Tsogtsaikhan Battsengel, Mongolia

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Tsogtsaikhan Battsengel, Mongolia
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2019 Status:     Researchgate Profile:   Tsogtsaikhan Battsengel  since Aug 2017:  University of Calgary | HBI · Department of Geography   Bachelor of Science

2019 Paper:  Making space: Putting landscape‐level mitigation into practice in Mongolia

2015 Conference Paper:  " Impacts of Implementing and Planning Development, Mining and Infrastructure in Dornogobi"

* Presenter: Tsogtsaikhan Battsengel, The Nature Conservancy, Mongolia

"Mongolian Gobi is a habitat for many migratory species such as khulan (wild ass), Mongolian gazelle, black tailed gazelle, argali and ibex. These wild animal habitats are heavily threatened by human impacts. Migratory species movement depends on grazing and biomass and devoid of human impact. This maps shows human less threatened areas for species. In the example below, I have modeled 4 main factors of human impact such as mining, human settlements, infrastructure and herder density. Each human impact factor has different impact distance and weight on animal habitat. These were calculated for each factor using Moving Window. In order to compare and correlate to future planned developments, the map was produced for 2000, 2014, 2030 and 2040 years.

2015 Scgis Conference Presentation -pdf

2015 Profile: *-Organization name: The Nature Conservancy
*-Country: Mongolia
*-Main email: tbattsengel@tnc.org
*-Organization Web site URL if any: www.nature.org
*-Organization subject keywords (please see instructions): conservation, landscape analysis, protected areas,

2015 Scholar Introduction Video

OVERVIEW: Tsogtsaikhan, or Tsogoo as he prefers to be called, is involved with highly advanced and very important projects in Mongolia.  Mongolia is going through a transitional period right now, with mining and oil interests starting to take a heavy toll on the landscape.  It is therefore important to support local conservationists with the skills and tools they need to prevent the destruction of a relatively unspoiled and rare grassland ecosystem. The TNC office in Mongolia is small and has only existed for seven years, but is composed of highly dedicated staff with a strong interest in GIS. 

(Photo Left, )

Tsogoo own words:: Please describe your current conservation work: At my current role in my organization, I use ArcGIS in my day to day work and I participate in three major projects: Landscape level conservation planning in the Central and Western Mongolia, Applying biodiversity offset in mitigation of impacts of extractive industry, and Wildlife connectivity analysis in the Mongolian Gobi. The projects require substantial amount of work in spatial analysis and its applications for the above mentioned biodiversity conservation work.

Please describe the work you hope to present at the conference::

“Identifying Conservation Priorities in the Face of Future Development: Results of Ecoregional Assessment in the Mongolian Gobi”

: I will present a regional conservation plan for the Mongolian Gobi that balances the government commitment to protection of natural habitats with planned development of mineral resources and related infrastructure. To complete this analysis, we compiled available data, literature and expert knowledge to identify a set of priority conservation areas and built supporting information system that can guide decisions about habitat protection and mitigation.

1.  The Mongolian Gobi spans an area of 510,000 km2, or the southern third (32%) of the country that is bounded by the Altai and Khangai Mountains to the northwest, the Eastern Steppe to the northeast and the border with China to the south.  This region is one of the world’s largest remaining wild areas and supports a large assemblage of native wildlife.  However, the wildlife and pastoral livelihoods of this area are threatened by rapid growth in mining and related infrastructure.

2.  We identified a set of areas that could maintain the biodiversity and ecological processes representative of the region, given adequate protection and management as high quality core habitat within a larger landscape matrix that supports habitat use and movement.  This set of priority conservation areas is referred to here as a portfolio.  The methods that we used were developed to address the scope and scale of conservation planning across the study area using available data. Focal biodiversity elements are defined by a mapped ecosystem classification and modeled habitat distributions of 33 species of birds, mammals and reptiles listed by the National Red Lists as endangered, threatened, vulnerable or near threatened.  We designed the portfolio to a) meet representation goals for the amount and distribution of each ecosystem type and b) optimize for ecological condition based on an index of disturbance and cumulative anthropogenic impacts.

3.  The portfolio includes a) areas already designated within the National Protected Area system, b) a set of other priority conservation areas including Important Bird Areas and the Tost Uul community conservation area and c) sites selected with the conservation planning software MARXAN to meet representation goals for ecosystems and optimize ecological condition.  The portfolio consists of 50 sites that cover 195,000 km2, or 37 % of the study area.  National Protected Areas are 57% of the portfolio area.  To evaluate the conservation significance of all planning units across the study area, we developed an index of the relative conservation value of ecosystem occurrences that is based on rarity and relative contribution to the MARXAN optimization.

4.  We identified areas of potential conflict between the conservation portfolio and areas leased for mining development or exploration.  Within these conflict areas, the areas a) with relative conservation value in the highest 30th percentile or b) containing high-value Khulan range were designated as areas to avoid development.  The remaining conflict areas were removed from the portfolio and replaced with sites of similar composition and condition outside existing leases.  We also identified six existing or planned transportation corridors that are potential barriers and urgent threats to wildlife movement.

Live Map Application created by Mr. Battsengell during the 2015 UC Davis-SCGIS Web GIS Training Program.
This map shows conflict between Conservation portfolio sites identified by TNC Mongolia program and some human impacts. Background raster data is livestock density based on herders household location.