Measuring pastoralist land tenure security in Mongolia

DATA BRIEF

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mongolia sustains one of the world’s largest rangeland-based livestock systems, with pastoral communities using and stewarding rangelands covering approximately 70% of the national land area. This brief presents the first Mongolian application of a new international framework for measuring pastoralist tenure security, jointly implemented by the International Land Coalition, Mongolia’s General Authority for Land Administration, Geodesy and Cartography (GALAGC), and the National Land Coalition of Mongolia.

Ten indicators— covering legal (de jure), practiced (de facto), and perceived tenure security — were assessed through expert review, interviews with nearly 900 pastoralists and land officers across all 21 aimags (provinces), and five focus group discussions in four soums (districts) across three aimags.

THE FINDINGS

The results reveal a gap between law and lived experience. While Mongolian law provides a legal basis for pastoralists’ access to and use of pastureland for livestock mobility (Land Law, Article 52), over half of surveyed pastoralists did not know that these rights exist. A third of local land officers were also unaware. Well-established laws calling for public consultation on legislation and participation by affected groups (Law on Legislation, General Administrative Law) provide broad mechanisms for public engagement in policy making, but they are not herder-specific and are largely used in commercial transactions, not directly with herders. In practice, an estimated 66% of pastoralists have effective access to all grazing areas and corridors they use at all relevant times, and, as made clear by the data, the local governance of pastoral land is under strain. Gaps in both formal rules, informal norms and customary systems are noted, while the most-cited drivers of tenure insecurity for pastoralists was inadequate local rules and the limited policy influence of pastoralists. Among focus group participants, 77% believe that pastoralists could lose their rights to use and access land in the future.