The Mongolian government, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and other conservation advocacy organizations announced the launch of Eternal Mongolia - a Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) initiative that will deliver lasting conservation and sustainable community development for Mongolia -- whose vast steppe represents the planet’s last great tract of intact temperate grassland.
The Nature Conservancy and the Enduring Earth Collaboration:
The Nature Conservancy, along with the World Wildlife Fund and ZOMALAB, have joined hands to create Enduring Earth, an initiative that engages nations and local communities across the planet to accelerate lasting conservation. The organizations involved share their expertise and resources to reach their goal of protecting more than 1 billion hectares of land, ocean and freshwater systems by 2030. Enduring Earth has protected 7.4 million acres in the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada, 20,000 square kilometers of tropical forest in Costa Rica, and four other ecosystems in Brazil, Bhutan, Peru, and Colombia.
The Nature Conservancy attributes their success to a conservation tool they have developed, Project Finance for Permanence (PFP). The PFP ensures lasting conservation through working with the entire system of the conservation areas rather than single sites or on single issues. To achieve this, the PFP requires accompanying local communities and governments to become involved as partners. They create independently governed entities for their projects and release funds only when every stakeholder commits to a plan. Such steps are the key to the implementation of Enduring Earth and its supporters’ conservation projects.
The Eternal Mongolia Project:
Mongolia has seen temperatures rise 2.25 degrees Celsius over the last 80 years - more than anywhere else on Earth - and has been experiencing more frequent and severe climate-induced disasters, like harsh winters, droughts, and dust storms. Simultaneous extreme cold, heavy snow, and high winds — a phenomenon known as a “dzud" - used to occur in this central Asian nation about once every decade, but there have been six in the past 10 years — a trend that scientists say is linked to climate change. The 2024 dzud has killed over seven million livestock. Such measured impacts of climate change demonstrate to the world the importance of the Eternal Mongolia Project, one of the largest climate finance agreements in Asia.
The PFP will support local community-driven proposals to safeguard an additional 14.4 million hectares or 35.5 million acres of Mongolia’s lands and waters including, intact grasslands, forests, deserts, wetlands and rivers, and extend sustainable and climate-resilient community-managed practices to 34 million hectares outside protected areas.
Thirty years ago, Mongolia was one of the first countries to initiate the 30% conservation initiative, which aims to formally protect 30% of the country’s land. The initiative later became a worldwide conservation commitment with over 190 countries. Now, Mongolia wants to take the lead again in conservation efforts by joining the 30 by 30 initiative, in which countries strive to conserve 30% of their land by 2030. The Eternal Mongolia project aims to spend $198 million to achieve this goal in Mongolia over the next 15 years. The Nature Conservancy, through Enduring Earth, is helping Mongolia reach its goal. As part of the project, the Enduring Earth initiative appropriates $71 million to contribute to the Mongolian 30 by 30 initiative.
Eternal Mongolia Celebration at the US Senate:
On June 10th, 2024, over 200 guests gathered in the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC to celebrate the Eternal Mongolia project. Jennifer Morris, CEO of TNC, His Excellency Batbayar Ulziidelger, the Mongolian Ambassador to the United States, Galbadrakh Davaa, Country Director of TNC in Mongolia, and environmental worker Susan Antenen, a long-time Mongolia support, delivered opening remarks about the importance of the project and expressed their appreciation and excitement for the Eternal Mongolia project.
The event displayed various photographs of Mongolian nature and culture. Guests enjoyed an evening with Mongolian traditional dishes such as buuz, a type of Mongolian dumpling, and potato salad while watching traditional Mongolian dance performances accompanied by Morin Khuur, a two strings instrument also known as the horse-head fiddle, performance. Following the event, East-West CenterYoung Professional, Bayarjavkhlan Bayanmunkh, interviewed Galbadrakh Davaa (see below) to get further details about the Eternal Mongolia project.
The Eternal Mongolia project is aiming to protect and help thousands of animals and herders who live in the steppe of Mongolia. We expect to see more know-how exchanges between the Nature Conservancy and Mongolian communities as the project continues to develop until 2030.
Interview with Galbadrakh Davaa:
BB: What is the significance of the Eternal Mongolia project to Mongolia and the United States' relationship, and our people-to-people connections?
GD: The Nature Conservancy is a global organization that is headquartered in the United States, and many donors from the United States also support this effort. People who donated know that Mongolia has a history and culture of protecting its natural environment, and they believe that Mongolia is a country that fulfills its international commitments. They also care about our planet and believe we must all do our best to preserve it, including its freshwater and biodiversity.
What are the next steps in this project's implementation?
It’s not only the $71 million that The Nature Conservancy and its supporters are bringing, but the Mongolian government is also going to bring $126 million as core funding for this project from various sustainable finance mechanisms. We will help the government to generate this kind of sustainable finance mechanism. As part of the agreement from The Nature Conservancy, the Mongolian government signed many documents that the country must follow now. Next step, we are creating a Conservation Trust Fund, called Mongolia’s Nature Legacy Fund, which will be the vehicle for the actions that will help us to achieve the conservation goals. There are about 100 Conservation Trust funds around the world, mostly in Africa, Central America, and South America. But in Asia, I think it’s the second biggest conservation trust fund.
However, one of the immediate near future steps is to fully operationalize the conservation trust fund. We will create this one committee, a non-government majority conservation trust fund to operationalize and distribute the funds in the most effective way. The committee will have to agree on developing important documents such as long-term planning, mid-term strategic planning, and short-term annual plans.
How does The Nature Conservancy plan to use the know-how from the United States to help Mongolian communities?
There are a lot of things that we can learn from the United States, and I'm sure the United States also has a lot to learn from Mongolia, such as our free-ranging and grass-fed meat production. During our last visit, I visited the Bureau of Land Management. Their mandate is to manage public land in the United States for public benefit. Most of our lands are public in Mongolia. There is a lot to learn about how we can do land planning for multiple purposes that benefit the public in the best possible way.
We had meetings with the National Park Service because most of the United States' protected areas are very well managed, well-visited, and well-respected. In the United States, the Parks might not get a lot of money, but it generates sustainable revenue that can support some parts of the management actions. If you go to any protected areas in Mongolia, there’s no signs, information, and guidance on what to expect. There are many other examples in the United States, such as the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. If we continue degrading our grasslands, a Dust Bowl might happen, and it’s already happened there. We must learn from these experiences and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
And one thing I should say is that the United States and Mongolia have a very good, friendly relationship with a lot of opportunities to mutually learn from each other.
The author would like to thank Galbadrakh Davaa for providing more information on the Eternal Mongolian Project.
Bayarjavkhlan Bayanmunkh is a Summer 2024 Young Professional at the East-West Center in Washington. He is pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science and economics at Swarthmore College.