History of WWF Mongolia in context of Mongolia’s

Conservation evolution

1992 – until present

B.Chimed-Ochir, Country Representative

7th February 2011, Ulaanbaatar

Content

• Institutional development• Evolution of WWF’s conservation priorities

in context of country’s situation• Evolution of conservation community in

Mongolia• Major threats and future trend • WWF’s niche and challenges• WWF’s vision and must - win objectives

Institutional history

• 1992 – 1997: Project office with 3 staff

• 1997 – 2002: Country office with 9 staff (4 in field office Khovd) and registered as branch of international NGO in 1997

• Since 2002: Programme office with 29 staff

Evolution of WWF’s priorities(1992 – 1997)

• The project “National parks of Mongolia”, financed WWF Germany (1992 -1997)

– Establishment of new large scale PA– Support Government for identifying financial

sources for PA development– Awareness and advocacy on PA’s

• First international NGO in Mongolia

Country’s situation 1992 - 1997

• Political and economical transition just started and lack of finance for everything

• Reform of environmental legislative acts

• Increased overall poverty level – migration from settlement to country site

• Freedom for travel - transboundary illegal trade with wildlife products increased

• Golden time for establishing large PA’s

Some success stories …

• Country’s PA network – WWF as major and single player

• Long-term contribution from Germany to nature conservation

Evolution of WWF’s priorities(1998 – 2002)

• First 5 years Conservation Programme with focus on:– Species conservation; Saiga and Snow leopard– PA management e.g. Khar Us Nuur NP– Establishment new PA’s

• Financial sources: WWF-DE, WWF-NL, WWF-AT, Messerli, Mava

• Ecoregional approach – Altai-Sayan

Country’s situation 1998 - 2002

• Livestock number reached historical height – 32 Millions

• Two following drought in summer and harsh winter – lost 9 million livestock

• Increased mining activities, especially gold

Some success stories …

• Shifting from establishment to management of PA

• Saiga population increased during the project implementation (1998 – 2001)

• First time involvement of locale people into Snow leopard conservation

Evolution of WWF’s priorities(2003 – 2007)

• 2nd 5 years conservation programme• Aligned with Global Programme: TDB and

Ecoregion – Species, Freshwater, Forest, Toxic and Climate

change– Altai-Sayan (80%) and Daurian (20%) ecoregions

• Major financial sources: WWF-SE and SIDA, WWF-DE, Hermsen and Otto foundation

Country’s situation(2003 – 2007)

• Individual Illegal mining so called “Ninjas”

• New dam projects

• Overgrazing and habitat competition

• Climate change

• Weak management policies and institutional framework - bad governance

Some success stories …

• Successful toxic campaign against massive use of rodenticide to control Brand’s vole

• Legislation adopting IRBM approaches• EIA for Dorgon HPP• Piloting community forestry in Khan

Khokhie mountain range• Mobile anti-poaching units in Western

Mongolia

Evolution of WWF’s priorities(2006 – 2010)

• 3rd Conservation programme – update of 2nd CP in 2005• 2 Ecoregions: Altai-Sayan and Daurian (later refocused

on AHEC) with 3 pillars:– Priority/Flagship Species: Argali, Snow leopard, Saiga, Saker

Falcon, Mongolian Antelope, Taimen– Freshwater conservation – With cross-cutting issues: ESD, habitat protection and

management, policy advocacy, law enforcement

• Main approaches: CBNRM and IRBM• Financial sources: WWF-SE, NL, US, DE, MAVA and

JFPR/ADB

Country’s situation(2006 – 2010)

• Increased commodity price on world market e.g. copper, gold, coal etc

• Tremendous increase of state budget– Increased public concern on mining impacts and

corruption

• Overgrazing and desertification (almost 70% of country)

• Climate change, specially in frequency of extreme events, biomass and freshwater

Evolution of conservation communities

• 1996 law on NGO

• More than 500 NGO but still weak …

• 2 international NGO; TNC and WCS (+TAF)

• Major players are GTZ, UNDP, SDC, (NL)

• ADB and WB integrated in sector development

• Public movements against mining activities

Major threats and future trend

• Mining development and large investment:– Threats: Lot of money and corruption, freshwater

ecosystem degradation, habitat fragmentation – Opportunity: Social and environmental responsibility

due to public reputation and increased funding

• Livestock sector and NR management:– Threats: desertification, degradation and habitat loss– Opportunity: dependencies of livelihood

• Climate change impacts:– Forest, freshwater, pasture and vulnerability of

livelihoods

Possible priority actions…

• For mining sector:– Biodiversity offset programme– Transparency and public involvement

• For livestock sector:– Integrated policy and market based

approaches for sustainable rangeland management

– Increased local community stewardship for their natural environment e.g. CBNRM

WWF’s niche and challenges

• WWF’s niche:– Well known and high reputation– Local presences and competent staff

• Challenges:– Flexibility and multi disciplinary team – Increased competition for funding– Building strategic partnership with

development institutions and corporate sector

WWF’s vision and must – win objectives:

To ensure local community stewardship for their natural environment