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Symphony in the Flint Hills Field Journal
2015 – Grasslands of the World ( Jim Hoy, Larry
Patton, Marty White, Editors)
Giant Steppes: Protecting Mongolia's Grasslands in
the Face of a Mining Boom
Joshua Zaffos
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Zaffos, Joshua (2015). "Giant Steppes: Protecting Mongolia's Grasslands in the Face of a Mining Boom," Symphony in the Flint Hills
Field Journal.
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G I AN T STEPPES:
PROTECTI NG M ONGOLI A’ S GRASSLANDS
I N THE FACE OF A M I NI NG BOOM
Amar Purev, a square-jawed preserve ranger with
a no-nonsense demeanor, peers through binoculars
from the window of an SUV as it bounces along a
double-track path through a green-and-golden sea of
hip-high grass. He spots only a few gazelles in the
distance, but when the vehicle crests a hill, it halts:
fifty yards away, hundreds of gazelles and their calves
graze on stipa, or feather grass. Before Purev can
open his door, the animals take off, coursing 40 miles
per hour across the flat and boundless expanse that
reaches to the horizon.
This grassy ocean is Mongolia’s Toson Hulstai Nature Reserve, a protected area
of more than 1 million acres. It is part of a 68 million-acre expanse of grasslands
that stretch from forests to desert across the country’s Eastern Steppe. The steppe
is the largest intact temperate grassland on Earth, and this reserve protects calving
habitat for the Mongolian gazelle, whose herds can eclipse the horizon with
thousands of animals. Scientists estimate the gazelle population here at a million,
rivaling the wildlife herds of Africa’s Serengeti.
GRASS L ANDS
( d e ta i l )
Jon Scott Anderson
“It’s one of the world’s great free-ranging wildlife populations, and very few
know about it,” says Enkhtuya Oidov, The Nature Conservancy’s Mongolia program
director, from the front passenger seat of the vehicle. Roughly a decade ago the
22
23
Conservancy contributed to a global
motivated a cooperative movement
analysis that illuminated the vulnerable
among people across the reserve and
status of grasslands in Mongolia—on
ushered in environmental protections
which gazelles depend. “Even I didn’t
and safeguards for herders. Renewed
realize we had such a globally significant
support from the government and
landscape,” she says.
backing from the Conservancy have
About 200 herding families share
reduced poaching, curbed harmful land
the local grasslands with the wildlife
uses, and restored wetlands and wildlife
and carry on Mongolia’s nomadic
habitat. Amar, who was formerly the
culture, which long predates the
sole ranger on the reserve, is now one of
conquering khans. The herders often
six men patrolling Toson Hulstai.
track the gazelles to find good water
“We have made progress,” Amar says.
sources and pastures, and even to
“But, of course, things don’t change
predict “dzuds”—the dreaded severe
overnight.” winters that can kill livestock.
NIGHT TI M E
Sh. Chimeddorj
In Mongolia, that last part is
actually only half true. A massive
tents and follows a traditional nomadic
apartment buildings. The new buildings
Mongolians, goes by his first name), “are
transformation is riding like a tidal
lifestyle, Mongolia is now trying to
rise up next to old Buddhist temples,
a much better indicator of weather than
wave over the country. Since the fall
strike a crucial balance, developing its
aging Soviet-era monuments, drab
the forecast from satellites.”
of communism in Mongolia and the
resources while protecting its cultural
apartment blocks, and statues paying
collapse of the Soviet Union in the
and natural heritage.
tribute to Genghis Khan (or Chinggis
“Gazelles,” says Amar (who, like most
Over the past five years, Enkhtuya
Change can be seen just about
Khan, as he’s known in Mongolia,) the
and her staff have met with herding
early 1990s, Mongolia has shifted to
families around Toson Hulstai to explain
a parliamentary democracy with a
everywhere in Mongolia’s capital city,
13th-century Mongol emperor who
how their centuries-old local practices
market economy and has undergone
Ulaanbaatar, a tumultuous and booming
united tribes of herders and conquered
have preserved a substantial chunk of
astronomical development—driven
metropolis surrounded by rolling
lands across Asia and Europe.
the world’s remaining grasslands—the
by the pursuit of its untapped mineral
green mountains. Dozens of cranes fill
planet’s least-protected and most-altered
wealth. A country where more than 40
the skyline, towering over high-rise
embody this mixture of old and new:
natural landscape. That message has
percent of the population lives in felt
construction projects and sleek office and
Some wear traditional long coats, called
24
The people themselves seem to
25
2012 the annual economic growth
help set conservation goals. Scientists
rate in Mongolia exceeded 12 percent.
