President urged to watch over the Botanical Garden

Staff of the Institute of Botany at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS), the Botanical Garden, Institute of Biology at MAS, Mongolian Botanical Society, Association of Mongolian Foresters, and the departments of Botany and Forestry at the National University of Mongolia and Khovd University have written a letter to the President of Mongolia, requesting that he take the Botanical Garden under his auspices. Some foreign countries’ magnificent gardens and parks are under the auspices of their monarchs, which ensures their greater protection.

It is believed that if the garden is taken under the auspices of Ts.Elbegdorj, it will be safe from redevelopment and he will be the first president in the world to take a garden under his patronage. The Botanical Garden is not just an ordinary green area, it is home to distinct and rare plant reserves which makes its protection crucial.

The Botanical Garden is a designated “Place of Special Purposes of Mongolia” and is under the protection of the Ulaanbaatar Citizen’s Representative Council’s (UCRC) Decree 114. But despite the decree which states that these designated places are under protection and prohibited from privatization, rental or any other uses, many organizations and individuals have been trying to build construction sites on the garden’s land due to weak implementation of the ordinance.

Even the Deputy of Ulaanbaatar’s City Mayor, Ts.Enkhtsengel, had 10 hectares of the garden’s land privatized following the UCRC release of Decree 87.

As the city’s economic and political leaders have started coveting the garden’s land without any regard to its biological significance, the coalition of academics and preservationists have united to submit the proposal to President Ts.Elbegdorj.

The letter states: “President Ts. Elbegdorj, you were honored with the United Nations’ Champions of the Earth 2012 award for your contribution to a positive impact on the environment, and you initiated the ‘Sustainable Development Program of the 21st Century’, the national ‘Green Wall’ program, as well as National Tree Planting Day. Mongolia hosted World Environment Day for the very first time on June 5, at your initiative too. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced Mongolia as one of the first countries to join the Partnership for Action on the Green Economy (PAGE), a major new initiative to assist the global transition to a green economy, which we also see as a result of your hard work, commitment, effort and activities for a green Mongolia. Please approve our request and take the Botanical Garden under your auspices and pass it down to our next generations, protecting and developing it.”

Short URL: http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=5404

Share this post