Nomad Green: Environmental Activism

ng 7th workshopRising Voices grantee Nomad Green continues to use citizen media to spread environmental activism in Mongolia. On the 5th of September, 2009, 26 participants joined the 7th workshop of Nomad Green. The workshop took place in an internet cafe in Ulaanbatar and the theme of the event was “Green Urban Design”. You can check the pictures of the workshop here.

Portnoy Zheng informed about the workshop earlier:

A speaker who is an expert of this field will give workshop participants a 40 minutes talk and then we will visit a green construction site maintained by Mongolian Green Coalition, an environmental NGO that is trying to change the poor living condition of more than 60% of city population who live in yurt district.

ng 7th workshop 2

On the 8th of September another workshop took place in Choibalsan, a far Eastern city of Mongolia. The topic was agriculture since the eastern aimags (province) of Mongolia are agriculture-based (photos can be found here).

The above two workshops were conducted by Nomad Green editors Otgoo and Odnoo.

ng workshop taipei

Portnoy Zheng held another workshop in Taipei with 15 Mongolian students who are studying in Taiwan. Photos of the workshop can be found here.

In our last report we commented that there are many posts by Nomad Green bloggers in Mongolian, but non Mongolian speakers cannot read them. Thanks to the passionate translators of Nomad Green like Azaa, Ariungerel, Tungaa, and Odnoo many articles have already been translated from Mongolian into English. We are highlighting some of them here.

Greenroza (Narantsetseg Nanzad) informs that according to the Mongolian law, a payment for exploration of precious metal and other mineral resources needs to be made by the mining companies. These funds should go into local budget for the local area development and to solve the social issues of the locals. But nobody actually pays and the law is never enforced. The blogger opines:

NGOs should run activities to teach more about the legal rights of citizens, to monitor state actions, and to increase participation of citizen in social life.

Oyunmandah Byambasuren informs of some revolutionary decisions by the Mongolian government. The following are the major decisions among others:

* Banning the use or import of plastic bags for packaging or wrapping from 2010.
* Cutting down trees to construct piers or other structures is prohibited.
* Hunting licenses limit killing of animals.

Tamir Batbayar (Tamiraa) shares his findings and excitement about the cutting-edge wind energy power plant, which he believes could solve the air pollution problem in Ulaanbatar. The blogger also comments:

Chinggis Khan used to care and protect the nature no one else could ever do. If we really admire our great khan, we should follow and respect the “Ikh Zasag” law of Chinggis Khan. In this law, it tells how Mongolians should treat the nature and the environment.

Gerel visited Taiwan in August and describes his reactions and experiences in the post “Highly developed countries also have their own problems“:

Taiwan is located on a very small island so there aren’t any fresh water except rain water and climate is very hot. People in Taiwan pay 30,000 tugrug for cold air or conditioner. It means they buy cold air. Can you imagine? How can we live without air and water?

As for today the water we drink and air we breathe is free. So protect them, Mongolians!!!

Otgonsuren Jargal also shares shares how Taiwan is seen through Mongolian eyes.

Liang Guo writes about the water and air pollution in Mongolia.

Dorjgotovariungerel shares the lives of herders in Arkhangai aimag where blooming plants and for dairy products such as airag are abundant in the summer. The blogger also notices:

I observed other strange one that local administrators like to meet with mining people who has a license of exploration and exploitation on mining. [..] And I believe that soum governor doesn’t worry about degradation of the environment including land degradation, overgrazing and soil erosion.

Taiwanese group

Nomad Green is also organizing Taiwanese people/NGOs to visit Mongolia to better the understanding between both the nations. The professors and students from Fu Jen Catholic University visited Mongolia in July to share their love and passion. Portnoy writes about them:

This is not their first time to Mongolia, in fact. However, due to the financial crisis, they also faced the difficulty of less donation. However, they successfully managed to go to Mongolia and cooperate with local Catholic organizations for several interesting workshops and camps for children, teenagers, and house makers.

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