Natural resource mapping and seasonal variations and stresses in Mongolia

This paper documents fieldwork carried out in 1991 during the initial stages of a collaborative policy research and training project in Mongolia. The Policy Alternatives for Livestock Development (PALD) project aims to facilitate the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy in the extensive livestock sector which dominates the Mongolian rural economy. Since the fieldwork reported here was carried out, many changes have taken place in rural Mongolia. Most significant of all has been the dismantling of the pastoral collectives and the privatisation of formerly state or collectiveowned animals. The fieldwork, however, is reported in the ‘ethnographic present’ of 1991. This report describes a few of the research methods used during the training of Mongolian research team members and gives details of their outcomes. The training programme concentrated on the use of participatory or rapid rural appraisal techniques. Fieldwork was carried out in the Arkhangai aimag (province) representing the forest/mountain steppe ecological zone and the Dornogobi aimag in the Gobi desert and desert-steppe zone.