Women pastoralists for improved nutrition and increased resilience to climate shocks and soil degradation in Mongolia, by Munkhbolor Gungaa, FAO Mongolia, Promoter of the Mongolian Alliance of Nomadic Indigenous People (MANIP) and of the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples and Pastoralists (WAMIP). http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/sustainable-food-systems-nutrition-symposium/en/

2. Women pastoralists for improved nutrition and increased
resilience to climate shocks and soil degradation in Mongolia
Ms. Munkhbolor Gungaa (Bolor),
Communication, M&E and Networking Coordinator, FAO Representation in Mongolia
Promoter of MANIP and WAMIP – Pastoralist Alliance
Rome, 1-2 December 2016

3. Brief intro and foreword
I am one of the descendants of nomadic family born in the
Gobi desert of Mongolia.
I work as a Communication, M&E and Networking Coordinator
at FAO Representation in Mongolia.
I am a co-promoter of Mongolian and World Alliances of
Pastoralists.
Since my Statement on behalf of the CSOs at the ICN2 in 2014,
it is my great honour to be here again to present about
Mongolian women pastoralists
for improved nutrition and increased resilience.

5. Mongolia at a glance
• Landlocked country with extreme continental climate.
• 90% of territory - desertification - rangelands, supporting about 60 million heads
of livestock and numerous population of wild animals
• 62% of the whole territory is affected by drought in 2016. Total 62,719 herder
families/42% are affected and lived in poor condition.
• Widespread drought in the summer of 2015 covering 1/3 of the country, winter
situation of 2015/2016 has reached the level of dzud emergency.
• Frost on the soil reached -50C and on the air -30/-35C on average
• Herders had to use up all reserve hay and forage prepared for winter within first
month to keep the animals alive. As National Emergency Agency reports, 70 per
cent of total territory was affected by dzud in 2016
• As of 4 April, 720 000 livestock is lost nationwide

7. Winter condition & Risk levels
as of Nov 2016
Extreme
High
Medium
Moderate
Low
Risk level
Source: http://icc.mn/index.php?&lang=en

8. Women pastoralists for improved nutrition
and increased resilience
• Pastoralists in Mongolia have faced
• both climate-related shocks (such as droughts and winter freezes — dzuds)
• rapid economic change.
• In response, they have taken collective action to reduce risks to their income,
nutrition and wellbeing. Collective management has helped store animal fodder
for hard times and diversification has raised herders’ incomes, which better
protects food security.
• Pastoralist women have played multi-functional roles
• Pastoralist women ensure food security, safeguard seeds and breeds, create
employment through adding value to the livestock products, and transfer
knowledge to youth
• Developing alternative income sources based on the livestock products such as
milk, meat, leather, wool and cashmere

9. SEMI-INTENSIVE, INTENSIVE
LIVESTOCK
-Dairy Cows, Poultry and Swine
- High/Semi-high inputs
- Need to manage manure,
carbon foot print, use locally
grown crops for feed to improve
sustainability
EXTENSIVE LIVESTOCK
- Sheep, goat, camel, cow, yak,
horse and reindeer
- Agroecological products based
on rangeland fed animals
- Need branding, efficient
value chains and marketing
to increase income
MONGOLIAN AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVESTOCK
Within the framework of FAO`s PKHub and GASL,
Mongolia is developing NASL

10. Wool and
cashmere as
alternative income
for better nutrition
and healthy diet
Yak milk rich in
calcium and iron,
under the
extreme-high
altitude
High levels of antioxidant
vitamins, specific
enzymes, and bacteria
with probiotic activity
Lamb - High quality
protein, B vitamin –
healthy immune system

11. Nutrition and healthy diet
• Insufficient amount of vitamin and micronutrients
• Average daily intake of vegetables for adults, 1.6 serving size is more than twice less than
WHO recommendation of 4 serving size per day.
• Rural population is more susceptible to micronutrients deficiency and the per capita
energy intake for low income families was 1,728.2 kcal, which is only 63.3% of the total
requirement.
• Children under 5 years old seriously suffer from nutritional anemia, rickets, micronutrients
deficiency such as vitamin A, D and zinc that affect sizeable proportion of pregnant women

12. Summary
• Ways of survival and resilience:
– Livestock herding, production, processing and marketing
– Integration in value chains, diversified market opportunities
– Introducing innovation technology
– Capacity building (such as financial literacy, obtaining info)
– Awareness raising on nutrition and healthy diet
• Reform in life attitudes and policy coordination and shift
from Quantity to Quality!
• Women pastoralists` engagement in national and global
platforms such as MANIP, WAMIP/WOPA, FAO Pastoralist
Knowledge Hub, GASL and ICN2 follow up actions

13. Lorem ipsum dolor
Women pastoralists play an important role towards
increasing resilience to climate change; they must be
supported by provision of improved market opportunities,
technology and capacity building, and awareness raising on
nutrition and healthy diet.
Thank you for your attention!