The Mongolian government encourages and supports various alternative options and income streams to finance the operations and management activities of protected areas, such as community-based ecotourism that supports local livelihoods and preserves the area’s natural resources. One model for environmentally friendly ecotourism is birdwatching tourism, which has tremendous potential to lead to plentiful, visible, and positive changes.
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. People also engage in birdwatching as a citizen science activity. It is regarded as one of the most enjoyable ways for people to interact with nature. In the simplest of terms, it is about going outside to enjoy watching birds and nature. Nowadays, birdwatching is a popular recreational activity on a global scale, a fast-growing hobby in most countries, and a multi-million-dollar industry. Therefore, it is one of the strongest draws for ecotourism worldwide. Many avian fauna-rich countries are developing their birdwatching tourism sector, and Mongolia is no exception. Unfortunately, Corona-19 pandemic had a negative impact on tourism in Mongolia as elsewhere. Today, the whole tourism branch has difficulties to survive. The Wildlife Science and Conservation Center is affected by this development.
Mongolia has a large territory that attracts billions of migratory birds to summer or stopover during spring and autumn migration. Many species of birds even come to Mongolia from a very far distances, such as South Africa, India, South Asia, and even Australia, through three major migratory bird flyways: East Asia-Australasian, Central Asian, and East Africa-East Asian. Mongolia’s rich avian fauna is nature’s gift to its people.
Although most birdwatchers who visit Mongolia in the past came often from Europe and North America, the number of visitors from Asian countries like South Korea, China, Thailand, and Japan are increasing. Without a doubt, this number will continue increasing in the future, once the pandemic travelling restriction will be overcome. This represents potential for bringing much needed cash flow to the funding of protected and key biodiversity areas, and local communities.
Today, most birdwatching tours are run by companies and individuals based in Ulaanbaatar or abroad. As a result, most of the income from birdwatching tourism stays in the capital city or abroad, and relatively little is left for locals and site protection. With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, who??started the Mongolian Birding Trails Project to create a model where the income from ecotourism significantly helps nature conservation at the local level, tapping into underused potential for protected areas and local communities.
Birdwatching tourism is a tourism sector that needs specialized guides and tour services. It requires at least one skilled birding guide who is good at finding locations with the most species present or, in many cases, an area with rare species. Plus, it needs a network of people who can provide other types of services, such as renting horses or ger accommodations to tourists. The financial support will support the NGO to develop a structure where local protected areas or community groups join tour companies, based on a mutually beneficial agreement, in running tour business that benefits all parties. Most importantly, the responsibility to help each other and care for nature will be the foundation of this cooperation.
Currently, the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center is testing the concept of this responsible ecotourism project in three protected areas, Khar Us Lake National Park, Dariganga National Park, and the Khurkh and Khuiten Nature Reserve, All three sites are have a high value of nature and biodiversity conservation and a potential for birdwatching tourism. Let us hope that the project can make relevant contributions to the conservation of protected areas and why not to other key biodiversity areas in Mongolia.
