Mongolia

Mongolia has a wide range of unique habitats, from the taiga forest in the north, through to the desert steppe in the centre, to the wilderness of the Gobi desert in the south. Each of these habitats contains many fascinating, highly threatened species, such as the Bactrian camel, long eared jerboa and Asiatic wild ass.

ZSL has been working on creating conservation tools such as RED lists of Mongolian vertebrates and the Wildlife Picture Index, as well as training conservationists under the Steppe Forward programme, and involving and educating communities for conservation. We have been focusing conservation efforts on the Gobi desert in particular, where focal species like the Critically Endangered Bactrian camel and Gobi bear are in dire need of protection.

Why we are there

In the aftermath of the collapse of the communist rule in the early 90's, Mongolia’s economy has dramatically changed. This has resulted in the increasingly unsustainable exploitation of Mongolia’s landscape with much of Mongolia’s flora and fauna experiencing significant declines. Although around 30% of Mongolian territory has some level of protected status, the effectiveness of these protected areas, and the effects of these threats are not fully understood. For example, there may be as few as 22 Gobi bears left in the wild, and there are fewer than 1000 Bactrian camels still in existence. 

The Gobi desert

The Gobi is one of the world’s last great wildernesses and is gravely threatened by the burgeoning settlements and increased mining of valuable mineral stores associated with Mongolia’s rapid social and economic development over the past two decades. There is an urgent need to address the growing challenge of habitat degradation and fragmentation, yet we know too little about the habitats and biodiversity of this region to fully understand the effect of these disturbances on the Gobi ecosystem and its flagship species.

ZSL is developing a long-term, integrated conservation programme, for which Bactrian camels are the flagship species. Researching and monitoring Mongolian vertebrates, improving conservation infrastructure and encouraging community involvement and environmental awareness will help to protect this vulnerable region. More recently we have begun working with the threatened Gobi bear to learn more about its status and biology.

Wildlife Picture Index

The Wildlife Picture Index (WPI) aims to measure the success of Mongolia’s protected areas in conserving its species using innovative camera-trapping techniques. This provides an indication of the biodiversity and population levels in, and next to protected areas. After a very successful pilot study in 2009 and the expansion to three sites in 2010, WPI will continue to encompass even more habitats and protected areas whilst still monitoring previous sites to examine long-term trends.

Steppe Forward Programme

Steppe Forward (SF) is a collaboration between ZSL and the National University of Mongolia that aims to empower Mongolians to create and manage conservation programmes by providing them with the tools and skills necessary to design and implement their own ecological studies, surveys and monitoring schemes.

An important part of this initiative is the summer field course that SF runs each year to train new conservationists. Steppe Forward also produces field guides of Mongolia’s mammals, birds and other vertebrates, in both English and Mongolian. Free copies have been distributed amongst schools and local conservationists to raise awareness of the country’s biodiversity.

Red Lists

Since 2006, ZSL has worked to compile information on Mongolia’s vertebrate biodiversity that enables Mongolian conservation practitioners, policy-makers, researchers, and other stakeholders to make informed conservation management decisions.  In 2012, The Bird and Medicinal Plant Red List were launched. As a result Mongolia was the first country in Asia to have produced regional Red Lists of all their vertebrate species.