Untitled Document

AMUR-HEILONG RIVER BASIN

All chapters:

Introduction

Climate

Waters and water management

Ecosystems and ecoregions

Species diversity and use of biological resources

Nature conservation: econet and protected areas

Nature conservation: econet and protected areas

Mongolia Protected Areas

Related maps, pictures, links

Environmental protection has a long history in Mongolia. Marco Polo wrote about closed seasons for hunting, and in 1709 Khalkh Juram set aside 16 mountains that were to be protected from hunting, cultivation, and timber felling. In 1778 Bogdkhan Mountain was formally set aside as a protected area and became the first such formally protected landscape in the world. Another ten areas were protected by 1977, for a cumulative area of 5.6 million hectares (3.5 percent of the country). The PAs Law of 1997 is now the basis for the establishment and management of PAs. According to Mongolian law, the taxonomy of PAs include the Strictly Protected Area (SPA), National Park (NP), Nature Reserve (NR) and Natural Monument (NM), and the law clearly defines protection regimes and zoning regulations. (See glossary of PA types) All of these PAs are the responsibility of the national Ministry of Nature and Environment (MONE), and all other land-management issues are delegated to local governments.
By 2005, Mongolia had listed 55 national-level PAs (PAs) occupying over 13 per cent of the total land area (20.95 million ha). Strict PAs covered 10.5 million ha, 19 national parks covered 8.5 million ha, 18 NRs covered 1.9 million ha, and six national monuments covered 80,000 ha (see Table below). Among those PAs, there were two UNESCO-World Heritage Sites, three Man and Biosphere Reserves, and 11 Ramsar wetlands of international importance. In addition, 552 areas with a total area of three million ha were protected by regional and local authorities.
Three SPAs, one national park, and four NRs are located in the Amur-Heilong River basin in Mongolia, covering 1,964,843 ha . Also important are PAs adjacent to the basin including one SPA, one national park, one Nature Reserve and one Nature Monument, which cover another 1,874,776 ha, are ecologically linked to the river basin, and are managed by the same local PA Directorates(See Table belowand the map Dauria Steppe Global 200 ecoregion ). Local PA directorates (administrations), each typically managing several PAs, are financed from the state budget, and operate under direct management of the Ministry for Nature and the Environment. Two PA administration offices and three groups were in charge of protection and management of national PAs in Mongolia’s Amur-Heilong Basin in 2004.

Table: PAs of Mongolia and PAs within the Mongolian part of the Amur-Heilong River basin (sources: Batsukh & Belokurov 2005, WWF Mongolia 2006)

Protected area category	Mongolia total number 2003	Mongolia total area thousand ha	PA in Mongolia's Amur Basin total number 2003	PA in Mongolia's Amur Basin total area thousand ha	Percent of Mongolia's Amur Basin territory
Strictly Protected Area	12	10,500	3	721,021	3.2
National Park	19	8,500	1	425,752	1.9
Nature Reserve	18	1,900	4	828,070	3.7
Natural Monument	6	80	0	0
Total PA under national law	55	20,950	8	1,975	8.8
Local PAs	552	3,000
Total PA	607	23,950