Batsumber Soum

The Batsumber Soum district is situated in the heart of Mongolia’s forested area and has a plentiful reserve. It benefits from its proximity to Ulaanbaatar and has paved roads and railroad connections, as well as good market access. The district has a tradition of vegetable cultivation and is home to university forestry research and training stations, tree nurseries, tree plantations, and greenhouses. Additionally, it is equipped with machinery and equipment for tree cutting and logging. Improving forest composition and productivity is important for local communities, and, while clear cutting does occur in fire- and pest-damaged forests, it must follow the proper procedures. In addition to the legal logging, illegal logging also occurs in Batsumber.

Photo 1, 2: Summer pasture; Community members

The Bayanbulag community

The Bayanbulag community is one of twelve communities in the Batsumber Soum (an administrative subdivision in Mongolia). The community primarily consists of nomadic pastoralist herders whose primary occupations revolve around animal husbandry activities. The centre of Batsumber Soum is approximately 68 km to the northeast, and the summer pastures of the Bayanbulag community are situated around 83 km away from the capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

Members of the Bayanbulag community use mobile pastoral agriculture, which involves moving approximately 10 km between seasons. The main selling activities consist of supplying fresh cow’s milk to a milk factory in Ulaanbaatar, selling meat to consumers in the community area, mostly to the the Bayanbual Resort and the market in the capital city.

In recent meetings, a co-management contract was approved by the Citizen’s Representative Khural of the Bag (a sub-district) and the Bag Governor. It is now awaiting final approval from the Bag, the Soum Governor and the Community leader. The new co-management contract ensures tenure rights for community members for their seasonal pastures, particularly for summer pastures, which were previously a subject of dispute among local stakeholders. Additionally, it granted emergency rights and responsibilities to community members and the Bag Governor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second key-focus of the sub-project was to improve the sale of milk and dairy products within the community, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address the specific needs of the community, new cooling equipment was installed to facilitate the sale of these products during emergency situations. This matter was discussed during two initial meetings with community members, and it was collectively agreed to acquire additional refrigerators for milk storage at both household and community levels, each with different capacities.

Photo 3-6. Installation of medium- and large-scale refrigerators for the Bayanbulag community to ensure the timely and high-quality selling of milk and other daily products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contribution of equipment for milk storage and selling came from Mr. Hijaba Y., and Mr. Battumur (the Chair of local citizens representative’s Khural, the local parliament) and is presented to Mr. Jynis, Mr. Raikhan (community members), and Community leader Mr. Esen.

Community land area: The territory of the community consists of forests and pastures. The total area is 21,175 ha, of which pastures make up 1000 ha, and forested land 1175 ha .

Location: Latitude 48'48210 , Longitude 106'7889.

Photo 3: Forest map of the community

Habitat type

The community's lives are inevitably linked with its forest and pastureland. There is both community monitoring of wildlife and community Forest Fire Monitoring.

Key Wildlife & Plant Species: Red fox (Vulpes vulpes), Arctic hare (Lepus arcticus), Siberian roe deer (Capreoluspygargus),Rabbit, Marmot, squirrel,etc.Cedar (Cedrus), Larch (Larix), Birch (Bertulas), willow (Salex), strawberry, Medicago falcata, Bromus inermis Leyss, Agropyron cristatum, and Fragaria L.

Legal recognition

According to the New Constitution of Mongolia (1992) all pastures are under state ownership, while livestock is privately owned. However, both pastures and livestock are considered national wealth and are mandated to be protected by the state. The legal framework government forest and common pastureland use in Bayanbulag includes several key laws: the Law on Forests (2008), the Land Law (2003), the Law on Environmental Protection (2012), and the Law on Grazing Fees (2021).

In Mongolia, most seasonal pastures are accessible under an open access system, and traditional pasture practices hold significant importance. The Bayanbulag community practices community-based management, allowing them to use and own public pastures, forests, and natural resources. Specifics of seasonal pastureland use are regulated by articles 6.2.1 and 52.2 of the Land Law (2003) of Mongolia. These regulations recognise the importance of otor pasture (a traditional mobile pasturing strategy) during harsh climatic events, as well as preventing over-grazing of land. They are based on established land use traditions, the pasture’s capacity, and regional characteristics. Pastures are available to use by the whole community, and only the winter houses and land enclosed by fences are privately owned by households.

The Bayanbulag community is defined as a community-based organisation of local residents who share similarities such as their language (Kazakh), lifestyles (khot ail, sakhalt ail, or neg nutgiinkan), and a natural resource base, linked together by strong kingship (Har Molda’s generations). It is legally recognised as a ‘community’ under Article 476 and 481 of the Mongolian Citizen’s Law.

