Title: Assessment of rangeland condition using remote sensing technology: a case study of forest steppe zone in Mongolia

Rangelands play an essential role in providing humankind with varied ecosystem services such as water and food production. Recent studies have shown that the rangelands are under serious threat of land degradation caused by global warming, overgrazing and land conversion. Mongolia is no exception. However, current classification and change detection analysis by remote sensing mostly focus on land cover and land use. Furthermore, there is a substantial gap in the studies on classifications of rangeland condition in the Mongolian context. To fill this gap, this study aimed at assessing the condition and changes in rangeland condition in the forest-steppe zone in Mongolia with the use of remote sensing technique. The Bornuur soum of Tuv aimag in Mongolia was selected as the study area. A quantitative methodology with a remote sensing tool was employed to assess rangeland condition. The results of the study showed an overall accuracy of 53.5%. This accuracy level, despite being low, indicates the possibility of refining the remote sensing methodology applied in this research to acquire more reliable results for Mongolia. The study provided an insight into possible improvements of the methodology of rangeland monitoring and sustainable land management, as well as environmental studies.