Environmental and Social Management Framework for “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” Project

The ESMF provides a structured approach to managing risks for a conservation project in eastern Mongolia, focusing on land management, biodiversity, and community livelihoods. It outlines mitigation measures for environmental risks like soil erosion and social risks such as access restrictions to natural resources, while ensuring compliance with FAO and WWF safeguards.

• The project targets nine soums across the Dornod, Khentii, and Sukhbaatar provinces, aiming to restore 0.25 million hectares of land and place 1.19 million hectares of terrestrial protected areas under improved management.
• Approximately 70% of Mongolian rangelands are estimated to be moderate to very severely degraded due to a combination of overgrazing, climate change, and desertification.
• The project is categorized as "high" risk under FAO's Environmental and Social Management Guidelines and Category "B" under WWF's Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures (SIPP).
• Key environmental risks include potential negative impacts on natural resources from uncoordinated land management planning, fertile topsoil and water depletion from farming activities, and the financing of unsustainable practices through risk funds.
• Key social risks involve the potential for unintentional exacerbation of community relations through the selection of beneficiaries among ethnic groups and the possibility of restricting local community access to natural resources.
• The project identifies several ethnic groups in the target area, including the Khalkh, Buryad, Barga, Uzemchin, and Dariganga, but concludes that none qualify as "indigenous peoples" under international definitions as they do not self-identify as such.
• To mitigate risks of economic displacement, the project will not finance activities leading to physical displacement and will use a Process Framework to manage voluntary access restrictions to natural resources.
• The project implements a multi-level Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) ranging from the Project Management Unit (Level 1) up to the FAO Office of the Inspector General (Level 5).
• The project's implementation is led by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) as the executing agency, with oversight provided by FAO and WWF-US as GEF agencies.
• A specific Environmental Code of Practice (ECOP) has been developed to manage the minor environmental impacts of small-scale civil works for Nature Reserve infrastructure.
• The project aims to mitigate the "tragedy of commons" effect in eastern Mongolian pasturelands through improved land and pasture management plans.

APA

WWF International (2020). Environmental and Social Management Framework for “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” Project. https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/5ec0ja0d71_ESMF_PF_Combined_19_Oct_2020_Final_Clean.pdf?_ga=2.88126226.82544448.1654012196-938408607.1653319523&_gac=1.20975945.1654016287.Cj0KCQjw-daUBhCIARIsALbkjSb-JRPL-s6JZu0N2spk_50hfDA_H8sesSXf0sVH8CuBkghecyFvnCIaAnFMEALw_wcB

Chicago

WWF International. Environmental and Social Management Framework for “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” Project. 2020. https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/5ec0ja0d71_ESMF_PF_Combined_19_Oct_2020_Final_Clean.pdf?_ga=2.88126226.82544448.1654012196-938408607.1653319523&_gac=1.20975945.1654016287.Cj0KCQjw-daUBhCIARIsALbkjSb-JRPL-s6JZu0N2spk_50hfDA_H8sesSXf0sVH8CuBkghecyFvnCIaAnFMEALw_wcB.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=Environmental and Social Management Framework for “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” Project |date=2020 |url=https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/5ec0ja0d71_ESMF_PF_Combined_19_Oct_2020_Final_Clean.pdf?_ga=2.88126226.82544448.1654012196-938408607.1653319523&_gac=1.20975945.1654016287.Cj0KCQjw-daUBhCIARIsALbkjSb-JRPL-s6JZu0N2spk_50hfDA_H8sesSXf0sVH8CuBkghecyFvnCIaAnFMEALw_wcB |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2020environmental, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{Environmental and Social Management Framework for “Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia” Project}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2020}, url = {https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/5ec0ja0d71_ESMF_PF_Combined_19_Oct_2020_Final_Clean.pdf?_ga=2.88126226.82544448.1654012196-938408607.1653319523&_gac=1.20975945.1654016287.Cj0KCQjw-daUBhCIARIsALbkjSb-JRPL-s6JZu0N2spk_50hfDA_H8sesSXf0sVH8CuBkghecyFvnCIaAnFMEALw_wcB}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }