Terminal evaluation of the project “Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management and carbon sink enhancement into Mongolia’s productive forest landscapes”

Forestry plays a minor but important role in the livelihoods of vulnerable population in Mongolia. The country has developed a Participatory Sustainable Forest Management (PSFM), integrating livestock raising with forestry. The project was designed to strengthen the PSFM process, thereby improving livelihoods and the ecological status of forests. The project reviewed the current forestry guidelines at both national and local government levels and forestry planning guidelines for Soum and Aimag levels were approved by the provincial Government promoting the participatory forest management (PFM). There were also advances to improve the policy and legal framework at national level, but lengthy policymaking process and need for increased inter-ministerial policy dialogues, among other issues, have challenged the full achievement of this outcome.