Conservation through Co-Existence

Responding to an urgent call to action for conservation in the Asian high desert, The Living Desert has established a new partnership with Mongolian Conservation Initiative (MCI) to implement holistic conservation in the Gobi Desert steppe ecosystem of southeastern Mongolia to ensure both nature and humans thrive. This is a unique opportunity for The Living Desert to partner with a long-established, globally recognized conservation success story, and to help expand it by more pointedly addressing the threats to biodiversity and human well-being. The partnership’s combined holistic approach to conservation will amplify and extend the work of MCI, headed by long-time leader Gana Wingard, to implement science-based, community-led conservation work in Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, Mongolia.

The desert landscape of Ikh Nart

OUR PARTNER IN HOLISTIC CONSERVATION

The Mongolian Conservation Initiative is a non-profit organization led by an interdisciplinary and ambitious Mongolian team that has been working to foster relationships, conduct applied research, and support community-led conservation in Ikh Nart for over 20 years. Within that time, the MCI team — with support from local and international partners — has conducted extensive biological and ecological studies, resulting in over 150 research and management publications.

The MCI team has also implemented successful conservation strategies that support reserve management and herder communities to improve wildlife populations and promote community support in conservation. However, the increasing threats from climate change and overgrazing within their desert steppe grassland ecosystem has left MCI with a critical need for a mutually beneficial partnership with The Living Desert to advise and collaborate, ensuring the sustainability of the conservation work in Ikh Nart.

Desert steppe grassland ecosystems protect globally important biodiversity, play a critical role in mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and directly support the livelihoods of many human communities. However, they are one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth due to the ease of conversion for human agricultural use. This is especially true in Mongolia, where nearly 70% of grasslands are degraded because of increased drought, expansion of mining, and overgrazing. This is threatening the ecosystem’s unique biodiversity and its role in the cultural heritage, livelihoods, and well-being of nomadic herding communities.

Ikh Nart local herder with his domestic sheep and goats.

A breeding pair of cinereous vultures at their nest.

An eagle owl at Ikh Nart Nature Reserve.

Local horsemen are an integral part of the community-based wildlife capture, tag, and release efforts.

COLLABORATION ACROSS TWO DESERT ECOSYSTEMS

Within this mutually beneficial partnership, The Living Desert team brings global conservation expertise in ecosystem restoration, biodiversity research, curriculum creation, public outreach, and community-led conservation. Especially exciting is the opportunity to support several of The Living Desert’s species in their native range. The cinereous vulture (Eurasian black vulture), golden eagle, eagle owl, and argali sheep — close relatives of our native bighorn sheep — all live within Ikh Nart Nature Reserve. Both teams are eager to help save these species in Mongolia and involve The Living Desert’s staff in joint projects.

Moving seasonally across the landscape in search of pasture for their livestock herds, nomadic herder communities within Ikh Nart have served as stewards of these important ecosystems and wildlife for centuries and continue to play an integral role today. This summer, The Living Desert's Conservation Department will begin to work directly with Ikh Nart herder communities, researchers, reserve managers, and school leadership in their priority communities to take action to conserve wildlife locally. The Living Desert team will also assist with ecological restoration components and with assessment and prevention of livestock-wildlife disease transmission in Ikh Nart. To build a capacity of Ikh Nart reserve managers, the teams will work with experts in California protected areas to provide specialized training for Mongolians coming to Palm Desert through the partnership.

Mongolian Conservation Initiative leader Gana Wingard

A LEADER IN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

The Living Desert is thrilled to welcome Gana Wingard to our conservation team! With over twenty years of field conservation experience and two master’s degrees, her impressive and effective leadership will be an essential part of the partnership. In 2020, the President of Mongolia issued Gana the Polar Star Award in recognition of her significant contribution to wildlife conservation, leadership, bilateral cooperation, and building capacity of wildlife conservationists for Mongolia. “Ikh Nart has been recognized as the best holistic conservation site in Mongolia because of its truly dedicated and inspired team members, including local herders, rangers, researchers, teachers and managers,” said Gana. The Living Desert is fortunate to work with Gana in the leadership role at MCI.

We’re certain that this partnership will not only result in the successful conservation of wildlife, ecosystems, and herder livelihoods in Mongolia, but will serve as a model for how international partnerships can amplify community-led and holistic conservation initiatives world-wide. Look forward to many more exciting updates as we go forward!

Ikh Nart Nature Reserve

Located on the northern edge of the Mongolian Gobi Desert, Ikh Nart Nature Reserve compasses 160,000 acres of critical grassland steppe and desert ecosystems. Within this space, the Reserve protects an essential pasture for 150 nomadic herding families as well as many native animals, including:

• 40 mammal species

• 200 bird species

• 7 reptile species

A Cold Desert?

While most think of deserts as hot and dry, desert biomes also include semi-arid, coastal, and cold climates. This area of the Gobi Desert has a habitat similar to the Mojave Desert, however its elevation and location contribute to weather extremes of long, cold winters and hot summers.

The continental, arid climate supports a landscape of rocky outcrops and desert steppe — dry, grassy plains. With its unique terrain and location, Ikh Nart protects one of the best hotspots of biodiversity in central Asia.