ENSURE Project Appraisal Commitee meets

November 15, 2018

The United Nations Development Programme Mongolia will partner with Ministry of Environment and Tourism and Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry to launch a comprehensive environmental project “Ensuring Sustainability and Resilience of Green Landscapes in Mongolia” in 2019.

Mongolian people face mounting challenges as environmental risks increase. Land degradation is one of the greatest environmental challenges faced by Mongolia with approximately 77% of land classified as degraded to some extent. Climate change and human activities are the biggest contributing factors, leaving ecosystems, wildlife and livelihoods at risk.

ENSURE, with the budget of 7.9 million USD supported by Global Environmental Facility presents an opportunity to offer solutions by addressing the immediate environmental needs of the country by improving ecosystem services in different landscapes from boreal forests to steppes and desert-steppe.

The project is unique as it will address the connected challenges of rangeland and forest degradation and biodiversity loss in an integrated fashion through a comprehensive landscape management approach – to be implemented for the first time in Mongolia. The project will be implemented from 2019 through 2025 in 4 pilot aimags and 13 soums.

Today the Project Appraisal Committee meeting was held at the UN House to review the quality and the feasibility of the project, to ensure its readiness for the launch of its implementation and to review the resources framework and management arrangements.

Beate Trankmann, UNDP Resident Representative said “Recognizing that people are at the centre of these landscapes, it specifically looks at making livelihoods sustainable, to deliver both - improved ecosystem services as well as community resilience at scale.”

25,613 people will benefit directly from the project which equals 50% of the population in the entire 13 soums and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services being integrated into development planning in 4 aimags (Zavkhan, Arkhangai, Gobi Altai, Bayankhongor) covering 39.5 million hectares of land.

The Government committed to a green development pathway in 2014 in recognition of the importance of Mongolia’s natural assets for present and future generation and this provides an important foundation for the project to build on.  The project is also expected to make an important contribution to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (esp SDG 15) and Mongolia’s own Sustainable Development Vision 2030 in addition to the Green Development Policy.

Contact Information

Bulganchimeg Bayasgalant, UNDP Mongolia, Bulganchimeg.bayasgalant@undp.org