Among consumers in developed countries, it is becoming more and more common to choose environmentally friendly and ethical products, and Mongolia has a potential to exploit this market niche. According 'Step Eco Lab Project' implemented by European Union, processing plants and customers are increasingly looking for eco-friendly, sustainable, certified and traceable raw materials. 85% of European retailers say sales of sustainable products have increased over the past five years, and 92% expect sales of sustainable products to further increase over the next five years. For some consumer goods in the US markets, sales of sustainable products have surpassed sales of other products and 47% of US consumers expressed willingness to pay higher prices for sustainable products. At a time when sustainable raw material preparation and production are becoming a competitive factor in the luxury goods market, there is a need to develop traceable and transparent supply chain and present meaningful environmental footprint report/carbon footprint report that meet the needs of responsible consumers and the market.

With vast grasslands that occupy 70% of total territory and nomadic herding heritage, livestock husbandry is one of the economic comparative advantages of Mongolia. In March 2020, Mongolia has adopted standard MNS 6891:2020 for Responsible Nomads Code of Practices for sustainable nomadic livestock production. The standard and its traceability system aims to ensure a responsible nomadic herding at the primary-herder households level, providing buyers with the tools to appreciate best practices of nomadic herding maintaining healthy rangeland or improving their management and better animal care, and to ensure transparent chain of custody from a herder household to final product, and provide customers with a guarantee that the raw materials of the products they buy are truly from Responsible herder households.

Mongolian Rangeland Coalition identifies the competitive marketing strategy of Mongolian livestock products in the international market as sustainable, traceable, high quality and ethical and aims to support and enable stakeholder collaboration to produce and supply traceable, value-added, sustainably processed products.

-RMTS – Raw Material Traceability System is a smart phone application which can be downloaded from Play Store and App Store

-By clicking on the camera icon, the app allows you to scan the QR code on the product label which is originated from the ear tag code of a livestock

-RMTS verifies that product is manufactured from raw materials, which meet above indicators

Responsible Nomads employs six key indicators that herders must comply with to continue involvement in the Green Pasture Project. These include: responsible actions of herders, maintenance and improvement of rangeland health, keeping up to date with animal health services, ensuring animal welfare, promoting environmental stewardship, and traceability of livestock. Each of these indicators are meticulously measured for each herder through a mobile phone application, recorded within the Responsible Nomads database system. At the same time, the traceability system developed for Responsible Nomads provides end-customers with a guarantee that raw materials have been produced by nomadic herders who maintain responsible rangeland and herd management practices and care for the wildlife sharing the rangelands.

As of May 2021, 44 000 herders and 86 herders’ marketing cooperatives have registered in the system. In 2019, about 180 tons of cashmere were sold through the system. In 2020, it has increased by two fold- 360 tons of cashmere were sold certified through the system and 15 tons were sold to international buyers. The Responsible Nomads traceability system shows incredible promise in promoting and monitoring sustainable rangeland and livestock management.

Ts. Enkh-Amgalan, Mongolian Rangeland Coalition