The Climate Change
Adaptation Targets (CCAT) in
Mongolia Project is a part of a
three-country initiative, which is
being coordinated by
ETC
International Group within
the framework of the
Netherlands
Climate Assistance Program (NCAP).
Using concrete
country examples from Bangladesh,
Bolivia, and Mongolia, the CCAT
project attempts to 1) explore the
possibility of developing a common
format, for global use, of goals and
targets for climate change
adaptation; 2) identify indicators
that could be used to monitor
progress in achieving targets; and
3) identify possible climate change
adaptation targets. The Mongolia
component focuses on the livestock
sector and is being implemented by
the Asian Disaster Preparedness
Center.
The CCAT Project is
supported by
ETC
International Group under the
Netherlands Climate Assistance
Program
Sectoral focus
The Mongolia project
focuses on the livestock sector
because of the immense value of the
sector to the livelihood security of
rural population in the country. The
agriculture sector contributes over
20.2 percent to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), with 90.1 percent of
it from livestock. The livestock
sector employs 38.7 percent of the
country’s labor force and is the
primary source of livelihood for
people living in rural areas.
In recent history,
the adverse impacts of extreme
climate events on Mongolian society
was dramatically demonstrated by the
multiple dzud (snow and
drought-triggered disasters) from
1999 to 2000 and 2000 to 2001 that
affected almost 90 percent of the
country and decimated the livestock
population.
Pastoral communities
in Mongolia are exposed to recurrent
weather and climate hazards.
Project approach
Climate change would
reflect through changes in impacts
associated with climate variability.
Hence, our approach is based on the
premise that a practical way of
dealing with future climate risk is
to strengthen national and local
capacities to manage current
climate-related risks
We are adopting a
two-step approach: first, we are
assessing Mongolia’s current
resilience to climate change. Six
resilience elements are being
considered, namely
1) overall
political, institutional, and policy
environment for
pastoral risk management; 2)
integrated livestock and livelihood
system management; 3) early warning;
4) disaster preparedness; 5)
emergency response; and 6)
livelihood recovery and
reconstruction. The resilience
assessment is expected to reveal the
adaptation deficits of national,
sub-national, local and
community-level systems. The results
will serve as baseline for
constructing the adaptation
targets.
The second step
involves developing specific
sectoral climate change adaptation
targets, in collaboration with key
stakeholder agencies, namely the
Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
National Emergency Management
Agency, Ministry for Nature and the
Environment, and the National Agency
for Meteorology, Hydrology, and
Environmental Monitoring.
Collaboration with
stakeholder agencies is important to
ensure national ownership of
adaptation targets.
Relevant Links
