Duut and Buyant soum, Khovd aimag

Pasture degradation, water scarcity and other climatic difficulties have forced herders in Duut soum and farmers in Buyant soum in Khovd aimag to collaborate in order to be more resilient to the harsh environmental conditions.

Such is the extent of the collaboration that in the space of just one year, almost 90 percent of the soum's herders have organised themselves into nine separate Pasture Users' Groups (PUGs) - a land-management system introduced to them by the SDC Green Gold Pasture Management Program.

The first priority of the Duut soum PUGs was to devise mutually agreed upon pasture-rotation schedules. "Prior to this agreement, we had to compete with each other to get the best pasture before somebody else would come and settle and destroy the pasture area," said Shiileg, a herder from Shiver bagh in Duut soum. "Now we all agree to the plan and we can move to our winter and spring quarters at the same time."

An evaluation of the PUGs will take place at a Soum Citizens' Representative meeting in December. Based on the feedback, the PUGs will formalise pasture-use plans which will apply to all herders within the soum.

As well as pasture degradation, herders in the area face a range of other challenges, including bi-annual swarms of locusts that lay waste to pasture. This year, heavy snow and storms in winter and spring caused devastation for most herders in the soum, and many herder households in Duut soum lost up to 70-80 percent of their newly born livestock.

"The livestock in Duut soum totalled 112,000 in 2008. More than 80 percent of our 510 households depend on pastoral livestock," said Duut soum governor Gantumur. "However, the carrying capacity of the total pastureland in our soum can only accommodate up to 80,000." In addition to already exceeding carrying capacity, the soum also hosts animals from neighbouring soums. This allows no space and time for producing hay for the animals.

In addition to the Green Gold Pasture Management Program's support for the development of PUGs, it has also been assisting those groups in erecting fences to protect a total of 18 ha of hay-production areas, and in the repairing of roads on nomadic routes.

Farmers in Khovd aimag's Buyant soum are taking a similar collaborative approach in the efficient use and distribution of water. About 64 percent of the soum's more than 1000 farmers have formed 25 Water Users' Groups (WUGs) to ensure the area's water resources are used responsibly for farming. Unregulated water distribution through the creation of random irrigation channels results in a significant loss of water and the inequitable distribution of water among farmers, particularly those who are located furthest from the source. This has become a source of conflict and regularly results in farmers from one soum directing water flow in one direction one day, and farmers from another soum redirecting it in a different direction the next.

However, the farmers who are part of WUGs have agreed on a water distribution schedule to ensure it is equitably distributed to all. L. Tsetsegsuren, who heads the Khokhtsotsgiit WUG comprised of 10 farmer households and growing more than 10 varieties of vegetable on 7 ha of land, said: "We are working together to improve the irrigation channels, which run for 4 km. Therefore we all agreed on the mutual irrigation schedule to equally use the water."

SDC's Coping with Desertification Project (CODEP) is playing a key role in supporting farmers in the sustainable and equitable use of water in the Buyant River delta in order to reverse the increasing problem of desertification in the area.

The local community and the Khovd aimag government are appreciative of SDC's interventions in the aimag in relation to the sustainable use of natural resources in tackling the key challenges they face, namely the revitalisation of the vegetable sector, the improvement of herders' livelihoods and environmental stewardship.

SDC's support for the self-organisation of herders and farmers has shown early results in the more efficient use of natural resources.

D. Soyolmaa

Media and Communications Officer