Contested Space, Contested Livelihoods: A Review of Mongolia's Pastureland Management and Land‐Tenure Reform

Abstract

In the early 2000s, the discovery of significant minerals wealth in the Gobi Desert marked the beginning of Mongolia's economic boom. Rapid growth however challenges long‐held assumptions about place and land rights, leading to contested and sometimes contradictory outcomes, which are embedded in evolving perceptions and realities of land‐tenure rights, development rights, and local livelihood sustainability. Framed within the debates surrounding natural resources development and the contradictions in scale and user rights, this essay identifies three distinct periods of land‐tenure debate in Mongolia. In each period, pastureland management debates are influenced by different narratives, including those of development economists, scholars, s, and local voices. This essay draws on an extensive review of policy documents and contemporary literature to consider the multiscalar implications of rapid national growth on internal population redistribution, land‐use rights, and the underlying importance of place.

Key words:

• Mongolia
• land tenure
• sustainability
• livelihoods

This work was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New Directions Fellowship.

This work was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New Directions Fellowship.

Notes

This work was supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New Directions Fellowship.

1. Correction added on September 12, 2017, after initial online publication: The second sentence in “Summary and Conclusions” section was changed.

2. Mongolia's economic and political transition began in late 1989 (Rossabi 2005). Presently considered to be in a posttransition phase, there is no agreement on an exact date when Mongolia moved from “transitioning” to “posttransition” status.

3. Scholars debate whether herders are considered “nomadic” or “mobile” pastoralists (Bruun 2006, ix)

4. In the 1990s, television and radio stations proliferated in urban areas, but communication with herders was highly variable (Rossabi 2005, 87). By 2004, access to mobile phone and satellite television was increasing nationwide.

Additional information

Funding

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Notes on contributors

Holly R. Barcus

Dr. Barcus is a professor of geography at Macalester College, Saint PaulMinnesota 55105; [[email protected]]