Event

 

The Research Centre for Climate Change Adaptation (RCCCA) of Keio University, the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) sub-regional node for Northeast Asia, co-organized the 6th International Workshop on Remote Sensing and Environmental Innovations in Mongolia from 10-11 June 2013 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, along with the National University of Mongolia, Oxford University, and Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Science. 

 

The international gathering attracted 98 participants from 13 countries (Mongolia, India, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, Pakistan, USA, Canada, Korea, Russia, and China) as well as from 8 Mongolian provinces. Participants included leaders from NGO’s, governmental agency representatives as well as academics and local community leaders.

 

The purpose of the workshop was to expose and discuss the complex challenges that are jointly bringing about a considerable wave of change to Mongolia, with a special emphasis on the shared issue of climate change.  Perhaps more than any other nation in Asia, Mongolia is currently working to balance the dual challenges of economic growth and climate change, and is vigorously searching for a way forward that will allow for sustainable development as it begins to take advantage of a remarkably large store of natural resources.

 

With this context in mind the two day workshop was broadly divided into “special” and “technical” sessions. In the case of the former, the topics covered included Climate Hazards in the Gobi, Assessing agricultural resources in Mongolia, and Climate change adaptation in North east Asia.  The “technical” sessions, which focused on the technology of climate science included Integration of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technology, Nano satellite and Cansat technology, Practicing Adaptation and Community Based Economic Innovation, and Natural Resources and Environmental Science. Additionally a special interview session was organized by RCCCA that brought together rural community leaders and local governmental agents from the Ministry of the Environment, to discuss the needs of the communities as seen from the perspective of daily life.  The combination of knowledge gained through objective technology-based remote sensing, as well as from interviews with local residents was particularly revealing. Problems clearly overlap at both scales.

 

The workshop covered a broad spectrum of topics; from global climate change and the impact of human activities, to community based adaptation, and from collaboration of rural communities with scientists and policy makers, to space engineering education and the integrated application of remote sensing and GIS technology.  Taken together the presentations painted a broad picture of the needs of the local communities and the nation in the face of climate change.  They also highlighted some of the gaps in policy and capacity in the face of the issues before them.  In general the most significant issue that needs to be addressed is the immense pressure to capitalize on the discovery and exploitation of natural resources. At the same time is it is very clear that the nation is struggling with climate issues that are causing severe hardship for the nomadic population of herders.  Economic and climate pressures are in turn contributing to an impressive migration of the nation’s population into its cities, which is leading directly to increased pollution in particular in the capital city of Ulaanbataar.  Some preliminary comments were offered that may help to ameliorate the severity of these changes but it is clear that further research, as well as development of capacity to carry out research, will be needed in order to take on climate change issues directly.  Future workshops and activities will hopefully elaborate on how that may happen in a more concrete way.