Nomads migrants : changing livelihoods and grazing patterns of Bayan Onjuul (Tuv Aimag) in Mongolia | |
| Author | Rendorj, Sergelen |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.NR-10-13 |
| Subject(s) | Nomads--Mongolia Migrant labor--Mongolia |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Natural Resource Management, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. NR-10-13 |
| Abstract | Mongolian people has witnessed and experienced a change from a communist regime to a more democratic country where centrally planned economy gradually led the free market economy to take over. With these changes and the reforms, many Mongolian people got greater freedom that eventually gave them lots of other economic opportunities. However, this economic reforms and changes, like anywhere in the world came with a fall down that has had overwhelming effect on the lives of many Mongolians. With the collapse of the country’s economy, many state collectives and farmer were privatized that led many people to lose their jobs. These people, who were depending entirely on the jobs for their livelihood, were then forced to take up raising liv estock as the main economic activity. The country’s economy collapse entailed many other chan ges that led to the collapse of the traditional nomadic livestock grazing management pr actices. The free market economy, the privatization of livestock and the huge increase in the number of herders were the main factors responsible for the downfall of the traditi onal livestock management system. Furthermore, the dismantling of the soviet style livestock collectives was concurrent with the loss of important social services and economic opportunities in remote rural areas, which gradually leading to depopulation of those areas and threatening the cultural integrity of rural communities. All these changes eventually lead to threatening of the sustainability and health of the Tuv province’s pas tureland. In addition, in many other remote areas due to lack of access to market and ot her social services and the breakdown of the ground water wells, led many herders to migrate into soum and Aimag centre causing high concentration of livestock. This has e ventually caused significant overgrazing problems in many areas of the Bayan Onjuul soum, and degradation of the ecological health of the grasslands. Therefore this research was carried out to explore the impacts of the free market economy on the livelihood of the herders and the social and environmental impact of the change in herders’ lifestyle and migratory pattern. The field research was done in October-November 2009. A total of 50 herders were interviewed using a structured and pre-tested survey questionnaire. The data generated from the field was analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). Statistical tools such as descriptive was used to calculate the maximum, minimum, mean, percentages, and standard deviation. Analysis was done in such a way to answer the research objec tives. The survey results showed that since 1990 there have been many nomadic people moving from more remote rural areas to pasturelands located near soum centre. Their migration into soum centre was basically in search of state services and support facilities, especially markets, water sources, schools, and clinics since these services and facilities have broken down in remote rural area. The nomadic herders moving close to the soum centre with all their livestock, in order to take advantage of proximate to markets and services, created extra pressure on pasture land near the soum centre. As a result, noticeable pasture land degradation from overgrazing around the soum centre was observed. Nomadic herders often move their livestock in summer as well as in autumn, since these are the season with significant plant growth. Nomadic herders migrate particularly frequent in autumn to allow the livestock to fatten and have better survival chances over the following winter. The study also showed that the frequency of current migration has increased compared to 20 years back. This increased in the frequency of migration was because of social and environmental impacts. |
| Year | 2010 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. NR-10-13 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Cochard, Roland |
| Examination Committee(s) | Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich;Shrestha, Rajendra Prasad |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP);Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2010 |