09 October 2011, Buga, Mongolia - Snow on the ground near the Dundat-Urguu Forest.
FAO project GCP/MON/002/NET - Capacity Building and Institutional Development for Participatory Natural Resources Management and Conservation in Forest Areas of Mongolia. The project responds to a direct request from the Ministry of Nature and Environment of Mongolia to support the Government's effort to involve the local population in the sustainable manegment of Mongolian forest: To stop and reverse the ongoing degradation of the forests of Mongolia and to contribute to poverty alleviation through the development of a model of local level forest ecosystem management at soum level that can be replicated to other sites in the forested aimags of Mongolia. To that effect the Project will deal with institutional, social, economic, financial, scientific and technical aspects of this compound problem; The focus of the Project will be both at the local and national levels. The local level is fundamental for the development of participatory forestry and the national level is fundamental for the improvement of the institutional framework and creating an enabling context for participatory forestry in the country. The project will build upon the experiences of FAO and other partners in Mongolia.