27/08/2026
At COP17 in Ulaanbaatar, URECA Co-founder and Chief Science & Technology Officer Unurbat Erdenemunkh joined the panel discussion on “Building a Herder-Centered Sustainable Model for Rangelands” as part of the launch of Mongolia’s Herder-Centered Carbon Pilot.
For URECA, the conversation around rangeland restoration ultimately comes down to aligning environmental recovery with better economics for herders.
“The fundamental shift is from maximizing the number of livestock to maximizing the economic value generated from every tonne of forage, while allowing nature to recover and pastoral communities to prosper.”
Unurbat shared URECA’s view that Mongolia does not need to choose between protecting its traditional pastoral system and improving productivity. Livestock production can remain decentralized, with herders empowered as stewards of the land, while value-added processing can achieve the scale, technology and market access needed to increase the value generated from Mongolia’s livestock sector.
Nature and carbon finance can help catalyze this transition by supporting herders to adapt to climate change, improve productivity and resilience, and move toward sustainable grazing practices that respect the land’s carrying capacity.
The goal is a model where healthier rangelands, more productive livestock, stronger herder livelihoods and higher-value products reinforce one another.
