Mitigating Mining Impacts in Mongolia

The Nature Conservancy knows that people and nature share many of the same challenges, and that investments in nature are essential for creating economic opportunities and solving human development challenges. We are working with corporations and governments to apply smart infrastructure siting principles to make development more sustainable. One way we do this is by using our Development by Design strategy.

Our Development by Design expertise looks at how best to avoid, minimize or offset development impacts. In Mongolia, TNC made recommendations for Development by Design, and these suggestions were incorporated into the environmental impact assessment law.

In addition, TNC developed a national Mitigation Design Tool for companies to use to determine how to offset the impacts of mining and oil development, as required by the government. The Design Tool helps companies identify biodiversity-rich land for protection that will appropriately address impacts to the developed area.

By 2030, building on this and other science-based tools and approaches, we will help create a national mining mitigation system that will use landscape-level planning to engage multiple stakeholders to avoid and offset mining impacts while funding the protection and sustainable management of critical lands.