eOsphere are very grateful to Information and Research Institute of Meterology, Hydrology and Environment at the National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental Monitoring (NAMEM) for hosting the SIBELIUs Workshop, which took place over two days on 25th and 26th, June 2019. And many thanks also to all the 45 participants who came and took part in the wide-ranging discussions about how satellite earth observation data can be used to help improve the dzud resilience of the Mongolian herding community.

Odbayar Mishigdorj, Head of RS department, Information and Research Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment, speaking about the wide range of environmental products that are provided by NAMEM to serve the people of Mongolia and its economy.

In addition to the staff from NAMEM, the main Mongolian institutions represented at the workshop were the Agency for Land Administration and Management, Geodesy and Cartography, Mercy Corps, the Center for Nomadic Pastoralism Studies, Mongolian Reinsurance JSC, The Mongolia Geospatial Association, The National Emergency Management Agency and the Inter-Aimag Otor Pasture Use Administration.

We are especially grateful to the local governors from the project’s test sites (Delgerkhaan soum in Khentii aimag, Khishegundur soum in Bulgan aimag and Airag soum in Dornogovi aimag) who attended the workshop. Their participation in the workshop was particularly valuable for making sure that the perspective of people from the countryside was kept in focus.

International participants included UN-FAO and the World Food Programme, who were able to present their new project based in Mongolia, which they have recently initiated.

In addition to eOsphere, the UK participants were from the University of Leicester, the UK Space agency and Caribou Digital. The British Embassy based in Ulaanbaatar was also represented.

The Workshop contained a mixture of presentations to update participants on the progress that has been made on the project, especially regarding the Mongolian Open Data Cube and new pasture, snow and drought products. A series of updates were also provided from key Mongolian institutions about the importance of their activities with respect to serving the herding community. However, the most important feature of the Workshop were the many discussions that took place throughout the two-days, plus  dedicated feedback gathering sessions, where requirements were collected regarding which environmental products are needed for each institution and what additional training is required.