Nomad Green, the Rising Voices grantee from Mongolia encourages citizen journalists to report about the degradation of environment in the country.

Mongolia's environmental woes are many-folds. Adverse effects of climate change like desertification, and man made situations like polluted rivers from mining waste and air pollution pose a great danger. According to a recent report of UNEP titled “Urban Water Vulnerability to Climate Change in Mongolia”:

Extreme temperatures and natural disasters such as droughts, flooding and heavy snowfalls are becoming more frequent and annual average temperatures have increased by 2.1° Celsius since the 1940. [..] The study's climate scenarios suggest that the country will have to get used to having much less water in the future.

Otgonsuren Jargal at an workshop of environmental journalists of Nomad Green in Ulaanbaatar. Image courtesy Nomad Green.

In this circumstance the Mongolian environmental activists face tough challenges. Otgonsuren Jargal, editor in chief of Nomad Green reports that:

Mongolian greens are continuing their struggles. Today some of them went to the court. People are fighting against mining activities which destroy the land and cause many rivers to be disappeared in Mongolia. Mongolian greens can not be patient when global political and business leaders see Mongolia only as a source of money and the map of Mongolia has become a paper where they plot their business plans.

Keith Herman Snow posts the story at Conscious Being:

In early September 2010, a small band of Mongolian citizens armed with hunting rifles opened fire on gold mining equipment owned by two foreign mining firms operating illegally in northern Mongolia. One of the four armed activists was Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, a 2007 winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize — the ‘Green Nobel’ — awarded annually to pivotal environmentalists taking a stand around the globe. [..]

Now he is denounced and shunned by the same foreigners who recognized him as a hero. This is a story about the killing of the earth, the killing of truth, the killing of hope — and the killing of the nomad's way.

Otgoo writes further:

If someone blame us for “shooting bulldozer’s tracks” there is no action to detest. It is really little thing we have done. There is nothing wrong because we won't regret even we are dead while fighting. [..]

the government does not pay an attention to this problem. So we are taking initiative and going to organize this event. If they do not understand it, we will go to the end.

Erdenebayar T, a member of Nomad Green, reports that from 1st of January 2011 launched an essay competition to reward the deserving citizen journalist and contributors.

There are five winners of the essay competition in the first two months which had the theme – ‘Air pollution’.

Traditional dwellings in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, are responsible for 60% of the city's air pollution during the long winter months. Image by Andrew Cullen. Copyright Demotix.

The winners are as follows:

• ‘Air pollution –Our enemy’ D.Monkh-Erdene pupil of the 1st high school in Sukhbaatar district
• ‘Although children can not decide an air pollution issue, but they are available of not throwing a waste away’ O.Lkhagvadulam pupil 1th laboratory high school in Sukhbaatar district
• ‘Let’s give a healthy social and fresh air to our young generation’ B.Uuganbayr 4th course student of Mongolian State Educational University
• ‘It is not easy to get rid of an air pollution’ (Japanese experience) G. Dovchindorj teacher “Etugen” university
• Are we breathing a carbon or an air?’ G.Tegshjargal editor in TV8 station.

An workshop of Nomad Green. Image courtesy Nomad Green

Read the Nomad Green Blog (in six languages) for more news about the threat to environment in Mongolia.