part of their herd and household to more distant pastures. They differ from seasonal moves in that they are not regular and repeated. | |
| KAMIMURA Akira | |
| Migration and household economy of nomads and land possession | |
| Since the “age of the market” started in the beginning of ‘90s, international agencies have sought to introduce a pastureland law to provide ownership or possession right over pastures into Mongolia. We conducted a household survey of pastoral household economy, mobility, and implementation of the Land Law in three areas. Some of the main findings are: there is a high correlation between pastoral mobility and livestock size as well as between household income and livestock size; although over a half of herders support possession or even ownership of winter pastures, they do not perceive “possession” as exclusive use; most of herders attribute the perceived degradation of pasturelands to climate change or low rainfall. This paper aims to propose a framework to estimate the potential impact of pastureland possession on pastoral household economy and mobility, based on the data collected in the survey and the examination of the text of a draft of the proposed law. Pastoral mobility is still a key strategy to ensure economic sustainability at the household level as well as ecological sustainablity. The pastureland law has a serious defect to ascribe effects of global warming to herders and would likely increase the transaction cost of mobility. | |
| YAMAMURA Norio | |
| A model of population shift between urban and rural areas | |
| Recent population in Mongolia is increasing rapidly only in Ulan Bator but that in the other regions is almost constant. People who live a nomadic life in grassland tend to shift near Ulan Bator, and the grassland is deteriorated due to the overuse by livestock. In order to analyze these phenomena, I made simple mathematical models. In the basic model, the grassland is deteriorated proportionally with the density of nomadic people. The value of the rural area is given by the quality of the grassland while the value in the urban area is given as a constant. The shifting rate is proportional to the difference of values in the both regions. The equilibrium of this dynamics is either of three states, where people live only in the rural area, in both areas or only in the urban area, depending on the urban value. Increasing the total population, the population in the urban area increases but that in the rural area is constant. When the value of the urban area changes with its population, the dynamics may show a limit cycle or bi-stability. When the value of the urban area periodically fluctuates, the urban population also fluctuates. When the shift accompany costs, the higher the costs, the later the timing of the shift becomes and the smaller the amplitude of the population fluctuation becomes. In the model of urban area, rural area near to urban, and rural area remote to urban, the ideal free distribution is attained where the sum of the value from rural life and the value given from the urban service is constant. Thus, the near-urban rural area has higher population than the remote-urban area so that the grassland is more deteriorated in the near-urban rural area. | |
| HASEGAWA Shigeaki F. | |
| Model simulation of interaction between plant ecosystem and nomadic activity | |
| Nomadism is one of a major form of livestock farming which is widely conducted in Mongolia. Feeding by livestock of nomads may cause decrease of above ground biomass of plant community. In turn, the amount and distribution of plant community may cause effect on the movement pattern of nomads. Therefore, there exist complex interactions between plant community and human activity. Thus, it is important to examine the relationships between them to understand the effect of human activity on plant ecosystem in Mongolia. Settlement of nomads is one of a focal problem in Mongolia. This may cause effect not only on the plant ecosystem, but also on the human activity. However, it is quite difficult to predict how they will change, because of the interaction between them. In this study, we constructed an agent-based computational model, which includes both plant community and nomadic people of Mongolia, based on the field survey of both plant community and human activity in Khovd, Mongolia. Then we estimated the effect of settlement of the nomads on both plant community and human activity. Model simulation revealed that nomadism is effective to utilize temporal and spatial heterogeneity of plant biomass in Mongolia, and the settlement may cause desertification and decrease of income of nomadic people. | |
| ONIKI Shunji, BATBUYAN Batjav and OYUNGEREL Jugder | |
| Migration of herders to urban areas in Mongolia | |
