G.Bayarsaikhan (DP), who was among
the MPs who had initiated the controversial law that prohibited mining
operations in certain areas to protect the environment, has admitted that both
exploration and extraction work continues, almost as before, near prohibited
areas. He has noted with regret how both major political parties promised to
take substantive measures to protect the environment when they campaigned in
the election, only to forget all about it when they came to power and were in a
position to do something. The law contains nothing that was not there in both
parties’ manifestoes, and the government’s Action Plan also referred to the
need to prohibit mining work in and near forests and water basins. Unfortunately,
they have succumbed to pressure from powerful lobbies.

The MP feels people must be made to realize that environmental concerns are not
a fashion but something that affects the very survival of Mongolians.
Government reports confirm what people who move around the country know well
enough, that innumerable lakes, ponds, rivulets, have been drying and then
dying out. Their number will only increase with unchecked and haphazard mining.
“We are inviting disaster for the sake of immediate commercial profit. Forest
fires are getting more frequent and the desert is spreading. Things will get
worse with global warming. “We must change our ways and not challenge the
environment for a few kilograms of gold,” he said.