Land of the blue sky?
Pollution responsible for up to 25% of deaths in UB
UB residents deserve better than a toxic city
By B.KHASH-ERDENE, E.DARI, M.ZOLJARGAL, U.ARIUNJARGAL, LISA GARDNER
Ulaanbaatar, home of over 1.2 million residents, is a booming economic hub full of potential to foreign investors but to most of its inhabitants, the wonder is lost in the smog caused by air pollution.
Ulaanbaatar is the world’s second most polluted city. According to a major 2011 World Bank study on air pollution and its health effects, up to 25 percent of all deaths in Ulaanbaatar – that is, one in four of the city’s residents – can be attributed to air pollution. While most industrial cities across the globe experience air pollution, here in Ulaanbaatar, residents are at increasing risk of death and serious illness as a result of the air that they breathe.
Air pollution, in global terms, is by no means a “new” issue. The dire health effects related to indoor and outdoor pollution, on an industrial and domestic scale, are long established. Neighboring countries such as China are not only familiar with, but acting purposefully to diminish the widespread nature of the problem. Yet, here in Ulaanbaatar, we feel there is by no means genuine acknowledgement on behalf of government officials of the magnitude of the problem, nor enough sustained, consistent, research-led efforts to tackle it.
Over the course of this investigation, and in speaking with a range of local and international experts, our journalists have been shocked to discover the enormous “untold story” of air pollution and its effects upon city residents. Many of us, prior to this edition, felt that expensive air purifiers, even masks, were just a waste of money. Instead, we discovered that air pollution presents one of the greatest threats that both our city and country has yet faced, perhaps in its history.
Local residents often chitchat about air pollution, taking note of its patterns each year. Still, few realize the effects of pollution upon the body, while even less take active protective measures to prevent the devastating range of cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases that come about as a result of such high levels of pollutant exposure. Instead our city’s residents are presented with a range of harrowing symptoms, from coughing and wheezing, to heart attacks, strokes, and for women, even miscarriage.
We believe that air pollution emerges as the city’s largest and most significant untold story. Not only is air pollution responsible for deaths, but countless lives are affected in a multitude of ways. Medical expenses alone are said to amounts to 463 million USD, or roughly one fifth of Ulaanbaatar’s economic output, according to the World Bank. Yet we cannot quantitively measure the enormous cost to society and wasted potential that this represents. Such potential is vital to our society and though it cannot be measured, it can – under these circumstances – be irretrievably lost.
Despite their efforts so far, overall, the government is failing to effectively resolve the problem
Although, the issue has been receiving more and more attention in recent years from the government and international organizations, including the World Bank and World Health Organization, experts feel that air pollution should be the country’s top priority as it is the biggest issue facing Mongolia today. After all, what’s more important that the basic wellbeing and living conditions of more than half of the nation’s population?
When the new government was formed in 2012, Cabinet members agreed that the best way to tackle pollution over the long term would be to relocate those who live in ger district areas to apartments. Despite this, the sudden launch of the many billions of MNT worth of subsidies on construction material, and the issuance of low interest housing mortgages further fuelled real-estate prices that are already proving impossibly high for the majority of residents to afford.
Similarly, the “clean” stoves distributed by the government were to halve air pollution in the city over the short term. While more than 100,000 stoves were distributed to households across the city, significant problems remain. Prof. Lodoysamba of the National University of Mongolia who studies pollution in the city said that the fuel available to ger districts, coal from Nalaikh and Baganuur mines, isn’t able to fully utilize the stoves efficiently.
Elsewhere, the government has long since promised to eliminate air pollution via the installation of electric heating systems for city residents, which in turn would require a new power plant to be built on the city’s outskirts. Thermal Power Plant No.5 project is still in its preliminary stages and it is expected to commence operation in 2016.
Yet, as is well known, consecutive governments of Mongolia have a somewhat scattered history of not making good on their promises. The majority of the public remains skeptical that the project well be completed by its estimated date.
Finding data on air pollution from the government has proven difficult. The government’s Clean Air Fund and the Ministry of Environment and Nature are both reluctant to give specific information and hard facts about the issue. This year, city and state authorities were quick to note that air pollution has dropped this year, but failed to provide specific information as to the exact percentage, causes for the drop, and the specific studies conducted on the matter.
In the Constitutional Law of Mongolia, it states that the people have the right to live in a healthy and safe environment, and be protected from natural disasters and environmental pollution. Yet the state fails to provide basic information on the extent of air pollution and its affects. The people of Mongolia deserve to know, and they deserve to live in a healthy and safe environment.
