Khulan and wells in the Gobi

Impacts of well and Human Intrusion on Khulan (Wild Ass) and other threatened species in the Gobi Desert.

The importance of the Gobi environment to the conservation of Khulan and other threatened wildlife and to the future of the pastoral livestock production is undeniable. At the present time, Mongolia is anticipating development of a commercialized agricultural sector that could easily cause greater intrusion of human activities in the Gobi environment than current pasto-ral livestock production. Development of other sectors of the Mongolian economy, especially mining and road construction, could also impact environmental security in general and habitat needs of the khulan and associated wildlife in the Gobi environment in particular. Work is required to clarify to what extent (if any) the wild ass is affected or competes with domestic livestock and other human intrusions, and to what degree. On the basis of these findings, ma-nagement steps for both khulan protection and rural livelihood/water resources development can be developed.