Mongolia’s Amazing Grasslands

As the maps below show, this is an extraordinary expansion of nationally and locally administered protected areas, such as national parks, nature reserves and wilderness areas. In 2019, Mongolia designated 22 new protected areas totaling 8.4 million acres. These areas, which span the rugged Altai Mountains in the west to the grasslands of Dornod Province in the east, are home to rare wildlife such as snow leopards and argali sheep that require vast landscapes to thrive.

From east to west, Mongolia’s grasslands span 80 percent of the country and generate livelihoods for 200,000 families of nomadic herders. And, as the only large-scale habitat of this type in Asia, they provide a rare refuge for native wildlife such as argali sheep, gazelles, snow leopards, demoiselle cranes, cinereous vultures and saiga—a critically endangered antelope.

But Mongolia’s grasslands are at risk. Growing international demand for the country’s gold, coal and copper is undermining current conservation efforts, and the government is now poised to issue mining exploration licenses that could impact at least 20 percent of the country. In addition, growing demand for meat, wool and cashmere is resulting in the industrialization of Mongolia’s livestock sector, impacting traditional grazing practices.

Grasslands are the planet’s least protected and most altered terrestrial habitat; only 5 percent of the world’s remaining grasslands are protected. In addition, among those grasslands, the Mongolian grasslands may be well situated to resist climate-related impacts such as drought and fire due to their immense size.

Of equal importance, Mongolia’s grasslands are the only refuge in Asia large enough to support globally-important wildlife, such as the Mongolian gazelle—Asia’s last great herd of wide-ranging mammals—and the many migratory birds that rely on these lands as a resting and refueling stop during their long migrations.

Mongolia’s grasslands are one of the planet’s most critical conservation priorities—a last-chance ecosystem that must be saved for a sustainable future.