Minister of Environment and Tourism L. Gansukh Luimed, has told Deutsche Welle Mongolia hopes to benefit from German know-how when it comes to dealing with climate change. “We are currently developing our climate change adaptation strategy. Germany has a long tradition and experience in forest management. And it has already developed climate models for the next 100 years. We are sharing experience in these fields and we hope to learn some things that we can implement in Mongolia,” he said.

Mongolia is a landlocked country, with an average elevation of around 1,500 meters above sea level. The Minister said one figure best illustrates how Mongolia has been impacted by the global climate change. The global average temperature rise has been of 0.74 degrees C, whereas in Mongolia it has been 2.1 degrees in the past 70 years. “This causes serious problems such as water shortage, the drying up of rivers and springs, as well as drought and increasing desertification, which also leads to biodiversity loss,” he said, adding that as much as 70 percent of Mongolia”s territory was affected by desertification.

Another serious problem, he said, was overgrazing by herders’ animals. “We are exploring the possibility of exporting our products from animal husbandry. And if we can do that, then we will also be able to invest in decreasing the quantity but improving the quality of animals, increasing their productivity. Of course, quite an amount of investment is needed to do this which is why it will take time.”

 Dealing with air and water pollution will also take time, as basic infrastructure is missing even in the capital, Ulaabaatarr, where large areas are not connected to sewage systems.

Yet another ecological challenge facing the country is caused by mining. The industry is already very important in Mongolia but it is likely to grow dramatically over the coming years. There have been reports that illegal gold miners, the so-called “ninjas”, have been polluting the environment with mercury.

 Gansukh agreed that this was a concern, saying, “In the past 20 years, during the transition period from a planned to a market economy, there were many instances of small-scale gold mining, which were not always environmentally friendly. We will not tolerate that anymore. We have a new law that does not allow small-scale gold mining which damages the environment.”