The
Mongolian Green Party, the National Green Movement and the Green Coalition from
Mongolia were among the 150
organizations from the region and the European Union which attended the recent
second conference of Green networks in the Asia-Pacific region in Taipei. Its main purpose
was to discuss issues of environmental protection, ecological crisis,
restoration of nature and resource allocation. Mongolian delegates talked about
the dangers of uncontrolled mining and the “yellow plague of gold mining”, and
detailed the damage being caused to the population and the environment by
practices such as indiscriminate use of chemicals, inadequate environmental
restoration and artisanal mining.

The
Chinese representatives
refused to sign a joint appeal by all participants to the President and the
Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament demanding immediate humanitarian assistance
to the people of Khongor soum, an end to artisanal gold mining and joining the
international convention against environmental crimes. The final document
prepared at the conference had a special reference to the situation in Mongolia.