Component 2 of the project is aimed at empowering local communities in sustainable management of water resources and diversification of livelihoods which secures fair access to water resources for all relevant stakeholders and maintains ecological integrity of river basins.

One of the outputs of this Component is the establishment of Water User Groups (WUGs), which up to now comprise 744 farmer households in 38 WUGs.

Station for Desertification Research

Identifying major factors to desertification, generating concrete and applicable solutions, experimenting latest technologies for preventing and combating desertification ... these are the primary functions of Desertification Research Station, established in Bulgan province upon the initiative of Geo-Ecological Institute.

The new station will allow a long-term desertification research in steppe zone, and generate evidence and science based means against desertification. The station comes as a complementary tool to supporting enforcement of the national policy on combating desertification, which envisages setting up of research and testing centers along country’s latitude in order to create desertification monitoring system in Mongolia.

A photo contest “Desertification in Mongolia” on the occasion of the Word Day to Combat Desertification was observed successfully. There were imaginative and creative works dominated this year rather than the photos of dust storm or degraded and dried area. It should be emphasized that more human-focused photos hiding implicit meaning had been handed over this year.

So, here are winners of the contest: 1st place gone for Batbayar for “Sand attack” photo; 2nd place “The Three of the Earth” by Davaanyam and
the third place “When will the game be over?” by Erdenebayar. A special prize has been given to Rentsendorj for his photo “The Government's session is over”.

The plan for the future is to combine the photo contest in broader scope with creative works by kids regarding this global problem.

1st place "Sand attack"


2nd place "The Three of the Earth"

3rd place "Will the game be over?"

Special prize "The Government's session is over..."

Terms of Reference for International Consultancy on Water Flow and Demand Modeling in BUYANT RIVER BASIN
 

Awareness building Campaign about desertification “The 10 Insights about Desertification”

Desertification is definitely one of the most burden environmental issues of Mongolia. In order to raise people’s awareness about desertification CODEP initiates a 2 years’ awareness building campaign on the 10 Insights about desertification. In general the Campaign is aimed at convincing people that something can be done against desertification and encouraging structural changes and effective actions for combating desertification.

The Campaign will be initially launched in Khovd aimag in order to be later transferred into model campaign with the potential later to be tested for any other environmental concern. The Insights will be developed into apt information packages for our target groups, which include schoolchildren, farmers, herders and local-level decision makers.

As for now preparation works to the Campaign are on-going to have an official launching in June 17, the World Day to Combat Desertification. At this day the first two Insights will be ready to be introduced to the target groups.

In case of successful implementation of the Campaign people will admit desertification not as only an environmental issue but also as socio-economic challenge, which can have serious impact on the livelihoods.

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Letter of invitation for price offer 

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First phase construction on 395 ha of crop land is State commissioned  

As the result of cooperation with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Light Industry the first phase construction of Buyant irrigation system along Buyant River in Khovd aimag is complete and officially received by the State commission. This phase covers an area of 395 hectares, whereas the total capacity at the end is planned to be 2400 hectares.

The construction will consist of 4 phases and is due to be fully operational in 2014. For the direct beneficiaries, an irrigation system is an opportunity to experience growing of economically-profitable plant varieties, apply fair share of available water; in parallel it is an essential support for aimag to increase productivity of agriculture production along the River Basin and boost supply of food and fodder at the regional level.

At present, Aimag government jointly with relevant institutions is working on the re-organization of land and ownership issues of vegetable growers in order to improve land use and efficiency.

In August 16, 2010 the United Nations has launched the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (2010-2020) to raise awareness and action to improve the protection and management of the world’s drylands.

The Decade is designed to heighten public awareness about the threat desertification, land degradation and drought pose to sustainable development and ways leading to their alleviation. The Decade’s message stresses that land is life, so, we must ensure the drylands, remain productive and working and that the vision for the Decade is to forge a global partnership to reverse and prevent desertification and land degradation and to mitigate the effects of drought in affected areas in order to support poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

While concerns about desertification are growing, it is not all doom and gloom. Efforts have been made to address land degradation and while there have been positive outcomes, more action is needed to arrest and reverse land degradation and creeping desertification worldwide.

“As we begin the Decade on Deserts and the Fight against Desertification, let us pledge to intensify our efforts to nurture the land we need for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and guaranteeing human well-being,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a statement announcing the launch.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-moon has sent a letter to the Mongolian President Ts.Elbegdorj. The letter states that the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon appreciates the State Head's initiative to arrange a cabinet meeting in Gobi which is the largest dry-land in Asia.  read

On a global scale, desertification - land degradation in drylands - affects 3.6 billion hectares, which accounts for 25 percent of the Earth’s terrestrial land mass. It threatens the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people in some 100 countries.

Please, visit http://unddd.unccd.int/ for more information