Mongolia is home to about 4000 rivers; a complex and dynamic network of waterways that support the nation’s key agricultural sector, its industrial and mining operations, and people’s lives and livelihoods, as well as sustaining a variety of different ecosystems, habitats and a diversity of aquatic, animal and bird life. Protecting the country’s rivers is crucial to Mongolia’s future prosperity and continued economic and human development.   

At present, the quality and quantity of Mongolia’s water resources are threatened by climate change, deforestation, overgrazing and the resultant desertification, irresponsible mining, unregulated urban development and inefficient water-management practices. Recent years have seen the drying up of rivers, the loss of overall water flow, the contamination of underground water tables, the build-up of toxic substances, heavy metals and sediments in waterways, and decreased aquatic biodiversity.

In a bid to protect Mongolia’s natural heritage, the Government has placed more than 20 million hectares of land under state special protection, representing about 13 percent of the total territory and about 55 percent of water resources. The Law on Special Protected Areas, administered by the Protected Area Division of the Ministry of Nature and Environment, lists four types of protection categories: Strictly Protected Areas, National Parks, Nature Reserves, and Natural and Historical Monuments. The goal is to place 30 percent of the country under protected status by 2030. The Government has also implemented a range of environmental initiatives and polices directed at water conservation. However, external pressures are continuing to degrade the country’s vulnerable river systems.

Monitoring the quality of the country’s waterways to prevent further degradation is a key component of future river management and conservation strategies. As such, The Asia Foundation’s Securing Our Future program has embarked on Water Quality Monitoring (WQM) with the overall goal of promoting responsible resource use. As part of the WQM, Mongolian and international ecologists, biologists and educators are sampling rivers throughout the country as well as training a large number of teachers, students and citizens in conducting their own river assessments and biological monitoring. Together they are developing a comprehensive inventory of Mongolia’s rivers that will help the government, civil society and local communities to better manage natural resources, and that will guide future water-use policy and resource management practices.