Lessons from the Dzud: Community-Based Rangeland Management Increases the Adaptive Capacity of Mongolian Herders to Winter Disasters

•We studied herder communities with and without community-based natural resource management (CBNRM).•Mobility and storage were the most important strategies to limit livestock losses.•CBNRM herders scored higher on major indicators of adaptive capacity.•Knowledge exchange, information access, linking social capital, and proactive behavior increased adaptive capacity.•To strengthen adaptive capacity institutional constraints must be removed. We investigated the role of formal community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in responding and adapting to the 2009–10 winter weather disaster in Mongolia, by comparing herders’ adaptation strategies and adaptive capacity in communities with and without formal CBNRM. Livestock mobility and forage and hay storage were the most important strategies for limiting livestock loss, but these depended on resource pooling and exchange strategies. CBNRM herders demonstrated greater adaptive capacity than non-CBNRM herders, due to greater knowledge exchange, information access, linking social capital, and proactive behavior. Social factors mediate and institutional constraints limit the implementation of adaptive strategies in Mongolia.