Abstract
We assessed a donor-funded grassland management project designed to create both conservation and livelihood benefits in the rangelands of Mongolia's Gobi desert. The project ran from 1995 to 2006, and we used remote sensing Normalized Differential Vegetation Index data from 1982 to 2009 to compare project grazing sites to matched control sites before and after the project's implementation. We found that the productivity of project grazing sites was on average within 1% of control sites for the 20 years before the project but generated 11% more biomass on average than the control areas from 2000 to 2009. To better understand the benefits of the improved grasslands to local people, we conducted 280 household interviews, 8 focus group discussions, and 31 key informant interviews across 6 districts. We found a 12% greater median annual income as well as a range of other socioeconomic benefits for project households compared to control households in the same areas. Overall, the project generated measurable benefits to both nature and people. The key factors underlying project achievements that may be replicable by other conservation projects include the community-driven approach of the project, knowledge exchanges within and between communities inside and outside the country, a project-supported local community organizer in each district, and strong community leadership.
Highlights
Around the globe, grasslands provide livelihoods for nearly 800 million people and are a crucial source of livestock forage and wildlife habitat [1]
The study team sampled six project districts (Figure 1). These districts were selected based on a cross-section of saxaul, grassland and mountain pastures and the number of active Community Organizations
Using time-series Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) observations, one can examine the dynamics of a growing season [18,19,20] and anthropogenic changes such as overgrazing [21,22,23]
Summary
Grasslands provide livelihoods for nearly 800 million people and are a crucial source of livestock forage and wildlife habitat [1]. Three quarters of the world’s grazing lands are so degraded that they have lost more than 25% of their capacity to support animals [2]. Most of the world’s grasslands are found in temperate regions, and these temperate grasslands have the distinction of being the most altered terrestrial ecosystem on the planet [3]. Grasslands and pastoral communities are mutually dependent, as grazing is often necessary to maintain historic plant community structure. Experiments have shown that temperate grasslands which are grazed tend to support greater biodiversity and plant biomass than ungrazed areas, and diversity and primary productivity are often linked [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. We assess the impacts of a communitybased grassland conservation project in Mongolia’s Gobi desert on both conservation and livelihood goals, and identify factors that contributed to the project’s achievements
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
