SUSTAINABILITY OF PASTORAL SYSTEMS OF THE MONGOLIAN STEPPE

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SUSTAINABILITY OF PASTORAL SYSTEMS OF THE
MONGOLIAN STEPPE Dennis OJIMA Togtohyn CHULUUN
INTRODUCTION Pastoral systems, where humans
depend on livestock, exist largely in arid or
semi-arid ecosystems where climate is highly
variable. Thus, in many ways pastoral systems
are intimately adapted to climatic variability.
In general, there is a direct relationship
between climate variability and the spatial scale
of pastoral exploitation. Extensive nomadic
systems are found in the most variable regions
less extensive, more intensive modes of livestock
management occur in less variable grazing lands.
It is plausible to assume direct connection
between climate variability, ecosystem dynamics
and nomadic land use systems in Mongolia. There
are feedback impacts of nomadic land use systems
on ecosystems. Interaction between ecosystems
and nomadic land use systems co-shaped them in
mutual adaptive ways for hundreds of years, thus
making both the Mongolian rangeland ecosystems
and nomadic pastoral systems resilient and
sustainable. It is also recognized that
demographic, political and economic changes have
increased pastoral exploitation and intensified
grazing pressures in many parts of the Mongolian
steppe. The general trend involves greater
intensification of resource exploitation at the
expense of traditional patterns of extensive
range utilization. These changes have increased
the vulnerability of the pastoral systems to
changes in the climate related to warmer
temperatures, increased droughts and extreme
winter conditions (zuud). Thus we expect
climate-land use-land cover relationships to be
crucially modified by the socio-economic forces
mentioned above. Nevertheless, the complex
relationship between climate variability and
pastoral exploitation patterns still forms the
environmental framework for overall patterns of
land use change. Recent changes of the past four
decades in political and economic factors have
resulted in changes of how the pastoral systems
operate within Mongolia. These changes in
pastoral management have altered the nomadic
patterns of the region, resulting in a less
mobile livestock management system. These
changes have led to more intensive stocking rates
in localized areas.
CRITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING PASTORAL SYSTEMS TODAY

• CLIMATE VARIABILTY
• POPULATION GROWTH
• URBAN GROWTH
• ECONOMIC LIBERALIZAITON
• LAND POLICY

During the past several decades an increasing
number of people in the region have been moving
into the urban regions. In Mongolia more people
today live in cities than in the countryside.
Despite this movement into the urban
environment, during the last decade of economic
reform, there are more herders today than before
the 1990s
Traditional pastoral systems have existed for
centuries and have coped with the extremes of
climate variability. The fertile grasslands of
the Mongolian steppe also possess soil of high
organic matter content. Traditional herding
families are mobile using horses, oxen, and
camels for transportation, and move more often
during drought years. Current social-economic
conditions have resulted loss of water points and
reduction in forage production which increases
the risk of the livestock system to extreme
climate conditions. This loss of water wells and
the decrease in the hay reserves have contributed
to the over-grazing observed today, and is
exacerbated by the drought conditions of 1999 and
2000.
Grazing systems and Livestock production are
major contributors to the food security and
agricultural production in Mongolia. In the past
decade the number of goats have nearly tripled.
Other livestock Have also increased, but at a
much lesser amount.

• The development of grazing management system
  which takes advantage of traditional practices
  and incorporates appropriate new technologies
  would provide the best path forward to attaining
  long-term sustainability of steppe resources.
  Appropriate strategies include
• Strengthening traditional pastoral institutions
  (resilience networks) and communities
• Development of a disaster relief mechanism for
  dealing with natural disasters, such as winter
  storms (zuud), fires, droughts, animal disease
  outbreaks
• Restoration of degraded pastures
• Restoring and adding water points
• Enhancing hay production where it is possible
• Increasing security of pastoral communities
• Improve upon locally adapted and productive
  livestock breeding and distribution
• Improve transportation linking grazing regions in
  Mongolia with market areas
• Improve monitoring and forecasting technologies
  for environmental conditions
• Improve accessibility and development of
  appropriate veterinarian practices
• Facilitate access to social and technological
  goods and services

Ulaanbaatar
Beijing
The Mongolian steppe regions lies in the northern
part of east Asia. The Mongolian steppe includes
land in Inner Mongolia, Mongolia Eastern Russia.
The steppe region include typical steppe, desert
Steppe, meadow steppe, and forest steppe.
Pastoral grazing systems is the predominant land
use.
Increased grazing pressures during the past ten
years have put greater pressure on the grassland
system. In addition, the past two years (1999
and 2000) have been dry and marked with harsh
winters resulting in over 7 million animals dying
in the past two years. Simulations of seasonal
grazing indicates that summer intensive grazing
results in reduced soil organic matter and
production of grassland systems.