had already recognized the ecological
“Unfortunately,” she adds, “the
value of Mongolia’s intact grasslands
environment was overlooked.”
and the Gobi Desert and their
But that is changing. Officials are
M ONGO L IAN STEPPE
© Chris Pague
for The Nature Conservancy
vulnerability to development. Enkhtuya
moving on a 1997 pledge to protect
and a few other staffers zeroed in on
30 percent of the country’s wild lands;
Toson Hulstai, which the Mongolian
about 17 percent are now preserved.
government had established 15 years
And last year the government gave
earlier, as an “anchor site” where
Oyun’s agency greater power as a
partners could demonstrate how to
“core ministry” while passing tougher
effectively manage a protected area—
environmental protection rules.
and build support for protecting more of
“We’re conserving a lot of important
the eastern grasslands.
“dels,” while others sport designer jeans.
an exodus of poverty-stricken families
areas for future generations,” Oyun
And the outskirts of this modern city
to Ulaanbaatar. About one-fourth
says. “But because there are still many
the grasslands, along the edge of Toson
are populated by hundreds of thousands
of Mongolia’s population lived in the
pressing issues with schools, hospitals,
Hulstai Nature Reserve, Otgonbaatar
of formerly nomadic herding families
capital in 1989; by 2010, the city was
and infrastructure, spending money on
Tsog and his family wake at 5 a.m. every
who live in “gers,” the circular felt tents
home to more than 40 percent of the
protected areas is not yet a priority.”
day in summer and step from their two
also known by the Russian word “yurt.”
country’s 2.74 million people.
With the first signs of daybreak on
Still, the Mongolian government is
gers, the open doors facing south to catch
Sitting behind a large desk in
working hard to get out in front of the
the sunlight. About 200 goats and sheep
other seismic cultural shifts date back
her office in Ulaanbaatar, Oyun
development juggernaut taking place.
bleat and chew and spit in a wandering
to the collapse of communism and
Sanjaasuren, Mongolia’s minister of
“If we understand early on where
mass around the camp, and a pungent
the country’s pro-democracy protests
environment, says the government’s
we have to protect biodiversity and
barnyard smell hangs in the moist air.
of 1989 and 1990. Although many
aim during the 1990s was just to
nature,” Oyun says, “then we can plan
welcomed the political transition, the
create jobs and “more or less survive
accordingly.”
loss of Soviet subsidies and services
the transition.” It is clear that that
devastated herders and others, triggering
effort has been hugely successful: in
Mongolia’s rapid urbanization and
26
Otgo, 57, has a long nose and faint
mustache and resembles Clark Gable
In 2008, government officials
when he dresses in a bloused shirt and
approached The Nature Conservancy to
riding pants. He collects cow pies
27
20 million in 1990 to just 5 million 12
Enkhtsetseg. “They were only talking
years later. And an estimated 100,000
about their own grazing.”
gazelles were illegally killed each year.
During his first six months on the job,
With different rules in the two
in 2009 and 2010, Tuguldur visited the
provinces encompassed by Toson Hulstai
roughly 200 families that live around
and only one wildlife ranger on the
the reserve. He talked with herders
job, the reserve initially offered little
about their concerns, informed them of
protection to deal with the pressures.
the global environmental importance of
“It was very hard because nomads are
their homelands and enlisted them to
very independent people,” says Otgo,
participate in the council.
speaking inside his ger over a breakfast
SNO W DRI F T
Gerco de Ruijter
Through ongoing meetings, council
of rice and “süütei tsai,” a salty milk tea
discussions began to take on a new tone
topped with fresh butter. Traditional
and opened communication with local
Mongolian music plays on a radio, while
government representatives. Using the
to fuel the cook stove in his ger one
moving to the Eastern Steppe, camping
his granddaughter watches “The Lion
Conservancy’s Conservation Action
morning, while his wife, Gajid, and
at water sources, developing wells, and
King” on a borrowed laptop.
Planning framework, a step-by-step
their daughter—home from college in
abandoning centuries-old nomadic
Ulaanbaatar—dress in dels and take
practices adapted to the landscape. As a
establish a management council
values and impacts and setting
turns milking cows. Otgo’s youngest son
result, grasses didn’t grow as tall as they
for Toson Hulstai to bring together
management strategies and goals, the
speeds off on a motorbike to round up
once had, and areas with water were
government representatives, local herder
participants began to identify threats
the family’s horses.
overgrazed and trampled. Meanwhile,
committees, and others from the region.
affecting herders and wildlife and to
rising prices for cashmere led to a
The first of its kind in Mongolia’s Eastern
share ideas and plans for protecting
the grasslands, and they say they
sharp increase in numbers of goats and
Steppe, it sputtered at the start.
