Mongolia case study : "My Homeland" information system for communication of the herders, the local government, and the mining company towards managing grievance collaboratively

Abstract

Urbanization intensified by mining has been affecting Mongolia Gobi in the last decade. Mining provides job and market opportunities, along with dramatic distractive impacts on nature and the environment. Because of harmful activities of some mines and illegal miners there is increased public awareness and conflicts even with shooting. This article introduces research findings of the research and development of “My Homeland” information system deployed in a remote rural county in the Gobi. The work was done as a part of Mongolia DREAM IT mega project funded by Canadian International Development Research Centre, and the system is the first prototype that introduced and demonstrated benefits of sharing information among the stakeholders towards finding collaboratively solutions for problems and prevention of conflicts, particularly on the use of land and its resources, and the environmental degradation and pollution. Capacity building and institutionalization for sustainable operation of the system at local was done with establishment and active participation of multilateral steering committee, secondary school and a community based organization in Nomgon county. The main finding of the research and development is that a collaboratively managed grievance mechanism facilitated by information system like “My Homeland” can assist for mitigation or alleviation of conflicts from land use, and environmental and social problems caused by mining. The simple and affordable system was developed on LINUX platform with free open source tools and Internet connection was established via Wireless Broadband Gateway. The web, database, file and open fire servers were installed on Ubuntu 9.04 platform.