Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 03 2022

AsiaElec AsiaElec

Mongolia’s environment

minister fired for failing to solve

Ulaanbaatar’s air pollution

MONGOLIA URTNASAN Nyamjav, Mongolia’s environ- when they reach their 30s or 40s.
ment minister, is the latest politician to be found Also, according to the non-governmental
wanting in the face of Ulaanbaatar’s grim winter organisation Breathe Mongolia: “Fertility rates
air pollution problem. Prime Minister Oyun- in Ulaanbaatar indicate a direct link to air pol-
Erdene Luvsannamsrai this week gave her the lution levels. Mongolia’s fertility rate fell by 25%
chop, arguing her efforts to solve the capital city’s between 1990 and 2017, with the average num-
smog dilemma lacked the required vigour in the ber of children born to a single woman falling
face of the enormous challenge. from four to three. Medical records from 2014-
Right from her appointment a year ago, Urt- 15 demonstrate a cyclical association between air
nasan was under fire because of a widespread pollution and fertility in Ulaanbaatar: there was a
feeling that she did not have the necessary qual- 3.2-fold drop in successful conception in January
ifications for her position, a post that also gave (the month with the highest levels of the air pol-
her the tourism brief. She is generally perceived lutant PM2.5) compared to October.”
by the public as a career journalist with little In 2019, the government outlawed the use
experience in environmental or tourism issues. of raw coal in Ulaanbaatar and introduced
Mendsaikhan Zagdjav, the food, agriculture refined coal briquettes to the public. They were
and light industry minister, will now serve as marketed as odourless and as having a higher
an interim environment and tourism minister, burning point than raw coal. However, after the
while Ulaanbaatar Mayor Sumiyabazar Dolgor- briquettes became available, there were several
suren has been specifically tasked with combat- reports of individuals dying from asphyxia after
ting the air pollution. using the new fuel. The government addressed
Ulaanbaatar has suffered from winter air concerns by urging the public to clean their
pollution for two decades. Few places in the stoves before using the fuel and doubled down
world can outdo it for the scale of the difficul- on the proposition that the fuel was considerably
ties. Aside from smoke from power plants and safer than raw coal.
car emissions, the burning of raw coal for heat- Inhabitants of Ulaanbaatar have claimed that
ing on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar in ger (yurt) this winter’s air pollution is worse than what was
areas—where residents have no central heating endured last year. In response to the criticism,
piping—has been identified as the main culprit Urtnasan at a parliamentary session on January
behind the blight. 11 stated that the cause of the increase in air pol-
In Ulaanbaatar—home to 46% of Mongolia’s lution was people burning more of the refined
population, or more than 1.8mn people—more coal.
than 60% of inhabitants live in ger districts. As On January 12, the cabinet formed a working
more and more people from rural areas have group that was given a week to evaluate refined
flocked to the city, the air pollution problem has fuel issues and assess the increase in air pollu-
worsened. tion. The working group was led by Urtnasan
The topography of Ulaanbaatar poses is a and Tavinbekh Nansal, the energy minister.
headache. The city lies at the bottom of a valley, Following the cabinet meeting, the group
surrounded by four mountains. Due to temper- used drones to monitor air quality. There was a
ature inversion, haze frequently obscures both public outcry as city dwellers complained about
its landscape and the mountains. The inver- what they saw as a lack of dedication in their
sion traps cold air along with the contaminants efforts. That spurred the two ministers to visit a
within it beneath warm air. Chilly air from the ger district and the Tavan Tolgoi fuel company.
neighbouring highlands seeps into and beneath Nonetheless, it seems that the group was not able
the city’s warm air, while the mountain ranges to provide tangible results to sway the prime
and other climatic circumstances frequently pre- minister into retaining Urtnasan in her position.
vent wind, rain or snow—elements that serve to Just one day before her dismissal, Urtna-
remove air contaminants. san collaborated with the European Union’s
The long-term impact of air pollution in ambassador to Mongolia, Axelle Nicaise, on the
Mongolia has yet to be decisively determined; launch of the Switch Off Air Pollution initiative.
nevertheless, specialists have concluded that It is funded by the European Union to the tune
children born in Ulaanbaatar after the year 2000 of €2.1mn and aims to prevent heat loss in ger
may go on to suffer severe respiratory ailments areas. There is a long way to go.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 19•January•2022