Volunteer camps
ABC SDG invites you to Mongolia!
Peatlands of Mongolia need your help!
Peatlands are Mongolia’s last source of water and productive lands. They maintain permafrost, which plays a significant role in the integrity of the Mongolian landscape and climate. Nowadays, however, they are rapidly disappearing.
Why are peatlands disappearing in Mongolia?
Not many people know that Mongolia, even in the 70th of the last century, had 60% of its land containing permafrost. That is frozen soil and underlying non-fertile geological deposits. In summer, the upper part of permafrost unfreezes and becomes a source of water for different ecosystems, especially peatlands. This way has formed most of the peatlands in Mongolia.
Peat insulates permafrost from summer temperatures and has the ability to store a lot of water. This way, peatlands protect permafrost from thawing and store a surplus of water that is released during permafrost seasonal thaw, which allows further peat growth and development of peatland. Such an impressive cooperation.
At the beginning of the current century, this balance dramatically shifted. The climate change effect was enhanced by extremely extensive land use driven by rapid socio-economical changes in 1990 that caused a massive increase in mineral soil degradation and a shift of land use to peatlands. On top of that, the highland peatland became an offer of the chaotic development of mining when, after the liberalisation of the economy, the small companies came to the market with a preference for mining at small basins in the highlands. Step by step, during the last 50 years, the area of natural peatlands shrank almost twice. After the reduction in peatlands, the distribution of permafrost was reduced from 70 % of the area in 1970 to 30 % in 2016. The most significant threat to Mongolian pastures, including peatlands, is a shift from the traditional animals to cashmere goats. The cashmere industry is dominated by irresponsible businesses that stimulate local herders to change to the production of cashmere but keep very low quality and costs. People are multiplying the number of animals to gain more, and the pressure on pastures is enormous. We negotiated with several families that they would try gardening while reducing the number of goats.
When we act now, we can still stop this process. For more than twenty years, we have been trying to understand and describe the natural and social processes behind this development and find solutions.
We invite you to join us and help the people of Mongolia stop this unsafe development. You will learn about Mongolia’s nature and possibly find more sustainable, nature-based solutions.
Join our volunteer camps in Mongolia in 2025.
When?
You can choose between three periods.
Who are our volunteers?
Our volunteers are very diverse. Last years, we had scientists who wanted to get out of their labs and auditoriums and make something practical, managers who needed to relax from their tense work, scouts who were always ready to help, and schoolchildren from Mongolia and Europe who wanted to try themselves in adventure. Who is next who is ready to join this diverse society?
How to choose?
Please read the short description below and register for the introduction lecture that we are organising on Saturday, February 15, at 11 am CET in hybrid format. That will help you find your preferred activity and site. In July, we expect quite a lot of young people under 16.
What are volunteers doing?
Helping, helping and helping.
Planting trees and shrubs, constructing fences, caring for animals, carrying out surveys, filming, droning, developing outreach materials, sampling, processing samples and running databases, counting wild animals and plants, and everybody participates in the maintenance of camp facilities and basic help in the kitchen.
Working time usually is 6.5 hours a day with the road from camp to the site.
We want our volunteers to know more about Mongolia’s nature, culture, and history. That is why we use all opportunities to take people to local points of interest and to facilitate exchange with Mongolian youth, herders, administration, rangers, experts etc.
How does your day look like
We have an early breakfast at 7:30
During the summer camp, interested people could take yoga classes every second day at 6:30 am or mental practices with our Lama.
When we do not travel, we start working at 8:30. Lunch break is from 12 to 13. We have a packed lunch in the field, and those who are working with samples or data in the camp get their lunch there. We will be back at the camp every day at 4 pm at the latest after 6 hours of work. In the camp, people can get some beverages and time for themselves.
The dinner is at 6 pm, followed by exchanging impressions, games, singing, dancing or personal time.
Who?
We invite people older than 16 and younger people with a parent or guardian.
We are keeping the group within ten people in the spring and autumn and within twenty participants in the summer camp, so the places are limited.
What do we provide?
Transportation within Mongolia, camping and lodging facilities, catering, basic healthcare, logistics, a lot of information and training, sightseeing and exciting possibilities to contribute to nature conservation.
