Zero Waste: Protected Areas

Under the Eternal Mongolia Project Finance for Permanence programme, implemented with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) and The Nature Conservancy, the Mongolian Nature’s Legacy Foundation (MNLF) is working with Unitel Group to support nature conservation and responsible waste management.

Central TV’s “Zero Waste” programme is bringing the conservation work of Mongolia’s protected areas, the waste problems that come with tourism, and nature-friendly solutions to a wide audience.

The episode features rangers working in the Orkhon Valley, Khuvsgul and the mountain taiga, and the challenges they face. As tourism grows, collecting, transporting and properly disposing of waste has become a major challenge for protecting the environment of protected areas.

Visitors’ responsibility is key to reducing waste

In the Orkhon Valley protected area, bins were once placed at remote campsites, but waste piled up and was hard to haul away. After the bins were removed, some visitors began asking where to leave their rubbish and started taking it with them. The experience shows that the answer is not only cleaning up and removing waste, but producing less of it and making visitors more responsible.

Sorting recyclables such as plastic bottles and cans at source makes them easier to recycle. Using a central collection point near Kharkhorin as an example, the episode also shows why it matters to stop rubbish being scattered by the wind. Even so, remote and heavily visited areas still need better infrastructure for collecting and disposing of waste properly.

Improving wildlife’s access to water

Conservation goes beyond waste management. The episode also presents ponds built in the mountain taiga through the partnership between the Eternal Mongolia PFP and Unitel Group.

Designed to collect spring snowmelt, the ponds give wildlife a source of water when springs are frozen and water is scarce. Rangers built them with their own hands and tested them at two sites, showing that practical solutions suited to local conditions can work.

Support the rangers and protect nature together

Protected area rangers spend time and effort cleaning up and hauling away waste, alongside their core duty of protecting wildlife and ecosystems. The episode highlights how waste building up in the tourist areas around Khuvsgul adds to their workload.

Livestock carcasses dumped in the wrong places also cause biological contamination and put soil and groundwater at risk. Disposing of waste properly therefore protects not only the landscape but also ecosystems and water resources.

The results of conservation depend not only on the rangers’ efforts but on the responsible choices of every visitor. Taking your rubbish home, sorting what can be recycled and leaving nature unpolluted are real contributions to passing Mongolia’s natural heritage on to future generations.

Love nature. Travel without a trace!

Central TV “Zero Waste”, season 2, episode 1