Vinod Ahuja, Representative of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Mongolia had a courtesy meeting with N.Urtnasan, Minister of Environment and Tourism (MoET) to exchange views on bilateral cooperation in environment sector.

Minister N.Urtnasan expressed appreciation for FAO’s long-term continuous support in participatory forest management, biodiversity conservation, contribution to governance, climate change adaptation and mitigation in Mongolia.

Representative Vinod Ahuja briefed on the ongoing projects and programs, and also the future ones in the pipeline.  FAO is working closely with partners to sustainably develop the agro-ecological value chain to increase the livelihood and resilience of locals through improving sustainable natural resource management practices.

Minister N.Urtnasan has highlighted “FAO is a strong strategic partner of our Ministry.  We look forward to our more efficient implementation of projects and programs together. I hope that our collaboration on reforestation and restoration will expand in the framework of UN Decade on Ecosystem restoration.”   

D.Batbold, Representative of WWF-Mongolia, briefed on the organization and the conservation activities that have been carried out since 1992. He highlighted conservation achievements that were successful with WWF-Mongolia's contributions such as the expansion of the Protected Area network, strengthening its management, conservation works on forest and freshwater ecosystems. And the latest successful work he mentioned was the nationwide snow leopard population assessment. 

During the meeting, MoET endorsed GEF financed “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” project to be implemented by FAO in partnership with WWF. The project will be implemented for 5 years to reverse and prevent dryland ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss through an inclusive, integrated landscape and value chain approach securing multiple environmental benefits and sustainable, resilient livelihoods in the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia, specifically in Dornod, Khentii and Sukhbaatar provinces.

Vinod Ahuja emphasized “We should together tackle critical policy issues around natural resource management, climate change and agriculture taking into consideration of economic and social development of the country. This will require more cross-sectoral and inter-ministerial work.”

Ministry of Enviroment and Tourism and Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry will lead Food and Agriculture Development Partners group to discuss strategic issues in climate change and agriculture as interrelated sectors that cannot be resolved separately.

Mongolia will host the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission meeting in the latter part of the year.