| Since transition to the market economy in Mongolia, herders’ population has rapidly increased around large cities, such as Ulaanbaatar, which may lead to pasture degradation due to overgrazing of animals. In order to explore factors and situation of internal migration in Mongolia, this study conducted surveys of herders’ households in a suburban area of Ulaanbaatar and Uvs province in the western region of Mongolia. Characteristics of livestock management are significantly different in the two regions each other. The results reveal that there exist economic factors of the migration, such as livestock incomes, and non-economic factors, such as family ties living the city. Characteristics of livestock management of migrant herders vary according to their primary reasons for migration. Herders who moved into the urban areas to increase their incomes have more animals, thus earning more incomes. While incomes of those who moved mainly for the non-economic reasons are smaller, they are likely to stay around the urban areas in spite of the higher grazing pressure. In order to prevent further agglomeration of herders’ population around the urban areas, social and traffic services should be developed and livestock productivity should be improved in the areas. | |
| Keywords: Mongolia, Internal Migration, Livestock, Pasture degradation, Overgrazing | |
| MAEKAWA Ai | |
| Value transformation of livestock products and income disparities through cashmere | |
| It is well known that the number of goats and production of cashmere hair have been increasing in Mongolia since the transition to a market economy in the beginning of 1990’s. The goat population surpassed the one of sheep in 2004 for the first time in history. The impact of goats on pasture lands have since been concerned and studied for mostly ecological reasons. However, to fully understand the range of the issue, it is necessary to observe the fact from the socio-economic aspects, too. In this presentation, the spatial density of goat distribution in all of Mongolia was illustrated by sum in GIS in order to explain the regional differences which imply the characteristics of cashmere as a livestock product. I report the domestic flow of cashmere hair in comparison with other livestock products. The regional differences of goods’ price also verified the reason why herders switched the composition of their herds, mainly from sheep to goats. Then, this result was confirmed through the analysis on institutional transition of society. Furthermore, interviews to herders to reveal their incentives. *This research is partly collaborative with Izuru SAIZEN, Kyoto University. | |
| CHULUUN Sampildondov | |
| Effect of global economy on Mongolian nomadism: by the example Province Tuv | |
| In this paper, I have examined how nomadic herders have moved to market economy and how they have been leading their livelihood for the past twenty or so years. Since the 1990s Mongolia started its transition to market economy and the economic transition had a far-reaching impact on the animal husbandry, one of the main branches of the country’s economy. In particular, it brought multiple new developments in way of herding. Therefore, the paper focuses on the exploitation of pasture and moving (or pasture change). Also, the paper considers the changes brought by the market economy on the herders’ traditional livelihood. The paper compares in Bayantsagaan County, 150 kilometers south to Ulaanbaatar, and Bornuur County, northeast of Ulaanbaatar, where herders lead farming alongside with animal husbandry. In particular, three main aspects, namely, 1) the changes in the way of herding, 2) the patterns of pasture exploitation and the policies of the local authorities toward the pasture exploitation, and 3) the migration of the population, have been compared. The counties, which are in the Central Province (aimag), have been chosen because of the province is the most intensive region in terms of the development of market relations because of its proximity to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of the country. The paper was based on my field research. The data was collected through direct observations, interviews and documents furnished by local authorities. The paper hopes to reveal the impacts of the market economy on the herders’ livelihood and the new developments and future possibilities that the market economy has on the pastoral animal husbandry in the age of globalization. | |
| SUZUKI Yukio | |
| Conflict between mining development and nomadism in Mongolia | |
| Mining is one of two major industrial sectors in Mongolia which accounts for about 30% of GDP and more than 70% of total export value. In recent years, production of underground resources such as gold, coal, copper and molybdenum has been increasing. The other major sector is nomadic livestock raising which accounts for about 20% of GDP. These two sectors are playing leading roles in the economy and trade. However, conflictions have frequently occurred between them over land and water resources, because surface mining is generally conducted in Mongolia to extract mineral resources under pasture lands. To locate mineral deposits, explorations (experimental digging) licenses are issued in huge pasture lands that cover more than half of the country. If areas likely to have mineral resources are identified as a result of the explorations, exploitation licenses are issued to mining companies. The exploitation license can be issued without herders’ agreements and allows mining companies to exploit even good pasture lands and water resources areas. Mining areas and their surroundings are not available to nomadic grazing any longer. Furthermore, mining has caused environmental problems, especially in watershed areas, which have devastated rivers and decreased water resources. I would like to report the current situation of the conflicts, reconsideration of legal systems and future challenges to mitigate the conflicts. | |