Second short course in Mongolia on communicating knowledge for sustainable rangeland management under climate change
This spring, UNU-LRT ran a training course in Mongolia for the second time on “Communicating Knowledge for Sustainable Rangeland Management under Climate Change – Improving Analytic and Reporting Skills”. The goal of the course is to provide training to communicate and synthesize knowledge on environmental monitoring, so that it can be translated into effective policy making for sustainable rangeland use.
This second edition of the course was held at the Mongolica Resort, close to the capital city Ulaanbaatar, from 19 to 25 May 2019. The majority of the twenty-five participants were land managers, environmental-, rangeland- and agricultural specialists who work in selected districts (soums) in Mongolia, where resilience based rangeland- and herding management is being piloted. Other participants came from universities and governmental agencies.
UNU-LRT and three of its partner institutions in Mongolia, the Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS), the National Federation of Pasture User Groups of Herders (NFPUG), and the Information and Research Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment (IRIMHE), jointly developed the seven-day course. The course included two days of interactive lectures followed by a field trip where participants explored grazing and climate change impacts in different landscapes. During the field visit, participants reflected on the concepts and topics covered during the lectures. In the latter part of the course, the rangeland health monitoring system in Mongolia was used as a case study to explain the different elements of a basic project framework. During this part of the course, participants worked together in smaller working groups to explore the different components of the basic project framework.
The course team on-site included three instructors from Iceland, six from Mongolia, and two additional support staff. Four former UNU-LRT fellows from the six-month training programme in Iceland were involved in various parts of the course. One of the former fellows has been actively involved in developing and teaching during the course, while others contributed to field demonstrations and assisted with running the course. UNU-LRT thanks the course team for their commitment and hard work, which helped make this course a success!