Protecting Grassland for the Sake of History and the Future

A negotiated partnership launched a project in Mongolia, a Central Asian country, to offer lasting conservation and sustainable community development to preserve its steppe, the planet’s last vast area of intact temperate grassland.

“The success of Eternal Mongolia is not solely about protecting Mongolia’s landscapes but doing so in a way that honors and values generations of traditional knowledge while building sustainable livelihoods and futures,” states Munkhbat Tserendorj, Executive Director for Homyn Talyn Takhi. “Mongolia’s nomadic herding families are integral to the success of Eternal Mongolia, and their leadership is critical to how these protected areas will be maintained for years to come.”

Eternal Mongolia – a Project Finance for Permanence initiative – will invest $198 million over 15 years for Mongolia’s ambitious conservation and community development goals to become a reality, including a $71 million transition fund from private and other global donor sources. Through Eternal Mongolia, the country’s 47-million-hectare National Protected Area network will be expanded – an additional 14.4 million hectares of intact grasslands, forests, deserts, wetlands, and rivers – and its management will be strengthened. Mongolia is home to 200,000 nomadic herding families, some from the last remaining nomadic cultures on Earth, and native wildlife like argali sheep, gazelles, demoiselle cranes, cinerous vultures, and saiga, an endangered antelope. Eternal Mongolia seeks to develop and implement conservation plans to benefit wildlife and local communities.