The STREAM project was launched
16. 3. 2022
Our team of scientists leads an international university consortium in expert activities on sustainable management in the Mongolian landscape. With our years of experience and knowledge, we have the opportunity to support local forestry, which is at a low level in Mongolia. There is a shortage of experts in the field and the situation with forest loss and devastation is critical. The STREAM project, which is supported by the European Commission and other partners, started in May 2021 and has a budget of almost 20 million CZK.
Mongolia is a vast landlocked country situated on a plateau, with most of the land covered by steppe and desert due to extreme climatic conditions. Although the forest cover is only around 8%, the area of Mongolian forests is equivalent to that of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary combined. "Water is an essential commodity for all life here, but it all runs off the land in streams or is quickly lost through intense evaporation. Mongolia's forests have a fundamental and direct impact on water availability and quality, preventing erosion, permafrost degradation and providing a range of other ecosystem services. The forest zone at the transition from steppe suffers from intensive grazing, fires and illegal logging, and the very existence of forests is threatened," says Antonín Kusbach from the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology at MENDELU.
Our scientific team from the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology has been involved in research on Mongolian forests since 2009. We are trying to teach the locals the principles of sustainable forest management, the importance of the forest in maintaining permafrost and water in the landscape and other professional activities. We have also established research plots in Mongolia where students measure soil moisture and monitor the effects of grazing on natural regeneration, forest vigor, and vegetation dynamics. There have also been bilateral academic exchanges involving lectures and field demonstrations of research activities, data collection and demonstrations of management measures.
"The Czech Republic, through the well-established Mendel University, has been cooperating with Mongolian institutions for many years on forest management planning and providing education to Mongolian experts in forest and landscape ecology. The expertise provided by the consortium in cooperation with Mongolian institutions will strengthen the research and education component of the STREAM project," said Czech Ambassador to Mongolia Jiří Brodský at the signing of the project.
Given our experience and thanks to the support of the Czech Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, MENDELU will lead a consortium of 11 universities in the STREAM (Sustainable Resilient Ecosystem and Agriculture Management in Mongolia) project, which will be implemented in cooperation with the European Commission (EC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the development organization Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
This pilot European forestry project in Mongolia aims to contribute to the implementation of innovative and sustainable landscape management principles in the face of food system and climate change challenges by 2024. STREAM is a test of partnership for a future even larger development project of this type. "Our university and the whole consortium will be responsible for practical cases of management measures such as forest restoration through the application of ecologically and socio-economically appropriate management practices, afforestation, education and conservation practices in six selected pilot sites in Selenge and Khentii provinces. In addition, we will mainly support research and education activities related to sustainable forest management," Kusbach added.