Mapping Nomadic Space: Are Mining Maps a form of Spatial Injustice in Contemporary Mongolia?

Abstract

Mongolia’s current development trajectory relies almost entirely on the expansion of the mineral

extraction industry; the current government’s agenda is to transform the Gobi provinces into a mining zone and

open new border points for export with China. The last decade has already set the stage for this transformation,

with over 2000 exploration and exploitation licenses issued across the country. This transformation in rural land

use has involved large-scale land acquisition and the forced displacement of mobile pastoralists. UN agencies

have expressed concerns about human rights violations against pastoralists and their exclusion from decision-

making during licensing and land acquisition. This paper provides a preliminary discussion of the spatial di-

mensions of these injustices by examining how mobile pastoralists are represented in maps created during land

acquisition processes, in the few cases where international land acquisition and resettlement standards have been

implemented. Resettlement processes rely heavily on spatial and temporal scales to determine who is eligible

to be an “impacted or affected person/household.” How have mobile pastoralists’ nomadic land ontologies been

represented in this process? In a time when the visibility and recognition of nomadic land is crucial to both avoid

and mitigate harm to mobile pastoralists, what are the implications of mapping nomadic spaces in the face of the

Gobi’s transition to a mining zone?.