Supporting Mongolian pastoralists by using GIS to identify grazing limitations and opportunities from livestock census and remote sensing data

Since 1990, Mongolia has experienced a radical change away from centralized livestock production to more traditional rangeland management practices. As the herders now have increased access to the pastures, they need to be able to evaluate the sustainable level of exploitation of the rangeland. This paper demonstrates how pertinent information on the state of the rangeland resources can be made available to herdsmen by using a Geographical Information System (GIS). The focus is on the importance of having a sound data and information framework when assessing rangeland resources. The three main requirements are: first, knowledge of the production system; second, a natural resource inventory; and third, an assessment of the natural resource exploitation. Workshops held in the field brought together herdsmen, administrators, scientists and project personnel to identify and discuss issues of range management. From topographic maps, a digital elevation model was created using GIS, which together with a recent land-cover map elaborated from a SPOT satellite image made it possible to map the important areas suitable for winter grazing. The exact locations of the family winter settlements were recorded and linked to annual livestock statistics using GIS to identify the areas being grazed and to calculate the stocking rates by household. It was shown for the administrative unit of Arbayasgalan that the ratio of stocking rates to carrying capacity exceeded one, which indicates overstocking. However, the uneven distribution of grazing pressure over the study area enabled the proposal of actions to mitigate serious overgrazing. A discussion of range management practices was facilitated by providing the herdsmen with information on the extent and location of the problem. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.