Climate change impacts on nomadic herders' livelihoods and pastureland ecosystems: a case study from Northeast Mongolia

Nomadic Mongolians move in specific areas in search of the best pastures and campsites for their herds and are highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. Pastureland ecosystems are increasingly being affected by climate and other anthropogenic changes, such as socio-economic and cultural changes, challenging nomadic livelihoods in the drylands. The research presented in this paper is based on extensive semi-structured interviews with local herders, key informants, and focus group discussions in Northeast Mongolia. Nomadic herders’ perception and practices, supported by meteorological data, reveal that climate change has affected the provisioning of key ecosystem services, especially the availability of water and the quality and availability of pastureland. Many herders are now moving three times per year, not four, because of problems with water availability and increased dependence on local centres. For pastureland, changes in the absolute volume of rainfall is not the main problem. Rather, fine-grained changes in the timing of rainfall are interfering with plant growth, reducing pastureland quality. Together these are impacting livelihoods substantially. Such changes present challenges for current and future management of pastureland and adaptation to climate change at local and regional scales. Herd sizes have also increased in response to expanding market opportunities. Common property management changes are beginning to increase local herders' control over access to their neighbouring groups' traditional pasture and water. More extensive adaptation will be needed. The study suggests that valuing, maintaining, and conserving traditional ecological knowledge is essential if nomadic livelihoods are to be sustained through these changes.