Ger districts in Ulaanbaatar

By D.Oyumaa, Hobby School, Mongolia

Mongolia, which is located in the center of Asia, is a country rich of traditions and culture. From hundreds of years ago, Mongolians started to live in gers, which can be referred to a tent made out of wool. Since ancient Mongolians were nomads, ger was suitable for them to live, because it is easy to set up and also to set down. Even today, more than half of all the citizens of Mongolia live in a ger, especially in the countryside and the capital city Ulaanbaatar. Even though it is great that we are still keeping our tradition and are passing it on to our ancestors, people use coal or wood to heat up their gers during cold weather, which means it produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. Almost 90 percent of all the emissions in UB (Ulaanbaatar) come from ger districts, and the rest come from cars and power stations. So if we solve the main problem- ger district, the total amount of emissions will reduce discernibly.

The main reason why there are too much gers in UB is migration. Thousands and thousands of people are moving into UB annually, to work and live in better conditions, to earn money, to study at universities and to improve their lives. But most of them do not get what they want, because there aren’t enough jobs for everyone, goods are expensive and so are colleges and universities. These people who already have problems have no choice but to live in gers which will probably cost them cheapest.

As I have stated before, the main reason why people come to Ulaanbaatar is to study, work and have a better life, and that means if we change the countryside into developed towns with plenty of jobs out there, people would not come to Ulaanbaatar, and these people who came to Ulaanbaatar will go back. So to prevent arrivals from the countryside to Ulaanbaatar and increasing number of people living in gers, we have to develop the countryside. It wouldn’t be false, if I say that government stopped caring for the countryside. There are lots of new buildings being built in the city, but nothing in the countryside, which shows that people have completely forgotten the countryside because of its little population. Also the government should build universities, hospitals and schools in the countryside, which are the biggest reasons why lots of people are moving.

Other solution for decreasing the number of gers in UB is to transform gers into apartments. Even though the government has already made rules about this, there is nothing being done. So we have to make sure the government takes it as a serious project which can change everything. Also, the government should introduce clean coal to all the people living in gers. However clean coal might be too expensive for a country which is just starting to develop such as Mongolia. But if not clean coal, we can at least use fuels which produce less emission than the normal coal. These types of fuels are already being made at few factories, and the government has to advertise them more and make them cheaper.

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