5% complete
$167,500 Goal
The Altai Institute uses innovative, community-driven approaches to conserve the wildlife, land, and culture of the Mongolian Altai. Research in collaboration with the region's Protected Areas administration provides essential ecological information for the international scientific community and the creation of appropriate conservation and management policies. A pioneer in collaborative conservation, the Institute works closely with international partners and local nomadic herders to promote sustainable grazing in Mongolia’s unique grasslands. The preservation of this nomadic tradition lessens the impact of overgrazing, and improves the quality of life for the local community and the wildlife of the Altai. This work is supported by creating a more diverse income base and education. See our Prigrams on this page to understand more or on our website at www.thealtaiinstitute.org.
The Altai Institute fosters a community that supports the ecosystems and wild species of the Mongolian Altai, where they will survive intact alongside people and their economic activities. The Institute supports real opportunities for people in the Altai to maintain their traditional culture, increase their quality of life, and conserve their natural world for decades to come.
Our vision is of landscapes and wildlife that are thriving, and pastoral communities that are not only sustainable but preferable., and of a 21st Century nomadic pastoralism that is in harmony with an environment that has been restored, The Institute joins with other partners in practical and innovative pursuit of this vision. The challenges are real. They are not insurmountable.
Conserving biodiversity is one of the most effective tools we have in preventing catastrophic ecosystem collapse.
The crisis of modernity is to a large extent the tragedy of the commons. The planet’s ecosystems have been sliced, diced, privatized and subjected to degradation to a degree that our species, and countless other species, is threatened by the maelstrom of social, economic and environmental dysfunction that greed and hubris have wrought.
Mongolia is not exempt from the crisis of modernity. Still, for reasons of history and geography, it preserves a global treasure: across Mongolia’s mountainous plateaus, vast steppes and harsh deserts, the great Mongolian commons remains intact; what is more, the culture of this great commons – that is, the culture of nomadic pastoralists who have been its stewards for more than 3000 years – still lives. Almost nowhere do humans still cohabit with with so many other creatures so freely, living lightly in a vast natural space that no one owns. For this reason alone, preservation, restoration and regeneration of the Mongolian commons and of the nomadic pastoralism integral to its ecosystems should be a planetary priority of our century.
Mongolia is the home of many animal and plant species that are becoming rare in other places in central Asia. Snow leopards, argali sheep, ibex, Pallas's cats, Saker falcons, and Altai snowcocks have all survived because of small human populations using sustainable methods. As the population has grown and the economy has shifted this biodiversity is now threatened.
Ninety percent of total degraded rangelands can be recovered naturally if we can change existing rangeland management. But if we can't change the existing management today, it will be too late after five to 10 years. The situation is approaching a tipping point, beyond which Mongolia’s unique wildlife and its nomadic pastoral culture cannot survive.
Organization name
Altai Institute for Research and Conservation, Inc
2018
Tax id (EIN)
82-4253427
Category
Environment, Animal-Related
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
2076 Oak AvenueMN
Altai, Govi-Altai, MN
Rashaant, Bayan-Ölgii, MN