Paper short abstract:

Mongolia is one of the few places in the world still practicing a mobile form of pastoralism. Seasonal mobility is an important part of Mongolia’s cultural heritage, allowing for biodiversity in both wild and domestic species, and is a key means of co-existing with multiple species of herd animal.

Paper long abstract:

Mongolia is home to one of the largest, continuous and intact grassland ecosystems left on the planet, in large part through herding families’ ongoing unique management of their multispecies herds in this landscape. The grasslands contain a rich diversity of plant species, supporting large ungulates, including wild horse, ass and camel, and therefore apex predators, such as wolves, bears and snow leopard. Over thousands of years the nomadic pastoral way of life successfully co-existed within a rich and diverse grassland ecosystem. This paper proposes that a key means of retaining this ongoing pastoral existence and the accompanying biodiverse domestic and wild animal populations, particularly relates to a mobile way of life, while living with multiple species, including horses, camels, cattle, sheep and goats. A focus on mobility is also a feature of newer pastoral farming methods, such as regenerative or holistic practices, or rotational grazing patterns, in contrast to the more sedentary, intensive farming methods with individual species. The focus here is on the mobility of both humans and more-than-humans as a means of retaining both socio-cultural and biological diversity. Minimal fencing and containment means that both domestic and wild mammals can co-exist as part of an interconnected ecology. The presentation will include multispecies ethnography integrated with a photo essay as part of a multimodal methodological approach to mobile pastoralism in Mongolia.