Conservation and “land grabbing” in rangelands: Part of the problem or part of the solution?

Large-scale land acquisitions have increased in scale and pace due to changes in commodity markets, agricultural investment strategies, land prices, and a range of other policy and market forces. The areas most affected are the global “commons” – lands that local people traditionally use collectively — including much of the world’s forests, wetlands, and rangelands. In some cases land acquisition occurs with environmental objectives in sight – including the setting aside of land as protected areas for biodiversity conservation. On the other hand, current trends and patterns of commercial land acquisition present a major and growing threat not just to local livelihoods and human rights, but also to conservation objectives. There is a potential opportunity here for greater collaboration between conservation interests, and local communities’ land rights interests with their supporters amongst human rights and social justice movements. This Issue Paper documents experiences from the rangelands of Mongolia, Kenya, India, Ethiopia, and other countries, which were presented at a Conference on Conservation and Land Grabbing held in London in 2013

Collaborative learning for the co-management of natural resources in Mongolia : final technical report

“A rich herder can become poor in only one winter.” Given the central place of the livestock economy, the focus is on improving the quality of animals, diversifying production and income, and on adding value to products. Findings indicate that collaborative learning for the community-based co-management practices have had a positive impact on the natural resource base in the pilot study sites and on the livelihoods of herders. Success depends on a favorable legal atmosphere, longterm supportive government policies and actions, and endurance of local people to withstand failures and overcome many challenges. Project research, activities and outputs are reviewed

RPE CBNRM

Meeting: Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP), Aug. 23-27, 2004, Oaxaca, M

RPE SUB

Chapter 12 is an output of project number 10242

Economic incentives for environment and sustainable development in Mongolia and Central Asia : final technical report

Co-published by: IDRC, Regional Office for East and Southeast Asia in Singapor

From theory to practice: a decade of co-management of pasture and other natural resources in Mongolia

Elinor Ostrom's work has been the principal inspiration for a number of research and development initiatives in Mongolia aimed at designing, testing and assessing viable forms of natural resources co-management that build on traditional nomadic practices. One such initiative, begun in 1999, introduced co-management in four different ecosystems of the country. It was based on the hypothesis that under Mongolian state ownership of pastureland and private ownership of livestock, a co-management system with clear roles and responsibilities among herders, their communities and local governments could offer a means to reduce the pasture degradation and overgrazing that had been increasing in intensity over recent decades. Based on the results and lessons learned from fifteen years of participatory action research, the efforts at these four sites demonstrate that if all stakeholders strongly support co-management it can be a tool to overcome the "tragedy of the commons" For this to happen, appropriate policies and legal support is needed to enable local- and multi-level collaboration. Introducing sustainable management methods such as pasture improvements, combined with new livelihood options, including the production and marketing of local products, can reduce the degradation of pastures, contribute to better livelihoods and recover the cost of environmental externalities

Mongolia's nomadic weather readers

2010 was a rough year on the Mongolian steppe for the country’s herders. That year, an extremely cold winter struck, known locally as a dzud, wiping out 9 million animals, or 20 percent of the national herd in a country where livestock continues to be central to herders’ livelihoods and play a vital role in the national economy