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4.20. A number of foreign donor projects or development organizations continue to support the agricultural sector in various capacities, including the Green Gold Animal Health project, the German Mongolian Sustainable Agriculture (Phase II) cooperation project, additional funding for agriculture and rural development projects, and the Market and Pastureland Management Development Financing project. The total costs or loans under these programme are estimated to be around USD 400 million.

4.25. (...) The Cashmere Program is integrated into Mongolia's Sustainable Development Goals and places an emphasis on improving the downstream processing sector, in particular with respect to exports. Together with its Action Plan, the Program prescribes that the Development Bank of Mongolia will make loans to cashmere enterprises. (...)

4.33. The significant increases in the number of livestock have not come without a cost. Increased use and pressure on fragile grazing lands combined with climate change potentially threaten the future of the sector, as desertification and erosion become more prevalent. According to one source, the unsustainable and inefficient use of natural resources throughout the supply chain has further exacerbated the situation.(...)

4.35. The priorities of the National Livestock Program include: creating a favourable legal, economic, and organizational environment to ensure sustainable development and promote good governance; (...) developing livestock breeds adaptable to climate and other ecological changes; (...)

4.50. The principles of the legal regime of mining are defined by the 1992 Constitution. Under it, "the land and its subsoil shall be subject to the people's authority and under the protection of the State". The amendment to the Constitution, approved on 14 November 2019, modified that formulation to state that "the land other than in [a] citizen's private ownership, as well as the subsoil with its mineral wealth, forests, water resources, and wildlife are state public property".

4.51. The mining industry is regulated by the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry (MMHI) and by the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority of Mongolia (MRPAM). The latter is a government implementing agency in charge of policies and plans for the preservation, conservation, and reclamation of geological resources, and of the administration of geological resources and activities. It conducts geological and mineral surveys, inspections, studies, and research; maintains mineral data and licence information; and issues mineral licences.

4.52. The main legislation governing the sector is the Minerals Law, 2006. In terms of scope, it governs the reconnaissance, exploration, and mining of all types, except water, petroleum, natural gas, radioactive minerals, and common minerals, which are regulated by other specific laws. In terms of substance, the Law regulates (...) obligations of licence holders (environmental protection requirements, royalties, and reporting); (...).

4.53. The main change to the mining legislation during the review period was a series of amendments to the Mineral Law, which were approved by Parliament on 26 March 2019, and concern the tax and royalties' regime. Previously, royalty payments collected for the State budget were based on the sales value of each type of product extracted and sold(...) This created conditions for the avoidance/evasion of royalty fees by unlicensed artisanal mining cooperatives (...) Consequently, it became difficult to implement Article 6.1 of the General Taxation Law, which states that "taxable items include income, property, goods, works, services, certain rights, land, its subsoil, natural resources, mineral reserves, air, soil and water pollution". The amendments to the Mineral Law subjected these operators to the payment of royalties and to reporting obligations.

4.61. Chart 4.6 (...) illustrates a downturn until 2015 for energy production, supply, and emissions, but not for electricity consumption, which shows constant growth. It also shows the absence of a decoupling between energy production and supply, on the one hand, and carbon emissions, on the other. This is largely due to the prominent share of coal in the energy supply, a share that increased during the review period. (...).

4.62. (...)energy consumption grew by 25%, but the relative shares of the sources remained stable. The largely dominant share of coal grew, whereas that of biofuels and waste, which was already marginal, diminished. The share of hydro, wind, and solar energies increased seven-fold but from a very low base. In fact, the total of renewables diminished (from 3.3% to 3.2%).