Mongolia 's diverse and distinctive vegetation includes an important part of Asia 's plant life. Species representative of Siberia 's coniferous taiga forest, Central Asia 's steppe and desert, and the Altai and Sayan mountains all occur here. Steppe plants from Kazakhstan grow beside Manchurian steppe flowers. More than 3000 species of vascular plants, 927 lichens, 437 mosses, 875 fungi, and numerous algae has been recorded. Many other species, however, remains classified. Mongolia 's flora includes almost 150 endemic plants and nearly 100 relic species. Over 100 plant species listed in the Mongolian Red book as rare or endangered. Like its vegetation, Mongolia 's fauna represents a mixture of species from the northern taiga of Siberia , the steppe, and the deserts of Central Asia . Fauna includes 136 species of mammals, 436 birds, 8 amphibians, 22 reptiles, 75 fish, and numerous invertebrates.

The common natural resource is surface and underground water. The total annual water reservoir of Mongolia is 34cub.km and most of it is fresh water. In Mongolia , there are many possibilities of using the water resource properly. Almost 51% of the overall reserves belong to the Arctic Ocean , 12% to the Pacific Ocean basin, and 37% to the Central Asian basin, which has no outlet. All rivers in Mongolia are roughly 65.000 km long and many of them have clear water. They are mostly mountain rivers with a steady current. The possible total reserve is Mongolia is 6 billion cub.m. 670 million cub.m water is being used now for industry and agriculture in about 300 cities and towns.

Forests, which include 140 species of wood and scrubs, cover about 14 million hectares of land constituting nearly 9% of the overall territory. The total forest resources are more than 1.2 billion cub.m. It is estimated that between five and 7 million cub.m of wood grow every year. Forests are mostly in the northern parts of the country, namely in Khuvsgul, Selenge, Bulgan, Khentii and Arkhangai aimags. Over 84% of forest belongs to the territories of these aimags. About 62% of forests is coniferous and 38% leaf bearing. Mongolia has the highest forest resources per person in the world.