Short URL: http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=7521
UB residents deserve better than a toxic city
By B.KHASH-ERDENE, E.DARI, M.ZOLJARGAL, U.ARIUNJARGAL, LISA GARDNER
Ulaanbaatar, home of over 1.2 million residents, is a booming economic hub full of potential to foreign investors but to most of its inhabitants, the wonder is lost in the smog caused by air pollution.
Ulaanbaatar is the world’s second most polluted city. According to a major 2011 World Bank study on air pollution and its health effects, up to 25 percent of all deaths in Ulaanbaatar – that is, one in four of the city’s residents – can be attributed to air pollution. While most industrial cities across the globe experience air pollution, here in Ulaanbaatar, residents are at increasing risk of death and serious illness as a result of the air that they breathe.
Air pollution, in global terms, is by no means a “new” issue. The dire health effects related to indoor and outdoor pollution, on an industrial and domestic scale, are long established. Neighboring countries such as China are not only familiar with, but acting purposefully to diminish the widespread nature of the problem. Yet, here in Ulaanbaatar, we feel there is by no means genuine acknowledgement on behalf of government officials of the magnitude of the problem, nor enough sustained, consistent, research-led efforts to tackle it.
Over the course of this investigation, and in speaking with a range of local and international experts, our journalists have been shocked to discover the enormous “untold story” of air pollution and its effects upon city residents. Many of us, prior to this edition, felt that expensive air purifiers, even masks, were just a waste of money. Instead, we discovered that air pollution presents one of the greatest threats that both our city and country has yet faced, perhaps in its history.
Local residents often chitchat about air pollution, taking note of its patterns each year. Still, few realize the effects of pollution upon the body, while even less take active protective measures to prevent the devastating range of cardiovascular, respiratory and other diseases that come about as a result of such high levels of pollutant exposure. Instead our city’s residents are presented with a range of harrowing symptoms, from coughing and wheezing, to heart attacks, strokes, and for women, even miscarriage.
We believe that air pollution emerges as the city’s largest and most significant untold story. Not only is air pollution responsible for deaths, but countless lives are affected in a multitude of ways. Medical expenses alone are said to amounts to 463 million USD, or roughly one fifth of Ulaanbaatar’s economic output, according to the World Bank. Yet we cannot quantitively measure the enormous cost to society and wasted potential that this represents. Such potential is vital to our society and though it cannot be measured, it can – under these circumstances – be irretrievably lost.
Despite their efforts so far, overall, the government is failing to effectively resolve the problem
Although, the issue has been receiving more and more attention in recent years from the government and international organizations, including the World Bank and World Health Organization, experts feel that air pollution should be the country’s top priority as it is the biggest issue facing Mongolia today. After all, what’s more important that the basic wellbeing and living conditions of more than half of the nation’s population?
When the new government was formed in 2012, Cabinet members agreed that the best way to tackle pollution over the long term would be to relocate those who live in ger district areas to apartments. Despite this, the sudden launch of the many billions of MNT worth of subsidies on construction material, and the issuance of low interest housing mortgages further fuelled real-estate prices that are already proving impossibly high for the majority of residents to afford.
Similarly, the “clean” stoves distributed by the government were to halve air pollution in the city over the short term. While more than 100,000 stoves were distributed to households across the city, significant problems remain. Prof. Lodoysamba of the National University of Mongolia who studies pollution in the city said that the fuel available to ger districts, coal from Nalaikh and Baganuur mines, isn’t able to fully utilize the stoves efficiently.
Elsewhere, the government has long since promised to eliminate air pollution via the installation of electric heating systems for city residents, which in turn would require a new power plant to be built on the city’s outskirts. Thermal Power Plant No.5 project is still in its preliminary stages and it is expected to commence operation in 2016.
Yet, as is well known, consecutive governments of Mongolia have a somewhat scattered history of not making good on their promises. The majority of the public remains skeptical that the project well be completed by its estimated date.
Finding data on air pollution from the government has proven difficult. The government’s Clean Air Fund and the Ministry of Environment and Nature are both reluctant to give specific information and hard facts about the issue. This year, city and state authorities were quick to note that air pollution has dropped this year, but failed to provide specific information as to the exact percentage, causes for the drop, and the specific studies conducted on the matter.
In the Constitutional Law of Mongolia, it states that the people have the right to live in a healthy and safe environment, and be protected from natural disasters and environmental pollution. Yet the state fails to provide basic information on the extent of air pollution and its affects. The people of Mongolia deserve to know, and they deserve to live in a healthy and safe environment.
Short URL: http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/?p=7521
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