Impact case study database

Professor Upton’s research has influenced development of conservation strategies in Mongolia and international policy and practice, linked particularly to PCCA. This has also yielded significant livelihood benefits for herders, as well as supporting national climate-change mitigation strategies. Impact has also arisen through her work on pastoral resilience, e.g., through ‘Resilient Pastoralism’ and developed through SIBELIUs. Here, research into herders’ decision-making practices and information needs has enabled the development of targeted remote sensing products to facilitate resilience-building and risk management and has effected significant improvements in the ways in which in-country government partners Mongolia’s National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring (NAMEM) fulfil their statutory remit.

Changing Policy and Practice

The PCCA project, derived directly from Professor Upton’s research, forms the basis of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL) Good Practice Guideline within the ‘ Restoring Value to Grasslands: Linking Herders to Markets for Environmental Services’ theme. GASL, supported by international partners such as the World Bank and WWF, promotes sustainable practices within the global livestock sector [E1]. PCCA is highlighted in the European Commission response to the EU ‘Biodiversity for Life’ flagship initiative as an example of good practice and achievable benefits of financial incentives [E2]. PCCA, is identified as a best practice example by the international Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (2018). [E3].

Professor Upton’s research has been integral to the development of the Sustainable Fibre Alliance’s (SFA’s) Sustainable Cashmere Standard, particularly in relation to the Grassland Stewardship Code of Practice. The Standard is being implemented amongst cashmere producers across Mongolia, providing herders with livelihood support through enhanced cashmere prices, linked to sustainable production and rangeland carbon sequestration. It has secured sustainable practice commitments from global brands such as H andM and M andS [E4].

SIBELIUs project outputs, namely more detailed, accurate and frequently updated satellite data products on weather and pasture conditions are described by NAMEM as “a real step change in the way in which they discharge . . . [their] remit”. Professor Upton’s research is integral to the development and dissemination of these products through analysis of herders’ resilience challenges and the role of information provision therein, enabling targeted product development and uptake [E5]. SIBELIUs products are disseminated by Facebook in three test site regions and nationally through NAMEM webpages. They are due to go live on a national TV channel in early 2021.

Environmental impact

There are measured positive changes in herders’ direct involvement in community-based conservation, as well as in habitats and species protection as a direct result of PCCA, and Professor Upton’s research on ES-based values, practices and conservation [E6]. Incentivised activities include forest clean-ups, planting of seedlings (approximately 500 in one community) and protection of local wildlife such as argali, ibex, gazelle, marmot and red deer populations. Herders have collaborated with local administrations to take an active role in habitat management, in direct accordance with government strategies and priorities under Goals 7 and 8 of Mongolia’s National Biodiversity Programme (NBP, 2015-2025) [E7]. End of PCCA Phase 1 surveys provide further tangible, numerical evidence of project impacts on species and habitats [E6]. The project’s approaches feed directly into Goal 13 of the NBP [E7, p.34], which prioritises sustainable conservation and use of natural resources, based on their appropriate valuation. In addition, PCCA activities, underpinned by UoL’s novel research have enabled some 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ to be sequestered in rangelands. This is the first time that quantifiable rangeland contributions have been produced through a community-based project in Mongolia and as such, this is a key contribution to Mongolia’s climate mitigation goals and a global precedent for approaches to incentivising carbon storage in grasslands [E6].

Impact on local herders, livelihoods and well-being

PCCA activities have yielded some USD250,000, shared amongst participating herding communities, based on links to voluntary carbon markets and measured volumes of carbon sequestration. PCCA is therefore innovative in providing financial incentives for herders to better manage pastures and biodiversity, linked to carbon storage. These financial benefits constitute significant sums for poor households, for whom annual incomes in 2015 were less than USD6,000. Recent choices by herding communities to set up micro loan funds with PCCA money have also enabled herders to spread risks throughout the year [E6].

Measured livelihood changes against PCCA 2015 baselines at the three project sites show improvements in livelihood diversification, collaborative action for fixing/ constructing shelters and wells, and added value to livestock products through local processing and collaborative marketing [E6]. Other significant PCCA-related changes are in herders’ evaluation of their own well-being, expenditure on non-food items and existence of household savings[Figure 1, E6].

Figure 1: Average percentage of herder households across all three sites: improvements in financial and wellbeing indicators.

Herders’ own assessments from a PCCA workshop, Ulaanbaatar 2019, confirmed these positive impacts [E8]. The in-country partners MSRM, who have worked with many international researchers in the past, confirm that Professor Upton’s work and its application through PCCA, has proved particularly influential and innovative [E9].