Management

The Bayanbulag communities’ main objective for managing their lands is the sustainable management of natural resources including forest, grasslands, water resources, wildlife and other natural resources. In 2017, the community was issued the first Certificate for the allocation of forest resources, and the second certificate is currently considered by the same Governor.

The community operates in a semi-mobile manner, following the seasons for effective pasture management. They are considered forest Nukhurlul (local community) within the forest and steppe ecosystem.

The rules of the Bayanbulag community were approved by its members upon its establishment in 2006. It was agreed that the use and management of forests and pastures and the protection of biodiversity would be carried out according to established traditions. The community developed forest management plans in 2006 and 2022, and a 15-year forest resource use agreement is currently being implemented, which was established with the Governor of the Soum district. The community also signed a pastureland use agreement with the Bag Governor in 2022. Furthermore, the community developed and is implementing a Forest Management Plan 2016-2022 and 2022-2027, which is supported by the Soum Governor. Pasture management and use are components of this Management plan.

The entities involved in these include: the Association of FUGs in the Soum; Bag government office; the Soum governor office; other herders; the Soum animal husbandry unit; other communities; private veterinarian companies; the Railway station of the Soum, the Grass experimental station; the Animal Husbandry Research Institute; the Soum Environmental Ranger; and the Milk Factory in Ulaanbaatar city.

Governance

In the Bayanbulag community, 63.7% of decision-making activities are related to the use and protection of pastures, particularly involving pastoralists and their traditional structures. While pastures and natural resources are owned by the state, joint management between the government and local administrative organisations plays a vital role in the appropriate use and protection of pastures and natural resources, and rangeland management in forest and steppe ecosystems

Population: The total number of households in the community is 12 families, with a total of 26 beneficiaries, including 12 females, 14 males, including 14 youths. All of them are pastoralists.

Animal husbandry, such as raising cattle for producing milk and meat, is the primary activity of the community. There are also some forestry-based activities, such as forest clearing and assisting natural regeneration. The community has very limited movements between the seasons of year, as they have limited pastureland and the grass yield is higher than other steppe ecosystems.

Conservations methods used by the Bayanbulag community: i) Conservation of pasture ecosystems by the shifting and rotation of pastures; ii) Conservation of forest ecosystems under the Forest Management plan; and iii) Protection of spring sources to ensure water flow for human and animal watering. Due to climate change the water flow is decreasing.

Income generation: The main subsistence of the community is based on pastoralism and sale of its products. The most important form of income is the production and sale of cow's milk. Production yield (subsistence) was 610 litres of milk daily in 2020 and 720 litres of milk daily in 2022. Total Income generation from cow’s milk was USD 43,575 in 2020 and USD 58,325 in 2022.

Photos 7,8. Herder’s summer home “Ger”; Protecting the “Shinebulag” spring source.

Alternative practices supporting subsistence in the Bayanbulag community include the establishment of new grass planting area and hay making in the Experimental station, animal grazing after hay/grass harvesting, community hay making in Bayanbulag and an increase in and establishment of an 8 ha new grass planting area in 2021-2022.

Alternative income generation in the Bayanbulag community was MNT 12.7 million (Mongolian Tugrug) in 2020, and MNT 29 million in 2022. Community-based ecotourism could be a source of income for the ICCA in the near future, due to the proximity of the community to Ulaanbaatar city, and its natural heritage. As previously noted, JASIL (an Environment and Development Association in Mongolia) supported Bayanbulag Forest User Groups through the installation of large refrigerators for the sale of milk and other dairy products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to support from the Snowchange initiative in 2020, the community’s capacity for selling milk and other climate-resistant dairy products was increased to up to 700 litres per day, including two medium-capacity refrigerators.

In the previous years, JASIL has also provided training in participatory co-management of pastures and natural resource management, the development of the Forest Management Plan, capacity building, improving livelihoods, protecting the environment, and providing three days of location-based workshops on Natural Resource Management (NRM) and sustainable livelihood activities. Other income-generating activities in the community include the sale of meat or animals, forest clearing for fuelwood and the collection of cedar nuts. In the future, alternative income generation could include community-based ecotourism and participation in the carbon market.

Major threats to the Bayanbulag community and their lands include land grabbing for infrastructure development, forest diseases and fires, several pests, and a decrease of water flow of the “Shine Buylag” spring due to climate change.

Pests include: Ocneria dispar L. moths, which eat the leaves and bark of trees, causing the complete drying of birch, poplar and aspen trees; and the Siberian moth (Dendrolimus superans sibiricus Tschetw), which eat the bark of larch trees, causing physiological damage and enabling other insects to penetrate the tree.

This case study was originally published by UNEP-WCMC in November 2023. The content was provided by the custodians of this ICCA. The ICCA has been self-declared and has not been through a peer-review process to verify its status. More details on this process can be found here. The contents of this website do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UN Environment Programme or WCMC.