Category Archives: Policy

Guest Post: Understanding the Challenges of Water Development and Hydropower Plant Projects

By BOLORMAA Purevjav A “National Program for renewable energy 2005-2020” of Mongolia was adopted in 2005 planning the development of feasibility studies for the construction of large hydropower plants on the Selenge, Eg and Orkhon rivers. The Government of Mongolia … Continue reading

Posted in Bolormaa Purevjav, Environment, Environmental Movements, International Agreements, International Relations, Mining, Mongolia and ..., Policy, Regulation, River Movements, Russia, Water | Leave a comment

Khurelksukh’s (First Presidential) Visit to the UN General Assembly

By Julian Dierkes U Khurelsukh attended the annual UN General Assembly in New York for the first time since his election as president. The President of Mongolia Ukhnaa Khurelsukh delivered a statement at the General Debate of the 76th session … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Health, Japan, Mongolia and ..., Peacekeeping, Policy, UN | Tagged | Leave a comment

Oyun-Erdene Cabinet

By Bulgan B, Marissa Smith and Julian Dierkes After U Khurelsukh’s sudden resignation, the MPP moved swiftly to nominate 2-time MP and serving Cabinet Secretary L Oyun-Erdene as Prime Minister. As speculated, (see: here, here, and here), the new Cabinet … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Education, Energy, Foreign Policy, Ikh Khural 2020, Mongolian People's Party, Policy, Policy, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Ministers in Khurelsukh’s Cabinet

By Julian Dierkes, Marissa Smith and Bulgan Batdorj Byambajav has already provided a brief introduction to the 16 ministers who have been appointed to PM Khurelsukhs post-2020-election cabinet. Since a number of them are not MPs and have not been … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Foreign Policy, Governance, Health, Ikh Khural 2020, Infrastructure, Law, Military, Mining, Policy, Politics, Public Policy, Society and Culture, Tourism | Tagged | Leave a comment

Covering 2020 Election

By Julian Dierkes Mongolia Focus is facing a challenge! In all likelihood, due to COVID-19, none of our core team will be able to travel to Mongolia for the campaign, nor for the election itself. Help us, dear readers, by … Continue reading

Posted in Author, City Planning, Democracy, eDemocracy, Elections, Foreign Policy, Ikh Khural 2020, Media and Press, Party Politics, Policy, Policy, Politics, Populism, Public Policy | Leave a comment

Constitutional Amendments Adopted

By Julian Dierkes While some details remain curiously unclear (as is so frustratingly often the case with Mongolian legislation and reporting on it, the Ikh Khural approved a number of constitutional amendments on Nov 15. While these are subject to … Continue reading

Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Elections, Governance, JD Democratization, JD Mining Governance, Judiciary, Mining Governance, Party Politics, Policy, Policy, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Toward a Transition Away from Coal

By Sandeep Pai and Julian Dierkes In November 2018, Tsenguun T and Aldarsaikhan T wrote a guest post describing the Mongolian podcast scene. Since then, more podcasts have sprung up, for example, recent guest post co-author Boldsaikhan S is involved … Continue reading

Posted in Air Pollution, China, Climate Change, Development, Diversification, Energy, Foreign Investment, Infrastructure, Podcast, Policy, Policy, Renewables, Sandeep Pai, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

Preliminary Results of Tavan Tolgoi Study: Irresponsible State, Disenfranchised Drivers

By Mendee Jargalsaikhan & Byambajav Dalaibuyan  The Mongolian Institute for Innovative Policies conducted a human rights assessment in areas affected by Tavan Tolgoi coal mining and transportation operations in Tsogt-Tsetsii, Bayan-Ovoo, and Khanbogd soums of Umnugobi province in March – … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Environment, Erdenes Mongol, Gobi, Human Rights, Infrastructure, Mining, Mining Governance, Policy, Public Opinion, Tavan Tolgoi | Tagged , | Leave a comment

False Dzud Alarms

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

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

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?

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 | 5 Comments

Did (Any of) My Saikhanbileg Wishes Come True?

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

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, JD Mining Governance, Mining, Mining, Mining Governance, Policy, Regulation, Water | Tagged | Leave a comment

Berkeley Conference “Deadly Modernity”

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