The River Movements' Struggle in Mongolia

For decades, the landlocked local homelands of the Mongolian nomads were isolated from the global market. But in recent years, they have been crowded out by those who are looking for the untapped natural resources in their ‘homelands’. The River Movements' struggles of local civil society groups seeking to protect the environment and livelihood, or the ‘homeland’, of the local people from the threats imposed by mining operations, have come to be the most sustained grassroots movement in Mongolia during the past decade. Based on data collected between 2006 and 2010, this article traces the trajectory of the movement and discusses the conditions that shaped the course and consequences of the movement. The discrepancy between local values and opportunities and transnational norms and ideas had a significant effect on the trajectory of the movement.