Mongolia

Mongolia has a range of unique habitats, from taiga forest in the north, through 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 focussing 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 changed drastically. This has resulted in an increase in had devastating effects on massive implications for Mongolian flora and fauna. 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. Many species having experienced drastic declines. 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. 

Gobi

The Gobi is one of the last great wildernesses in the world and gravely threatened by the burgeoning settlements and increased mining of valuable mineral stores that have resulted from 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 and habitats to understand the effect of these disturbances on the Gobi ecosystem and flagship species. ZSL is developing a long-term, integrated conservation programme, for which Bactrian camels are the flagship species. Researching and monitoring Mongolian vertebrates, building up 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 find out more about its status and biology.

Wildlife Picture Index

The Wildlife Picture Index (WPI) aims to measure the success of protected areas in conserving species across Mongolia using innovative camera-trapping techniques. This will give an indication of biodiversity and population numbers in and next to protected areas. After a very successful pilot study in 2009 and the expansion to three sites in 2010, WPI will cover even more habitats and protected areas in 2011 whilst still running previous sites to monitor trends.

Steppe Forward Programme

Steppe Forward (SF) is a collaboration between ZSL and the National University of Mongolia that aims to empower Mongolian people 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 is the summer field course that SF funs each year to train new conservationists. Steppe Forward also produces field guides to the mammals, birds and other vertebrates of Mongolia, in both English and Mongolian. Free copies have been distributed amongst schools and conservationists to raise awareness of country’s biodiversity.

RedLists

Since 2006, this project has worked to provide information for Mongolian conservation practitioners, policy-makers, researchers, and developers about the status of Mongolia's vertebrate biodiversity and make the necessary conservation management decisions.  In 2012, The Bird RedList and Medicinal Plant Redlists were launched 2012. An International Workshop on Mongolian Bird Red List was held in Mongolia in 2009 and a Summary Conservation Action Plans for Mongolian Birds is in the process of being completed. Mongolia will then be the first country in Asia to have produced regional Red Lists of all their vertebrate species.