Kherlen River Basin custodians Saku Saruu and Suvdaa Suvd are kicking off workshop season here at Preserving Legacies! Every year, our Activation cohort of sites work tirelessly towards facilitating locally led climate risk and adaptation workshops where the voices and ways of knowing of all those connected to a heritage place or practice are shared and woven together. 

Our Director of Science, Dr. Salma Sabour was in the field supporting their efforts and offered her sincere congratulations to their team for successfully finalizing their workshop:

“I am in awe of Saku Saruul and Suvdaa Suvd, and their team, including Maral Tsatsral, Batchuka Bodonguud, Uyanga, and others, who just finalized a locally led climate risk and adaptation workshop that brought together elders, youth, and women herders, government representatives, researchers, and cultural professionals from three provinces. Over three intense days, they co-developed a first draft of adaptation actions across six thematic areas rooted in the values and attributes of the Kherlen River Basin. This extraordinary, pre-validated outcome reflects the collective wisdom, commitment, and passion of the participants.”

The beauty of the Preserving Legacies framework is that every workshop, and the focus groups and pre-workshop sessions leading up to it, as well as the risk assessment and adaptation plan report coming out of it, are all unique to the place and its people.

Here’s a more detailed view from Salma of how Suvdaa and Saruul brought theirs to life for the Kherlen River Basin, one of Mongolia’s longest rivers and a true cultural lifeline, home to over 100,000 herders and more than 10,000 heritage sites. Stretching across six provinces, it serves as a living corridor of memory, identity, and nomadic traditions.

Day 1: Uniting Institutional Stakeholders in Ulaannbaatar

Today in Ulaanbaatar we joined a high-level meeting led by Suvdaa and Saruul, bringing together representatives from the Ministry of Sports, Culture, Tourism and Youth, the National Emergency Agency, and the National Centre for Cultural Heritage.

The meeting highlighted how climate change impacts are already being observed in Mongolia. Presentations reflected on risks to immovable heritage across Khentii, Arkhangai, Övörkhangai, and Töv provinces, where wildfires, floods, droughts, snowstorms, and the erosion of traditional knowledge increasingly threaten heritage and livelihoods. 

Speakers also shared examples of climate resilience and adaptation: forest restoration, water management, winter preparedness, and the role of nomadic knowledge in supporting communities. Yet the challenges are real from livestock loss and rural-to-urban migration, to the decline in young and especially women herders, which threatens intergenerational knowledge.

As the day closed, the message was clear: safeguarding the values and attributes of the Kherlen River Basin from climate change requires collaboration across ministries, researchers, NGOs, and communities. Participants called for better alignment of risk assessments, bringing together culture, emergency management, environment, agriculture, and health into shared reports and joint handbooks to guide adaptation planning. They also emphasized the importance of research led by NGOs and local partners, as well as the need for annual management plans that incorporate concrete climate actions.

Today’s high-level meeting was also broadcast on the National Television of Mongolia MNB Монголын Мэдээ.

Day 2: From the Capital to Khentii Province

Today, with Saku, Batchuka Bodonguud, and Maral Tsatsral, we took the road from Ulaanbaatar to Khentii Province, where the locally-led and values-based risk and adaptation workshop will bring together a wider circle of stakeholders and rights holders from the Kherlen River Basin to deepen this conversation.

On our way, we stopped at the towering 40-meter equestrian statue of Chinggis Khan in Tsonjin Boldog, the largest of its kind in the world. Shining in stainless steel, the statue gazes eastward across the steppe, toward his birthplace. Inside the complex, we explored the museum, which also houses the world’s largest boot: a nine-meter-tall version of the traditional Mongolian gutul, symbolizing nomadic craftsmanship.

Smiling at the scale of it all, Saku said, “we love competition and having the biggest things in Mongolia!” Indeed, Mongolia holds a proud list of Guinness World Records, including the largest wrestling tournament and horse parade, as well as the biggest traditional ger.

From there, we began a long four-hour drive through some of the most breathtaking landscapes. The steppe stretched boundlessly beneath an infinite sky, rolling into golden horizons where earth and heaven seemed to meet, embodying the boundless power and sacred presence of Tangri, the eternal sky. We passed vast coal mines, including the country’s oldest, which was opened in the 1990s and is set to close within 20 years. Suvdaa is working to have it recognized as industrial heritage through a recovery and management program.

By late afternoon, after a stop to enjoy cheese cream and Mongolian fried bread, we arrived in Khentii. We were warmly welcomed by Suvdaa and the provincial team from the Culture, Arts and Tourism Authority, who greeted us with dried yogurt (khorkhoi aaruul).

We then joined a Zoom call with the entire Preserving Legacies family, sharing reflections and receiving positive energy from all over the world, as the local team prepared together for three intense days of workshops on climate risk and adaptation of the Kherlen River Basin.

At night, we met with the Governor of Khentii Province in a beautifully adorned ger (yurt), sharing a traditional feast of marmot meat, Khentii bread with sour cream and berry jam, and milk tea.