The format is mostly camping with an equipped toilet and a straightforward camp shower in the tent. In several locations, we stay in ger camps—it means sharing the ger with 3-4 colleagues, sleeping in the bed and a real shower. You are provided with electricity and internet, but not always. The daily fee is used to purchase food, gasoline, and daily supplies and pay for service—our cook, drivers, and a medical professional.
An invitation for your visa could also be provided. Please check if you need a visa and conditions to get it on the web page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia: https://en.consul.mn/visa/c/83
What is your contribution?
Participants cover their flight, insurance, and the day fee for food, lodging, basic facilities, services and transportation. The daily fee is 100 euros for adults and 50 euros for children and students.
Where, What and How?
Option 1. Spring camp May 23 – June 5 (9).
Nomgoon, Khashaat, Kharkharin. Additional site – Uliastay.
The camp will not exceed ten people.
The main topic is introducing gardening and fruit tree planting as an alternative income for local herders. Why do we do this? We want to demonstrate to herders that they can have an alternative income, not only from pasturing. We hope that it will help to reduce the impact on the peatlands. At the same time, we are protecting part of the peatland by fencing. We already have several small fences there. It was not very easy. People in Mongolia do not like fences. Now they saw that in the fenced peatland area has more water and grass. And they agreed to extend fences. Fences are suitable in peatland restoration only when the peat is wet. We agreed to fence around 6 ha of peatland in the upcoming spring and proposed that when the grass becomes high, herders can use the area for making hay. Interested people can spend an additional 4 days at the Uliastay site near Ulaanbaatar, participating in a scientific survey: sampling, mapping, etc.
Please arrive at UB airport no later than May 23 in the morning, and plan your departure no earlier than 5th June morning. For the participants of the full-time camp, departure should be scheduled no earlier than June 9th. Usually, all flights in UB are morning flights.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Before May 23 | People are arriving independently at UB. We can assist with transfers from the airport and booking rooms in UB upon request. Our team will pick those who arrive on the exact date from the airport. |
| May 23 | Picking up people at the airport or other agreed locations in UB when people arrive earlier. Travel to the camp location 8 to 17. On the way lunch and sight seeing stop. Setting up camp in Nomgon. |
| May 24 | Introduction lecture, acquaintance with the site, planning works and teams. Lunch in the camp. Team “garden” stays in the camp. Team “fences” works in the field. |
| May 25 – May 28 | Work in the garden, with animals, fences, planting trees at ponds, mapping springs, producing communication materials. Breakfast and dinner in the camp, lunch in the field. |
| May 29 | Packing camp, moving to Khashaat. Introduction lecture acquaintance with the site. Planning works. Distribution responsivity between teams. |
| May 30 – June 1 | Work at Khashaat fencing, communication, developing constructed wetland |
| June 2 | Moving to Lun. Visiting “Kukurum” museum, helping in Lun bag with tree planting, camping at Lung Bag |
| June 3 | Helping in Lung Bag with tree planting, at lunch time mowing to Kharkharin, staying in Kharkharin. Showering, Sauna, Farwell party. |
| June 4 | Visiting Kharkharin Museums. Driving back to UB. Upon request for those who are leaving booking rooms and transfer to the airport. Uliastay team is going to the ger camp near UB. |
| June 5 | Departure of some participants from Mongolia or their own programme in UB. The Uliastay team is getting off to work. |
| June 6 – June 8 | Work in Uliastay, 8th evening – back to UB |
| June 9 | Departure of participants or own program in UB. |
Option 2 Summer camp July 6 (12) – July 30
Nomgoon, Khashaat, Kharkhorin. Additional site – Mungmorit.
