Human security for Mongolian herders: evolving risks and opportunities

• Main Author: Sharma, Vigya
• Other Authors: Kamrul Hossain, Anna Petrétei
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Brill Nijhoff 2016
• Subjects: 3308 Law; 3312 Sociology and Political Science; Arctic
• Online Access: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:355114e

The Arctic region shares a number of socio-cultural and ecological parallels with Mongolia. Reliance on traditional livelihoods, fast paced changes to the natural climate, conflict with existing industries such as tourism, a rapid mining boom, and remote and sparse population centers are only some of the similarities underlining the Arctic and Mongolian contexts. This chapter applies the lens of human security to unpack tensions underlying Mongolia's development. It provides a robust understanding of how these tensions interact with one another to infiltrate socio-economic and environmental insecurity amongst Mongolia's traditionally pastoralist communities. The chapter argues that Mongolia's ongoing experience in navigating human security risks and opportunities may provide useful pointers to northern Indigenous peoples, including those from the Arctic. To that extent, the chapter highlights a number of important take-home messages that may: (a) not only help pro-actively counter some of the challenges that the Indigenous people of the North may increasingly experience in relation to societal security, but also (b) help build their capacity over the long-term to preserve their cultural and ecological identities.