Better Environmental Regulation in the Mining Sector through Participation

The mining sector in Mongolia has expanded dramatically over the past 30 years, bringing along environmental and social consequences and negatively impacting the livelihoods of local communities and herders. While examining cases where land rehabilitation was needed, the Mongolian Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) found that there were no guidelines to assess environmental damage. In 2005, CHRD started to use public interest strategic litigation in the context of mining. To date, CHRD has worked on 22 cases in total, focusing on the following: a) the process of mineral licenses; b) environmental impact assessment; c) rehabilitation of land.