As the day came to a close, I felt deeply moved by Mongolia’s profound connection between people and nature, a relationship shaped by generations of lived experience but also a deep knowledge of extreme climate events such as "zud" which are increasing in frequency and intensity with climate change (the white zud of heavy snow, the black zud of drought and cold, the iron zud where ice seals the grass, the hoof zud of overgrazed land, and the combined zud when several converge at once).

I am leaving today, humbled by the knowledge that shapes heritage adaptation in Mongolia, and heartened by the kindness we received.

Day 3: The Workshop Begins

The day started with a value-based ice breaker, joined by 50 representatives of herders, community members, local government officials, and staff from cultural and environmental institutions, coming together from Dornod, Tuv, and Khentii provinces. Pencils moved slowly across papers, and the room was filled with drawings, memories, and places: a monument in Batnorov, the proud face of Chinggis Khaan in the Khentii Museum, and a family tree with roots sinking into the earth. Someone drew the sacred mountains of Burkhan Khaldun. Another sketch, a ger by the Kherlen River, was still kept by his grandparents. There were drawings of antelope running across the steppe, blue lakes joined by underground water, and a traditional blue dress beside sacred lakes.

The Governor underlined flooding on the Kherlen River, the density of cultural heritage along its banks, and a clear charge for all representatives of local governments and agencies: return as climate leaders to your sums (administrative unit under the province). Balanced tourism must honor nature and acknowledge climate impacts: “If we save the Kherlen river, we also preserve our cultural heritage”, reminding everyone that Khentii is the first province in Mongolia piloting a locally led climate risk assessment and adaptation planning for cultural and natural heritage.

Saku reminded us of the power of traditional knowledge, and Suvdaa explained why the Kherlen River Basin was chosen: it flows from Burkhan Khaldun, across forests and steppes, sustaining protected areas, sacred sites, and communities. It carries water, life, but also history, identity, and a sense of belonging.

Later, Duurenjargal spoke of Burkhan Khaldun’s sacred landscape, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. His stories of rituals, once banned, now returning, showed how worship itself can be an act of conservation, keeping mountains, rivers, and pastures safe. Science also had its voice: Dr. Enkhbat shared maps and risk models, showing where heritage is most vulnerable in Mongolia.

We honored the lived science of herders, as meteorologists, astronomers, botanists, biochemists, zoologists, geologists, microbiologists, reading halos and winds, grasses and salts, animal health and migrations. This embodied knowledge guides adaptation under intensifying extremes, from zud to drought.

In the “coffee shop” workshop, groups sat around tables and shared the values and attributes of the Kherlen River Basin. On the walls, lists began to grow: untouched land, nomadic lifeways, biodiversity, rivers and bushes, permafrost, heritage linked to sustainable tourism. One poster, titled “Gentle Kherlen”, carried star-shaped notes naming what matters most: homeland, family, herders, children, culture, learning, sacred places, historic mountains, plants, and soil.

Another group drew a ger under the words “Kherlen is Our Home”. Each part of the ger stood for a value/attribute: livestock and water, fertile land, forests and wildlife, heritage, sacred mountains, knowledge, and traditions. Together, they formed the roof and walls of a shared home. The “coffee shop” workshop showed a simple truth: for communities along the Kherlen, protecting nature is the way to protect culture.

As the day closes, I sense how plural knowledge systems have already begun to surface, and that in the days ahead, more weaving will unfold. The pastoral knowledge of Mongolian herders, an ancient, living science rooted in dialogue with animals, land, and sky, reminds us that resilience in a changing climate grows from this weaving, where experiential wisdom and science stand side by side.

‍Day 4: The Workshop Continues

The morning began where yesterday left off: with values. But this time, we traced the ways they are changing. Pastures that once stretched wide now show strain: grass grows thinner, goats multiply, and the soil is worn. Springs that once sustained herders, animals, and spirits falter in dry years. Sacred cairns remain, yet the rituals around them are fewer and their continuity uncertain. Livestock weaken in dzud, forests dry under the heat, and riverbanks crumble after sudden floods. The impacts are felt everywhere: lost income, scarce drinking water, vanishing wildlife, and interrupted ceremonies. We saw how the heart of the Kherlen River, its waters, its pastures, and its sacred mountains are already under pressure. In every voice, in every note pinned to the wall, there was a sense that climate impacts are reshaping what people hold dear.

In the afternoon, we shifted from naming changes to asking why. What makes some places and practices more at risk from damage and loss than others? We spoke of vulnerabilities: migration routes are restricted, fodder is scarce, and protection rules sometimes collide with tradition. Saku Saruul pinned words like vulnerability, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, exposure, and responses, illustrating the risk flower, which shows how climate risk is determined not only by storms and droughts, but also by choices and limits in everyday life.

Suvdaa guided us through the “hazard word clouds”. In the present, the largest words were dzud and wildfire, surrounded by dust storms, drought, floods, pasture degradation, and hail, a cluster of stresses already familiar to the Kherlen community. In the future cloud, the balance shifted: wildfires and floods loomed even larger, joined by storms, heatwaves, and snowstorms, while dzud remained prominent.

