The Standing Committee on Nature, Environment, Food and Agriculture yesterday reported that it met 15 times during the Autumn session to discuss 42 issues, including draft laws on hunting, animal classification, hunting fees, fees for animal catching permission, wild plants and air pollution reduction in Ulaanbaatar.

The head of the committee, P.Altangerel, and two members, G.Bayarsaikhan and N.Ganbyamba, told a media conference that they postponed discussing the establishment of an exchange for agricultural raw material as they wanted to ascertain the views of herders. Members will do this now that Parliament is in recess and they will be in their electoral districts. Similarly, they would like more study on the draft law on pasture land. Mongolia leads the world in the number of animals but 80% of its territory is degraded and 90% of the pasture land is damaged.