Locations
Fewer, Stronger
Scaling Climate-Smart Herding for Land, Livelihoods, and Resilience in Mongolia
“I graduated at the top of my class, with straight A’s. I could have pursued any academic path but I chose herding,” says Dolgorsuren, with pride. It is a decision she never regretted.
For over 30 years, Dolgorsuren has lived and breathed the life of a herder across Mongolia’s sweeping steppes earning the title of “Best Herder” in her province not once, but twice. Among nine siblings, she is the only one who chose to carry forward the family’s herding tradition. Today, she manages over 800 animals alongside her son, Lut.
For them, herding is more than a livelihood, it is a sacred thread connecting generations. “I inherited the wisdom and knowledge of herding from my parents, just as they did from theirs,” she says. Now, she is passing that knowledge on to her son, with hope and a bit of worry.
The land she depends on is changing, and fast. Once lush pastures are now thinning. Dust rises where green grass used to grow. Winters are harsher. The rhythm of nature, once familiar, is now unpredictable. In other words, climate change is looming large in Mongolia.
Mongolia boasts staggering nearly 60 million livestock nationwide far exceeding the pasture capacity in folds. In Tosontsengel soum, a sub-provincial administrative unit, of Zavkhan province, the livestock population exceeds the land’s sustainable carrying capacity by more than eight times accelerating land degradation and threatening livelihoods.
“Our livestock are smaller now than they were before,” Dolgorsuren notes. “Even their meat is lower in quality because the grass they feed on is not as nutritious as before.” With the declining quality of pasture and animals, the likelihood of their survival during harsh winters (dzud) drops rapidly.
This is not just a shift in the environment, it is a shift in the way herding works. For families like hers, whose income relies heavily on meat sales, the decline in animal health means real economic loss. And it does not stop there.
Livestock-dominant agriculture accounts for over seven percent of Mongolia’s GDP. Meat, cashmere, wool, and hides sustain both the domestic market needs and the export economy. A blow to herders’ livelihood is also a blow to the country’s economic stability.
And though she has long maintained a large herd, Dolgorsuren now acknowledges a difficult truth: “Nature is asking us to change. It is telling us we can’t keep as many animals as before. We must raise fewer but better animals.”
This realization led her to ENSURE, a project implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Government of Mongolia and funded by the Global Environment Facility. One pilot initiative, in particular, caught her attention: lamb fattening.
In 2024, Dolgorsuren decided to give it a try. Through hands-on training, she learned how to raise young male lambs from the womb to market weight within 6 to 7 months, a stark contrast to the traditional 3-year pasture cycle.
“It made perfect sense,” she explains. “Financially and labour-wise, it is smarter. It saves time, and effort, and gives us returns much faster.”
Even more importantly, it gives the land a chance to breathe.
Project studies show that with the lamb fattening method, herders can produce the same 526 kg of meat using just 52 sheep compared to 100 sheep on pasture. That is a 40 percent reduction in grazing pressure, a key development towards sustainable pasture management which Mongolia urgently needs given over 77 percent of the land is degraded to varying degrees. On top of that, the meat quality is better and richer in muscle, with higher moisture, and an improved fat and oil balance.
Already, herders across four provinces of the ENSURE project are adopting the technique with growing demand for training and support underscoring its potential to secure sustainable herder livelihoods while protecting the land. “There is a strong interest among our herders to try out the lamb fattening technique. Even without any formal support, adoption is spreading quickly. We will include it in our training during the Herders Conference soon to take place” says Ms. Otgonsuren B, Head of the Agriculture Unit of the local government.
Dolgorsuren’s success didn’t go unnoticed. She was invited to share her experience at the ENSURE Project Partnership Forum, where herders from different regions came together to exchange best practices. There, she told her story of trial, change, and adaptation—and inspired many to follow suit.
Dolgorsuren shared her experience with the lamb fattening method during the ENSURE Project Partnership Forum.
In 2025, she is planning ahead. With over 170 lambs expected this birthing season, she is preparing to scale up the fattening method she now believes is one of the keys to keeping herding economically viable in a changing climate.
She is not stopping there. For the past five years, Dolgorsuren has worked to improve the genetic quality of her herd, introducing strong, resilient rams with superior features that increase size and weight of her herd. Now, nearly all her sheep descend from this carefully selected line.
“We have to do better with what we have not just more of it,” she says.
Also, with support from the project, Tosontsengel soum developed a dedicated animal breeding strategy, its first ever. It is a milestone not just for the local government, but for the more than 670 herder households who call the area home. Consequently, now the soum is allocating its own budget to implement the strategy by bringing 100 superior rams and bucks – a sign of growing ownership of the local government.
As Mongolia’s grasslands shrink under the weight of land degradation, overgrazing, and climate stress, herders like Dolgorsuren are redefining resilience. They are not just holding on but they are leading forward.
“What we are seeing is more than a successful pilot, it is a mindset shift, led by the herders themselves,” says Ms. Matilda Dimovska, UNDP Resident Representative in Mongolia. “Techniques like lamb fattening and selective breeding are transforming lives and spreading organically beyond project sites. This is sustainability in action: locally owned solutions that continue to evolve and thrive even after the project ends.”
Fewer animals. Better quality. Greater economic value. This is the new vision for herding in Mongolia and Dolgorsuren is among those who are leading the way.
The path forward is clear and within reach. With continued investment and support, these community-driven innovations can be scaled across Mongolia and beyond, empowering herders to not only survive but lead in the era of climate uncertainty.