Building on the development of the hazards word cloud, Saku presented the climate scenario data, showing how by 2060 the picture of the Kherlen diverges along two paths: an “average” future (SSP2–RCP4.5) or a “pessimistic” future (SSP5–RCP8.5). In the “average” scenario (SSP2–RCP4.5), Impacts are already visible and growing. Still, the system has not yet collapsed: pastures are degraded and livestock productivity falls, with herds smaller and more vulnerable to disease. Springs and rivers face chronic scarcity, with water quality declining and banks eroding. Forests and plants grow under stress, medicine plants are harder to find, and cultural practices lose ground, fewer rituals, and children grow up with weaker ties to tradition.

In the “pessimistic” scenario (SSP5–RCP8.5), these trends harden into rupture. Pastoralism itself is threatened, replaced by ranching and farming, and herder livelihoods collapse. Water systems face chronic decline, desertification spreads, and both surface and groundwater fall. Sacred mountains, cairns, and intangible practices are lost, continuity of heritage broken, and communities displaced into sedentary ways of life. Tourism contracts into artificial experiences as natural sites disappear, and traditional eco-products lose their character. Even science suffers, as ornithological research vanishes when bird habitats are lost, and untouched archaeological and natural heritage degrades. In this scenario, values are strained, but some of the very foundations of cultural, ecological, and scientific continuity risk being erased.

By the end of the day, the focus had shifted firmly to impacts and risks. Risk was no longer abstract; it was the reality of heritage under pressure, with rivers, pastures, forests, wildlife, and ceremonies already changing and set to intensify in the future. The discussions made it clear that protecting heritage in the future means addressing impacts now, before they break the connections between nature and people. This set the stage for the next day, when the group would turn to adaptation strategies and confront a crucial question: What risk will always remain, even after we act?

Day 5: Adaptation Pathways in Practice

The morning opened with Suvdaa framing of Mongolia’s climate story: rising temperatures, retreating glaciers, desertification, and policies stretching from the Paris Agreement to Vision 2050. Numbers told of loss, but also of ambition: 22.7% emissions reduction by 2030, a billion trees, expanded protected areas, new laws on climate change, and herder livelihoods. Yet as the presentations unfolded, the question hung in the air: How do these high-level goals translate into the dailly lives of herders, forests, rivers, and sacred mountains? 

By the middle of the morning, the room shifted from listening to creating. The task: imagine two futures, an “average” (SSP2–RCP4.5) and a “pessimistic” (SSP5–RCP8.5), and craft adaptation actions that could respond to the potential risks and impacts on the values and attributes of the Kherlen River Basin. Working groups gathered around tables, with an energy that was both practical and inventive, grounded in trust and a strong sense of place.

Across both scenarios, six clusters of action emerged, highlighted here with some examples:

1. Water Adaptation‍
   
   • Protect springs and riverbanks; construct handmade lakes and small reservoirs.
   • Introduce irrigation efficiency and water reuse (including floodwater capture).

1. Pasture, Livestock & Herders' Resilience‍
   
   • Balancing herds among Mongolia’s five types of livestock: horses, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats; rotational grazing; and smart pasture use.
   • Support young herders, including persons with disabilities, through training and livelihood programs.
2. Forests, Ecosystems & Nature Restoration‍
   
   • Tree planting and windbreaks (linked to the Billion Trees campaign).
   • Propagation of rare plants; community monitoring of soil and biodiversity.
3. Cultural Heritage & Knowledge Systems
   
   • Protect sacred mountains, graves, and historical sites like Seruun Khaalga.
   • Document elders’ knowledge in audio, video, and books; involve youth in rituals and practices.
4. Community, Governance & Early Warning‍
   
   • Soum-level (region) climate planning with legal frameworks against unsustainable mining.
   • SMS and social media weather alerts; bag (soum subdivision) leaders bringing information to remote families.
5. Youth, Women & Capacity Building
   
   • Promote leadership programs for youth and women.
   • Provide training in traditional knowledge and practices for children and youth; organize capacity-strengthening workshops at multiple levels.

In the “average” scenario, these measures were seen as stabilizing ways to prevent ecosystems and livelihoods from crossing thresholds. The focus was on efficiency, diversification, and strengthening what exists. In the “pessimistic” scenario, the tone shifted: actions had to be more radical, forest funds to halt mining, large-scale reforestation, stronger protection of immovable heritage from floods and landslides, and even preparing for transformation if pastoralism itself weakens. In this future, safeguarding cultural continuity is as urgent as protecting water, pastures, and livestock, each inseparable from the resilience of the Kherlen River heritage landscape.

By the end of the day, a first draft of the adaptation plan had been discussed and pre-validated, shaped by diverse voices present in the room. What became clear is that the resilience of the Kherlen River will be driven by locally led action: communities, authorities, and knowledge holders working side by side to protect its waters, sustain its herds, and carry forward its cultural legacies into the future.

‍

‍