Category Archives: Environment

Mongolia at Davos 2018: Party like it’s 2009?

Posted on February 1, 2018 by marissa smith

By Marissa Smith In recent years, Mongolia has regularly sent a delegation to the World Economic Forum at Davos. This year was somewhat less eventful than some years, when President Elbegdorj himself attended and presided over a “Mongolia Night” and … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Development, Economics, Environment, Environment, Erdenet, Foreign Policy, Infrastructure, International Cooperation Fund, International Relations, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Mongolia and ..., Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Politics, South Korea | Tagged | Leave a comment

False Dzud Alarms

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Periodically, parts of the Mongolian countryside experience heavy snowfall at the end of a long, cold winter. These conditions combine to deny animals access to any kind of grass under the masses of snow when they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Countryside, Grassland, Health, Policy | Tagged | 2 Comments

Guest Post: CIRDI Workshop Mongolian Young Professionals Shining

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Delgermaa B Short reflection on the capacity building training organized on June 19-23, 2017, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Mongolian Young Professional are Shining Just few weeks ago I had a chance to participate in the capacity building training organized by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, CIRDI, Delgermaa Boldbaatar, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy | Leave a comment

Thoughts and Comments on Organic Mongolia

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes Early in December a bit of inspiration struck after I had read an ADB blog post and received a lot of responses to a tweet about that post. I wondered aloud whether it would be possible for … Continue reading →

Posted in Countryside, Development, Environment, Grassland, Infrastructure, Policy, Public Policy, Regulation, Tourism | Tagged | 3 Comments

What if Mongolia Went All-Organic?

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes I recently re-tweeted an ADB tweet about one of their blog posts, “The Foreseeable Future of Mongolia’s Agriculture” So important to note that “#Mongolia’s agriculture […] is organic, less polluted” thus huge, high-value potential in East Asia.#yummy … Continue reading →

Posted in Cashmere, Countryside, Development, Environment, Grassland, Infrastructure, Policy, Policy, Public Policy, Regulation, Tourism | Tagged | 4 Comments

Did (Any of) My Saikhanbileg Wishes Come True?

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes In December 2014 when the first Saikhanbileg cabinet had been formed, I wrote a personal wishlist of actions I was hoping that cabinet might take. J Erdenebat was the finance minister in that cabinet. All the more … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Democracy, Democratic Party, Education, Foreign Policy, Ikh Khural 2016, Mining, Party Politics, Policy, Policy, Politics, Public Policy, Public Service | Tagged | Leave a comment

Education about Extractives to Alleviate Poverty

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes As we continue the “IMAGinE Mongolia” work on drafting a curriculum for providing basic and more advanced knowledge of the extractive sector, there are a number of challenges we’re running into in discussions with colleagues from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aimags, CIRDI, Countryside, Development, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Policy, Regulation, Water | Tagged | Leave a comment

Berkeley Conference “Deadly Modernity”

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Julian Dierkes

By Julian Dierkes The Mongolia Initiative at UC Berkeley’s Institute of East Asian Studies hosted a conference entitled “Deadly Modernity: The Environmental Crisis Behind Mongolia’s Swift Development” March 10-12, 2016. I don’t think anyone was tweeting from the conference, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Polution, Conferences, Countryside, Environment, Environment, Environmental Movements, Grassland, Health, Mining, Nationalism, Policy, Politics, Research on Mongolia, River Movements, Social Movements, Water | Tagged | 1 Comment

Learning about Development Policy in Uvs Aimag

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Julian Dierkes

I just visited Uvs province in Western Mongolia for the first time and had the chance to meet with stakeholder representatives from government, civil society, small businesses, and the corporate sector to learn about their development policy. Fascinating 1st visit … Continue reading →

Posted in CIRDI, Civil Society, Countryside, Development, Mining, Policy, Policy, Regulation, Social Issues, Social Movements, Water | Tagged | 2 Comments

Policy Series: Mining Policy Failures (I)

Posted on June 2, 2015 by mendee

Mining policy is a good entry point to understand the overall policy-making processes of Mongolia. For one, mining has been one of the dominant economic sectors of Mongolia since the early 1900s.[1] Second, with extensive mining activities, mining has caused … Continue reading →

Posted in Governance, Mining, Mining, Oyu Tolgoi, Policy, Policy, Policy Series | Tagged | 2 Comments

Policy Series: Typical Explanations for Policy Failures (II)

Posted on June 2, 2015 by mendee

The following explanations are commonly offered to explain these faulty mining policies. External Factors – In the absence of major international or regional armed conflicts and threats (conventional and non-conventional), politicians often highlight two external factors – the dynamics of … Continue reading →

Posted in Policy, Policy, Policy Series | Tagged | Leave a comment

Policy Series: A Typical Quick Solution – ‘Let’s Change It’ Syndrome (III)

Posted on June 2, 2015 by mendee

In retrospect, the most common methods for dealing with policy failures have been first to blame each other – politicians, parties, factions, and civil society activists in addition to geopolitics and global economy and second to change policies without asking … Continue reading →

Posted in Governance, Policy, Policy, Policy Series, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mongolia in the 2014 Social Progress Index

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Julian Dierkes

[This post was written jointly by Undral Amarsaikhan and Julian Dierkes] On April 2, the Social Progressive Imperative released its 2014 Social Progress Index. For the first time, this included Mongolia. The Social Progressive Index is an index of indices … Continue reading →

Posted in Air Polution, Corruption, Development, Economics, Education, Governance, Nomadism, Policy, Policy, Primary and Secondary Education, Research on Mongolia, Social Change, Undral Amarsaikhan, Water | Tagged | 1 Comment

Guest Post: Christopher Carter on the Role of Bag Governors

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Julian Dierkes

This post features a new community character from Bag 4, Abu the bag governor. This summer alongside this community I experimented with a participatory planning tool that I hope to refine over the upcoming years at UBC.  Participating clans were … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Carter, Countryside, Kazakhs, Nomadism, Research on Mongolia, Water | 1 Comment

Guest Post: Christopher Carter on Kazakh Mongolians in Far West

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Julian Dierkes

For the past month I have been living at the mountain pastures of the fourth bag of Saqai Soum in Olgii province Mongolia working on researching participatory planning and water resource development. Olgii province is home to Mongolia’s largest ethnicity, a Kazakh … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Carter, Countryside, Grassland, Kazakhs, Nomadism, Water | Leave a comment