Title: Stakeholder engagement strategy for protected areas - A case study of Khustai National Park in Mongolia

Mongolia currently has 99 protected areas and in each of these areas, co-operation is required between stakeholders such as locals, administrators of the protected areas, and decision-makers at all levels. There are problems such as illegal hunting, off-roading and livestock grazing in the protected areas leading to land use arguments between communities, local authorities and administration of protected areas. The aim of this research was to address these problems by investigating stakeholders’ collaboration and developing an engagement strategy in the Khustai National Park. The objectives of the research were to identify stakeholders, analyse stakeholders considering their interests and interdependencies, determine needs for improving stakeholder engagement, and designing engagement strategy for the national park. The research utilised both quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews) methods. Eleven key stakeholders were identified in four categories including civil society, non-governmental organization, governmental organization and the private sector, using the stakeholder analysis. Herders and locals who are using land as pasture have low influence on decision-making while local government has a high influence based on its mandate to give land to residents, but has little interest in conservation and sustainable land usage in the park buffer zone (designated area surrounding the park). The main conservation issue of the park was identified as rangeland degradation in the buffer zone due to the increasing number of migrating herders who settled in the buffer zone with livestock. Also, most conflicts between locals and the park administration are related to herding livestock in the core zone where wild animals graze. The study also showed that when designing the stakeholder engagement plan for the park, locals’ interest, the difference between generations, and building ownership attitude for migrating herders are important. Based on the information gathered from the findings, an engagement plan for the national park was created.