The camp can host 15-20 people, including young people from Mongolia. Young people from Europe or elsewhere are invited cordially with their parents or alone if they are older than 16. Nobody will be bored. The main topic of the summer camp is surveying and monitoring to plan new restoration activities and evaluate the success of earlier restoration efforts. Volunteers will carry out sampling and arrange data in a database. They will also undertake filming and develop communication materials. Practical restoration work will include water management in the peatland and fencing. At the Mungmorit site, people will have unique possibilities to work in forest, steppe, and peatland at one site. For the participants of the full-time camp, please arrive no later than the morning of July 6; for the second part participants, please arrive no later than July 13th morning. Please plan your departure not earlier than the morning of July 30th.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Before July 6 | People are arriving independently at UB earlier or on the exact day.For those who arrive earlier, we can assist with a transfer from the airport and booking rooms in UB upon request. Our team will pick those who arrive on the exact date from the airport. |
| July 6 | Picking up people at the airport or other agreed locations in UB when people arrive earlier. Travel to the camp location between 8 am and 5 pm. On the way, a sightseeing stop at the famous Chigis Khan monument, lunch. Arriving at Mungmorit and setting up camp. |
| July 7 | Introduction lecture, acquaintance with the site, planning works and teams. Lunch in the camp. Teams “forest”, “steppe” and “peatland” start to work at their locations not far from the camp. |
| July 8 – July 11 | Work on the sampling and data processing, producing communication materials. Breakfast and dinner in the camp, lunch in the field or camp depending on the task. Some practical restoration work on water management. |
| July 12 | Packing camp, moving to the ger camp not far from UB. Showering and resting. Picking up people at the airport and getting them to the ger camp. Get-together party. |
| July 13 | Picking up the remaining people in the airport/UB and moving to Nomgoon camp. On the way sightseeing stop and lunch. Setting up the camp. |
| July 14 -July 18 | Introduction lecture: acquaintance with the site. Planning works: distribution of responsibilities between teams. Working on the site – gardening, improving the camp. Work at Nomgoon: monitoring, fencing, communication, and developing constructed wetlands. |
| July 19 | Packing camp, moving to Khashaat. Introduction lecture acquaintance with the site. Planning works. Distribution responsivity between teams. |
| July 20 – July 23 | Work at Khashaat monitoring, fencing, communication, and developing a constructed wetland. |
| July 23 | Packing camp, Visiting “Kurkurum” museum, visiting Lun bag tree planting project, camping in Kharkhorin. Showering, sauna, getting advantage of a stable electricity. For those who want to fly earlier there are possibilities to leave Kharkharin for UB by public transport. |
| July 24 – July 27 | Working in Lun peatland: water management and monitoring. Camping in Kharkhorin. |
| July 28 | Visiting Kharkhorin Museums. Summing up outcomes of the work in the camp. Farwell party. |
| July 29 | Driving back to UB. Upon request, booking rooms and transfer to the airport. |
| July 30 | Departure of participants or own program. |
Option 3 Autumn camp September 5 – September 20
Khurkh, Mungmorit
September is already a cold time of the year. We are working at sites where we can have shelter during unfriendly weather.
In Khurkh site we have a chance to help Mongolian researchers in the Khurkh Research Station with a wide range of studies, including bird ringing, migration species monitoring, GHG research using eddy-covariance and chambers, permafrost monitoring. Both in Khurkh and Mungmorit, we will set up snow-catching constructions to keep seasonal waters within fences. On the top of Mungmorit, we will plant larch trees and steppe shrubs. Due to complicated logistics, please arrive no later than the morning of September 5 and plan your departure no earlier than the morning of September 20th.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Before September 5 | People are arriving independently at Ulaanbaatar earlier or on the exact day. For those who arrive earlier, we can assist with a transfer from the airport and booking rooms in Ulaanbaatar upon request. Our team will pick those who arrive on the exact date from the airport. |
| September 5 | Picking up people at the airport or other agreed locations in Ulaanbaatar when people arrive earlier. Travel to the camp location in Mungmorit between 8 am to 7 pm. On the way, a sightseeing stop at the famous Chigis Khan Monument, a lunch stop. Arriving at the Mungmorit site late evening and setting up a camp. |
| September 6-9 | Introduction lecture, acquaintance with the site, planning works and teams. Lunch in the camp. Working on the site and in the camp on fencing, water management, sampling and data processing, and producing communication materials |
| September 10 | Packing camp, moving to Khurkh site 8 am – 6 pm, setting up the camp in Khurkh |
| September 11 -18 | Introduction lecture, acquaintance with the site, planning works and teams. Work on fencing, water management, sampling and data processing, and producing communication materials. Breakfast and dinner in the camp, lunch in the field or camp, depending on the task. |
| September 19 | Packing camp, moving to Ulaanbaatar. Upon request, booking rooms and transfer to the airport for people leaving us. |
| September 20 | Own program or departure of the participants. |
When you have chosen your camp – please fill in the application form.
