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Pastoralists plan knowledge hub in Mongolia

07.08.2015

The Central Asian Meeting of Pastoralists was held in Hustai National Park in Mongolia to set up the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub on 26-29 July 2015. Around 40 representatives of pastoralist communities and pastoralist leaders from eight Central Asian countries - the Altai Republic of the Russian Federation, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - gathered to come up with a regional scheme for knowledge management on nomadic pastoralism.

The meeting opened with the traditional long song accompanied by the traditional horse fiddle, a two-string traditional musical instrument. The herders and their leaders were welcomed by the Deputy Minister for Agriculture of Mongolia, staff members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) who work on indigenous peoples and pastoralist issues and the head of the Mongolian  Alliance of Native and Indigenous People (MANIP), co-organizers of this event, who reiterated their will and support for preservation of nomadic pastoralism as a unique and sustainable livelihood system that is in harmony with nature.

The herders from the various countries shared their experiences and worked in parallel working groups to identify their needs and priorities for future collaboration and shared their vision of the new set up. They also discussed the experiences of similar networks, such as Tajikistan's Pasture Network, represented by Umed Vakhdodov, and the Mountain Partnership Central Asia Hub hosted by University of Central Asia, represented by regional coordinator Elbegzaya Batjargal.

Workshop participants voted unanimously for MANIP to host the regional secretariat on a rotational basis and a Steering Committee with 16 representatives to be identified from eight participating countries (with gender balance) was established as the working and decision making mechanism at the regional level. The delegates from Kyrgyzstan, Altai Republic and Tajikistan represented institutions - members of the Mountain Partnership and communities working with the Mountain Partnership Central Asia Hub.
Batjargal participated in the work of this new initiative under FAO support. For the field trip on the fourth day, park staff accompanied the meeting participants on a trip to the park's core zone for spotting the herds of freely grazing wild horses called ‘Takhi’ in Mongolian and visited the herder family in the park's buffer zone.

Hustai National Park was established in 1993 as one of three global spots where wild horses, or Takhi (Przewalski horses), were reintroduced successfully, now reaching 320. Some 500 gazelles and red deers share the habitat with this wildlife species that was once near extinction.

Photo: Elbegzaya Batjargal/Chagat Almashev