A meeting was held introducing the research results conducted on the topics of greenhouse gas emitted from the land use sector in Mongolia, distribution and resources of soil organic carbon, and net primary products of field plants and factors.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Director General of the Climate Change Department of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Mongolia, Sh.Tserendulam expressed her intention to cooperate with scientific institutions and emphasized that the proper use of pastures, vegetation cover and diversity of plants are important for increasing the absorption of greenhouse gasses, and that by improving the management of pastures, it is possible to absorb and store a large amount of carbon at a low cost.
According to the researchers of the Division of Physical Geography, the greenhouse gas contained in frost is two times more than the atmosphere or 1,300-1,600 picograms. In 2020-2023, the research, carried out in areas with frost and peat swamps, has determined that greenhouse gasses contained in frost in Mongolia is 13.14 picograms, based on carbon absorption at 600 points. Also, according to the research conducted by the Division of Soil Science, Mongolia is ranked 14th in the world in terms of soil organic carbon reserves. Over the past nine decades, the organic carbon reserves of field soils have decreased by 16.5 percent in 30 centimeters of soil and 51.5 percent in five centimeters at the depth of the soil in the last 30-40 years respectively. The researchers pointed out that the main reason for the loss of 50 percent of the organic carbon reserves of permafrost and soil is more dependent and related to the number of livestock than climate change.
At the end of the meeting, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism reached a mutual understanding on jointly developing a methodology for calculating soil greenhouse gas absorption specific to Mongolia, informing herders with the negative consequences of organic soil carbon depletion and jointly implementing other necessary research activities.
