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5. Women’s participation in CM
Community based Natural Resources Management as combination of community based
and Government based management of NR. Thus, CO-MANAGEMENT is a governance
arrangement between the pure state property and the pure communal property regimes.
Why co-management of pasture is needed?
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Pasture as common resource
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Private ownership of livestock is allowing herders for business orientation, but it
could be inline with the capacity of pasture and the interest of neighboring herders
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State ownership of grasslands needs government regulation of its use
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Lack of capacity of herders and local government for sustainable management of
pasture resources needs participation of other stakeholders at sectoral and national
levels
The
SUMCNR
project pays special attention to social and gender analysis. One of the main
research questions the project addresses is: “How to include the perceptions (ideas,
interests, and propositions) of women groups into more equitable co-management
agreements for grasslands and other natural resources?” The research methods used to
study this question include group discussions, interviews, questionnaire, and participatory
appraisal techniques such as seasonal diagramming, and mapping. Statistical methods are
used for the analysis of findings.
The study involves 9 herding communities that have been established on the basis of local
herders’ grasslands use co-management contracts with local governors. These communities
are located in the 3 study sites of the
SUM
CNR project representing the different
ecosystems of Mongolia (the sites are Khotont in the Khangai mountain forest-steppe/
steppe ecosystem; Deluin in the Altai’s high mountain-steppe ecosystem; and Lun in the
Central Mongolian steppe ecosystem.) All stakeholders in natural resource management
including community members, women’s groups, community leaders, local governors,
sum
level co-management team members, and researchers are involved in the research.
To clarify the women’s ideas on co-management of NR, we surveyed opinions of the 461
women members from 220 herding families from 9 communities.
According to the survey from the women members of the communities the following ideas
are defined as important goals of co-management. They are:
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To cooperate, to have common goals
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To plan their actiivities and to work with certain goals
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Improving knowledge on NRM
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Sound use of pasture and other NR
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Improving herding management, improving productivity of animals
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Improving livelihoods and income of the households
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Learning laws and rules related to herders and pasture
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To support and increase women’s participation in CM activities
Including women’s ideas and perceptions in co-management agreements
Although women have fewer rights and opportunities to participate in the collective
decision-making about natural resource management or other community affairs, most of
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