"Nomadic Pastoralists and Land Privatization Policy in Post-Socialist Mongolia: A Methodological Examination of Land Use in Local Society"
TOMITA Takahiro
last update: 20151225
Nomadic Pastoralists and Land Privatization Policy in Post-Socialist Mongolia: A Methodological Examination of Land Use in Local Society
TOMITA Takahiro
Abstract:
In the transition from a socialist to market economy caused by the collapse of the socialist system in the early
1990s, Mongolia radically reformed its political and economic structure under pressure from international
organizations and donor countries. It is in these conditions that the ?eLand Law?f was established in 1994 and
revised in 2002. In the law, provisions concerning pastoral land use reflected a community-based land
management policy oriented towards sustainable and productive co-management of pastureland. As a result, in
the revised land law of 2002, spatial and social flexibility, a central feature of the pastoral system, was made
more rigid by the codification of pastoral customs, while, at the same time, herders were entrusted with
autonomous responsibility in managing pastureland resources. Previous studies have overlooked the
relationship between herders and land in the transition period. This paper undertakes a methodological
approach to concretely document the transformation of pastoral land use from the socialist era to the present
day in local society where it overlaps with the productive areas of negdel(pastoral cooperatives) to consider the
correspondence between the law and the actual conditions in Mongolia.
Keywords: nomadic pastoralism, Mongolia, land policy, market economy, socialism
REV: 20151225