pastures and habitat.
have noticed changes following the
more overgrazing. Illegal trapping
country’s political transition in the
and poaching, fed by market pressures
people weren’t talking much about
fencing water sources and restricting
1990s. During that time, herding
from China, reduced the population of
the environment and wildlife,” says
commercial grass haying and new wells
families from around the country began
Mongolian marmots from more than
Conservancy field biologist Tuguldur
within the reserve to protect resources for
Otgo and Gajid both grew up on
28
In 2009, the Conservancy helped
process for recognizing environmental
“When I came here for the first time,
The council has established rules for
29
2010 teamed up with Mongolian
management guidelines.
scientists to complete an ecoregional
“The ecoregional assessment
assessment, a landscape-level study
of eastern Mongolia—and more
across more than 150,000 square miles
recently, the assessment of the Gobi
of the eastern grasslands to set broader
area—is proving very important
conservation strategies in the face of
for policymaking,” says Oyun, the
future mining, energy, and infrastructure
environment minister. “It’s a good way
development. Using planning software
of going forward.”
and on-the-ground observations, the
mull e i n
Matt Regier
all herders and wildlife. The group has
and why they are important for the
also worked with the local governments to
grassland.”
prohibit herders from outside the region
Herders and rangers are gaining
Among the largest deserts on Earth,
Conservancy applied the analysis to
the otherworldly Gobi covers about
identify 37 priority sites and more than
500,000 square miles—and growing,
9 million acres for protection. These
because of desertification—with
sites included gazelle breeding grounds,
unending views of rock- and grass-
wetlands, intact grasslands, and areas
covered golden sand dunes, crumpled
facing the greatest development risks.
fields of volcanic stone and petrified
The recommendations helped spur
wood, and flat and barren Martian-red
the government’s 2012 designation
plains. In the southeastern Gobi, the
from moving onto the reserve. Amar, the
a more scientific understanding of
of seven new protected areas—six
stark desert beauty suddenly gives way
ranger, estimates that before the council
their landscape and sharing their own
proposed by the Conservancy—covering
to several of the world’s largest new
began its work outside herders grazed
knowledge with officials and land
almost 865,000 acres in the grasslands,
mining operations.
15,000 horses on Toson Hulstai. Now,
managers. As locals realize how they
including Kherlen Toono Uul Nature
that number has dropped to 4,500. Local
can help protect the grasslands, Otgo
Reserve, a 27,000-acre landscape
pit of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold
herders also help monitor poaching.
says, “people’s and herders’ attitudes are
where Genghis Khan kept a summer
mine, an excavator grabs at waste
changing,” which is just as important as
camp. The same year, the Mongolian
rock and pivots to fill a two-story-tall,
the new management decisions.
government also incorporated the
290-ton-capacity dump truck. Jointly
Conservancy’s approach to conservation
owned and operated by Rio Tinto,
planning into environmental
Turquoise Hill Resources, and the
“Before, herders did not care about
the land—it was just land,” Otgo says.
“After, people understood how much
Building on the progress around
wildlife is living around the grassland,
Toson Hulstai, the Conservancy in
30
Nearly 300 feet deep in the open
31
Mongolian government, Oyu Tolgoi is
Mining projects like this have brought
an industrial complex of freshly painted
prosperity to Mongolia—and, by the
blue buildings that cover more than
look of things, boosted truck and SUV
30 square miles. With a population of
sales back in Ulaanbaatar. Estimates
workers numbering in the thousands,
value Mongolia’s mineral resources
the complex functions as a desert city
at more than $1 trillion, and a 1997
and has its own reality-show-inspired
minerals law opened some 40 percent of
talent contest, “O.T.’s Got Talent.”
the country to exploration. In the south
But as Mongolia has begun its
Gobi Desert, Tavan Tolgoi is one of the
conservation balancing act, the
world’s largest deposits of coking coal,
country has taken a more moderate
used to make steel. And Oyu Tolgoi
approach to mining. In 2009,
will represent more than one-third of
environmental legislation, known
Mongolia’s gross domestic product once
as the “Law With the Long Name,”
it’s fully developed in the next few years.
canceled hundreds of mining licenses
Minerals already account for 80 percent
in mountain headwaters and forests. In
of Mongolia’s export sales, much of that
along new and old roads toward China,
the Mongolian government asked the
2010, President Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin
going to China, which shares a border
which buys, processes, and consumes
Conservancy for assistance in getting a
suspended the issuance of any new
to the south.
