Event

The APAN sub-regional node for Northeast Asia at Keio University in Japan organized a “technical workshop on resource development and environmental management in climate change time” in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on August 15, 2015.

The soaring demand for mineral resources has created booming economic growth in Mongolia. Meanwhile, it is inevitably inducing adverse impacts on the vulnerable ecosystems and traditional nomadic lives of the people. Understanding  this critical situation helps  in our search for practical solutions to meet the global trend towards green development.

The aim of this workshop  is to share information and knowledge on the governance of mining resources and environmental management in Mongolia, and to enhance awareness of fundamental change in global economic and climatic change,  as well as to explore collaboration opportunities between institutions in this sub-region.

More than 30 participants from the Ministry of Mining,  the Inspection Agency of Mongolian government, national institutes, and universities joined the workshop, and 12 speakers presented their latest information about large-scale and small-scale mining, policy and practice in ecosystem assessment, and technologic applications involving  geographic information and remote sensing.

Following the workshop, selected participants joined a field trip to mining sites in Umnugovi Aimag, and visited the companies with the guide of the local Inspection Agency of Ming and Environment. The discussion in the workshop and the fieldwork revealed the gaps between the benefits of mining development on the one hand and  environmental conservation on the other. It is necessary  to enhance the capabilities  of governmental sectors in licensing mining development, monitoring,  and managing the adverse impacts.

Participants from private companies and non-profit organizations showed great interest in building capacity for the use of  information technologies for environmental assessment and consultation. The success of the workshop is also attributable  to the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Mongolia and the Japanese Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS) program.

Reported by Wanglin Yan, Professor, Director of Research Center for Climate Change Adaptation, Keio University