Bayanhongor aimag, Bogd soum (steppe/desert steppe). Dulaan Khairkhan herder group

October 8, 2023

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The territory covers some 22,485 ha, of which for the pre 2015 baseline, 15.5% or 3,485 ha was covered by saxaul forest, 32.6% or 7322 ha was covered in specially protected areas. Most of the winter and spring pastures is in the Ikh Bogd mountain natural complex, and 9,590 ha in the winter and spring season in the area of Dulaan Bogd Mountain, Shanagan Shuwuun Baast, Oirongo, Khokh Enger, and 2,589 hectares in the area of Zereglee Khuruu, Buduun Tolgoi Hevtee, and Khongilt Durulj in the summer and autumn season. 2158 ha of pastures around Orog Lake and Shanaa river are used in the spring and autumn season, and 28822 ha of pastures around Khoovriin Haya and Sair Kharmagt are used in the spring season.

Project’s primary goals for Dulaankhairkhan herder group

1. Increasing soil carbon stocks

• Reducing the number of livestock grazing for extended periods within project intervention areas within the broader project area, for example by introducing seasonal pasture rotations and/or by reductions in livestock numbers over the duration of the project.

2. Biodiversity conservation

• To protect endangered natural plants and medicinal plants of endangered areas, to protect and restore the species of wild animals and local plants (to protect and increase the population of animals such as antelope, deer, dung, ibex, and marsupial, poaching of wild animals) and reduce other pressures, protect sedge forests and forests, and fight against unauthorized cutting of trees.

• Focus on the protection and restoration of important local plants such as sedge and sedge forests, increasing the participation of local people in their restoration, and not using them for fuel.

3. Livelihood improvement

• Creating opportunities to improve the livelihood of herders, herders working together in groups to produce products that preserve local characteristics and traditions, creating and increasing new sources of household income, developing and selling livestock products

• Investigate new technologies for growing goat cashmere, test it on available farms, fully utilize the benefits of camels, increase the sales of such cashews, increase the number of products made from them, establish a small production workshop in the soum, prepare animal food provisions from local plants, and the herdsmen of the area building a service center together in the soum center.

• It is possible to increase income from natural resources, plant and sell vegetables, and promote tourism activities. Also, as part of the initiative of the herders of Soum, the financing of the project is organized in the form of a mutual fund for the herders’ cash savings, and it is possible for the herders to get a short-term loan from it more easily and quickly, at a lower interest percentage than the bank.