most of the minerals coming out of
handle on the breakneck growth scattered
Mongolia. One company at Tavan
throughout the Gobi. Again, the
Y U RTS / GER
© Jennifer Molnar
for The Nature Conservancy
licenses. “We don’t need to open the
“There’s a lot of mining leases,
whole country to mining,” says Oyun,
and when you add the supporting
Tolgoi paved its own road 150 miles
Conservancy carried out an ecoregional
the environment minister.
infrastructure and [new] population
to the border but charges other firms’
assessment—funded by Rio Tinto—
concentrations in some areas, and all
drivers to use it—so most drivers follow
identifying priority sites for conservation.
activities at the mines radiate across
the demand for energy and water, it
parallel dirt tracks that create wide
These include springs and groves of
the country. New roads, rail lines, dust,
equals pressure on the resources,” says
paths of destruction. Planned rail lines
slow-growing saxaul trees that indicate
and traffic fragment and degrade wildlife
Gala Davaa, the Conservancy’s director
and competing roads could further
water and habitat for the “khulan,” the
habitat and livestock pastures and block
of conservation in Mongolia.
fragment the landscape.
endangered and fleet-footed Mongolian
The effects of the industrial-scale
the movements of herders and animals.
The pressures can be traced back
32
Following successes in the grasslands,
wild asses that kick up rooster tails of dust
33
when they sprint away.
“Mongolia is trying to do its best to
The Conservancy has also worked
protect its natural environment, but
Dashmunkh Chuluunbaatar, says later.
his sons butchers an adult goat, cleaning it
People like Otgo and Dashmunkh have
with help from relatives.
an intrinsic appreciation for what’s at stake
with the government in applying its
the government needs a systematic
Solar panels now allow nomadic
Development by Design approach to
approach and science,” says Gala.
families to use cell phones, watch TV,
on the steppe and in the desert, for the
conservation planning and mitigation;
“We help the decision-makers with
and even refrigerate food. Motorbikes
remote, wild, and vulnerable landscapes
scientists analyze landscapes and local
information and science.”
and trucks have replaced horses for
that define the country. As night closes in
some tasks. Herders are benefitting
around Otgo’s gers, goats and sheep mill
sites to determine which lands and
Though still in the early stages,
waters are most—and least—sensitive
Mongolia’s acceptance of biodiversity
from and adapting to technology, but
about and his granddaughter pedals a creaky
to development impacts. Then they
offsets puts the country on the cutting
some are also struggling to keep their
bicycle with training wheels. His horses are
identify what investments in restoration
edge of conservation planning—and
connections to the past. Young people
tethered to a rope strung between two posts,
and protection can help avoid or offset
closer to reaching its goal of protecting
are now more likely to step away from
in front of a sky filling with dark clouds and
losses and minimize conflicts when
30 percent of the country’s valuable
herding and disperse to Ulaanbaatar
surrounded by a nearly empty backdrop with
development does occur.
natural area. That also means
or seek out high-paying mining jobs
but a few distant lights on the horizon.
preserving the culture that for centuries
to support their families. Families
Mongolia’s strengthened environmental
has lived on—and maintained—the
whose pastures have been degraded
again in another 10 days, he says, to
impact assessment law, passed in
open landscapes.
by overgrazing or climate change are
a place with good grass and few other
increasingly settling into camps and
families. He knows there aren’t many
giving up on nomadic practices.
other places on Earth where he could
That approach helped shape
2012. The law establishes the use
Back on the eastern grasslands, the late
Otgo’s family will pack up and move
of biodiversity offsets—based on the
afternoon brings another round of milking
Conservancy’s mitigation strategy—
for Otgo’s family, along with other daily
enabling companies to proactively
chores. The milk is turned into butter,
Mongolia pose an existential challenge
highways and paved roads, cultivated
address environmental damage
fermented, and distilled to produce a low-
for traditional culture. When asked
fields and fences.
through compensation projects, rather
alcohol vodka, or packed into cheesecloth
whether he worries that nomadic
than just doing post-development
sacks to dry and be sliced into “aaruul,”
herding culture will disappear from
site rehabilitation. Offsets can be
a dried curd. On this evening, Otgo’s
Mongolia, Otgo stares and then simply
used to protect or restore important
4-year-old granddaughter feeds a lame
answers, “Tiim.” Yes.
conservation areas or minimize impacts
goat kid from a bottle outside the ger,
from development.
while on the other side of a tractor, one of
34
live his nomadic life—away from
The changes occurring across
“There’s freedom,” he says, “in
Mongolia.”
Joshua Zaffos, this article originally appeared
“Every year, the nomadic lifestyle is
in the February/March 2013 issue of
changing, bit by bit,” another local herder,
Nature Conservancy Magazine.
35