“Mongolian herders not only use rangeland resources to sustain their livelihoods; they also have a bigger role of environmental stewardship, to care for and maintain their homeland,” said Green Gold Project Manager Ts. Enkh-Amgalan.

“We are encouraged that our project was selected among the best practices for managing natural resources at this universal expo.”

The expo - the Universal Exhibition that Milan, Italy, is hosting from May 1 to October 31, 2015 – is dedicated to promoting food security and saving resources.

Last year, the expo called for successful projects, services, products and scientific solutions for submission in the BPSD competition.

Among 749 evaluated projects from more 130 participating countries, 18 were selected as the winners to be featured at the expo. SDC’s Green Gold Project was among the winners and was featured in a documentary at the expo.

The aim of the competition was to share the best ways of identifying tangible solutions for food security and the saving of resources that meet the needs of developing countries.

More than 20 million people from throughout the world will visit the expo in six months.

To read more about the Green Gold Project featured at the Expo:

http://magazine.expo2015.org/cs/Exponet/en/innovation/grazing-lands-at-risk-for-desertification--the-solution-in-mongolia

www.greengold.mn

To find more about the Milano Expo 2015 and other winning projects:

http://www.expo2015.org/en/project/feeding-knowledge

For more information, please contact us at:

info@greengold.mn

Mrs Udval, head of the Association of Pasture-User Groups in Tsetseg soum, Khovd aimag, is using the film-making skills she gained in training provided by SDC’s Green Gold Project. She learned to document local people’s knowledge and experiences in a series of participatory videos that give a voice to remote herding communities.

On 15 October, Mrs Udval drove 50km to meet with a herding community that had gathered to celebrate the completion of a warm winter shelter for livestock - built by members of the Zaisan Pasture-Users Group.

“It’s great work for this community that they joined forces and resources to build a large shelter for the livestock of one member of their group,” said Udval. 

“This is something important to share with other communities to encourage them to act collectively in order to accomplish more.”

In preparation for filming, the herders developed a storyboard - a hand-drawn visual plan to guide the video - on how they built the shelter. Once completed, Mrs Udval began recording the process, complete with interviews with those who took part.

“I’m happy that I built the fence for newborn animals thanks to the support I received from my fellow herders,” said D. Batbileg, member of the Zaisan PUG and owner of the new shelter.

“There are many herders who need the support of others. We plan to build fences for at least three herders each year.”

Using video to encourage herder participation, learning and exchange is completely new for us. Mongolians say that it’s better to see something once than to hear it a thousand times. Therefore, videos are more effective in explaining the accomplishments of others than just my words alone.

After finishing her day’s work as APUG leader, Mrs Udval then drove about 90km to the next community. That evening, she edited the video, using local music as an accompaniment. The next morning, she met with the herder community, who were largely unfamiliar with the work of SDC’s Green Gold Project in supporting herders in pasture management and collective action.

She showed them the five minute long video she had produced, which captured the herders’ attention, particularly when they saw the benefits of communal work, and resulted in a round of questions on how they, too, could engage in such collaborative efforts.

Mrs Udval will continue to meet with herders in neighbouring communities where she plans to introduce joint pasture-management practices.

“I believe that meetings and activities with herders are more efficient with the use of the videos we produce together,” said Udval.