Historically, rangeland monitoring has failed to take the holistic approach that these complex landscapes require. This includes acknowledging the millennia of interactions between people and their livestock across rangelands, which has resulted in complex socio-ecological systems.
Recognising this, SFA's project explored the role that Pastoral Ecological Knowledge (PEK) and pastoralists can play in contributing rangeland monitoring data to sustainability systems. This approach aimed to empower Mongolian pastoralists to contribute to landscape monitoring, as well as improving the quality of monitoring data.
The project included a desk-based study of existing research on PEK, which aided with the identification of the Möst soum as a geographical focus for piloting SFA’s methodological approach to incorporating PEK into rangeland monitoring. Seven monitoring sites in the Möst soum were identified and 25 households surveyed to supplement existing rangeland mapping and monitoring results.
