IPS – /CORRECTED REPEAT*/River Diversion Project Spells Disaster | Inter Press Service

IPS – /CORRECTED REPEAT*/River Diversion Project Spells Disaster | Inter Press Service: "SELENGE PROVINCE, Mongolia, Jul 19 2013 (IPS) - Tsetseghkorol, a Mongolian herder, stares out nostalgically at the Orkhon River, the longest in the country.

“In 1992, the river used to be wide, deep and clean,” she says. “Now it is very polluted and small.”

Sitting with her neighbour Dashdavaa in a ‘ger’, a traditional Mongolian yurt used by herders across this vast Central Asian country, Tsetseghkorol tells IPS she has lived alongside the 1,124-km-long Orkhon for 40 years, raising five children and a herd of livestock with little more than the natural bounty of the river basin.

Dashdavaa, also a herder, is in her 60s, with nine grown children. She moved closer to a tributary of the Orkhon River in 1992 after the collapse of socialism in Mongolia, when she lost her job as a kindergarten teacher."

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Mongolia: Eagle Hunting Sustains Kazakhs’ Living Legacy | EurasiaNet.org

Mongolia: Eagle Hunting Sustains Kazakhs’ Living Legacy | EurasiaNet.org:

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Nomadic hip-hop on show in Mongolian Bling - Australia Network News - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Nomadic hip-hop on show in Mongolian Bling - Australia Network News - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): ""That's there, but there's also this incredible modern, contemporary, urban lifestyle that most of the Mongolians exist in."

The film took five years to make, and delves into the thriving music scene in Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar.

It focuses in particular on three of the local hip hop stars, Gennie, Gee and Quiza.

"When we were doing the film, back in 2010, Gee was a bit more underground," he said.

"Now he's huge, Quiza's huge and Gennie's sort of up and coming, but they're all pretty big stars.

"Record sales aren't huge - Mongolia's a developing country and there's not a huge amount of wealth there - they're all popular and stars, but it's tricky for them to exist on that in terms of making a living as a rap artist or a hip-hop artist.""

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The Hunt for Genghis Khan’s Tomb

The Hunt for Genghis Khan’s Tomb: "Mongolian families still live in yurts or gers, as the traditional tents are known locally, maintaining their nomadic lifestyle. The blue sky merges with the horizon, and white yurts dot the sweeping landscape like sailboats floating on a sea of green.
From afar, the pastoral herding scene appears to have evolved very little since the Khans ruled. But in fact times are changing for the nomads. A decade of devastatingly harsh winters followed by very dry summers has crippled the livelihoods of livestock-dependent herders, who make up a third of the country’s population. Tens of thousands have migrated into city slums, while thousands of others have turned to illegal gold mining in their fight for survival. Carrying on their backs big green panning bowls for finding gold, they’re known as the ninjas because of their resemblance to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At the same time, Mongolia is rapidly developing—in large part due to its mineral riches. By some estimates, Mongolia’s economy is the fastest growing in the world, as the nation seeks to tap its wealth of coal, copper, and gold, projected to be worth $1.3 trillion."

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Local painter takes art expedition to Mongolia - Times-Standard Online

Local painter takes art expedition to Mongolia - Times-Standard Online: "Local painter Susan Fox recently returned from her seventh trip to Mongolia. As she has done on her previous trips, she traveled the countryside to observe and photograph wildlife, landscapes, nomadic herders and their animals.
Fox kept a journal that she filled with sketches of a variety of subjects, and she also had the opportunity to paint on location for two afternoons in Hustai National Park, one of three places in Mongolia where takhi/Przewalski's horse have been reintroduced.
What made her most recent trip different from those in the past is that she not only got to meet and visit the studios of some of Mongolia's most prominent artists, she was also a featured artist at an event held Sept. 22 at ArtiCour Gallery in Ulaanbaatar, the capitol of Mongolia."

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Hollywood director Jean-Jacques Annaud visits Mongolia | Ubpost News

Hollywood director Jean-Jacques Annaud visits Mongolia | Ubpost News: "Famous film director and producer Jean-Jacques Annaud, known by Mongolians by his films ‘Seven years in Tibet’ starring Brad Pitt, ‘Enemy at the Gates’, ‘Black Gold’ and others, has come to Mongolia. Jean-Jacque Annuad paid a visit to the President of Mongolia, Ts.Elbegdorj, yesterday. He expressed his gratitude to meet the president and said he was glad to have come to this beautiful country. He further stated, “The cultural relations between the Mongolia and France are expanding. Golden age films of Mongolia are being restored in France. France is an experienced country which has been contributing to the development of world film art. In fact, I am getting introduced to the customs and traditions, addition to the nomadic lifestyle of Mongolia and further researching to make a film.”
The president noted that there were many good films about Chinggis Khaan and suggested making a film on different interesting aspect of Mongolia."

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Is A Vegetarian Diet Suitable for Mongolia? | Ubpost News

Is A Vegetarian Diet Suitable for Mongolia? | Ubpost News: "By B.KHASH-ERDENE
The Mongolian nomadic culture and animal husbandry has helped Mongols survive through many centuries. Since the Mongol lands are hard and brittle, it was difficult to sustain plantation without modern technology and chemical fertilizers.
Hence the main source for food and sustenance has always been largely based on meat and dairy products. It is believed by the Mongolian elderly and conservatives that Mongolian dishes must contain foods with higher calories and vitamins due to the cold, dry and windy climate and that meat and dairy products are suitable for this. Meat is not only the most suitable staple to the Mongolian diet, but also, historically, the most available.
Although this is the case, in recent years, especially since the revolution in 1990, foreign trade and open information sources such as the internet and TV have prompted many to reflect on their lifestyles – in this case, what they put into their bodies."

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Efforts to preserve Mongolian nomadic farming traditions - News - Horsetalk.co.nz

Efforts to preserve Mongolian nomadic farming traditions - News - Horsetalk.co.nz: "Mongolian herders face a raft of pressures on their traditional nomadic pastoralism, researchers say.

Dr Kate Moore, who spent five months conducting fieldwork in Mongolia, said: “The herders that I met were deeply aware of climatic and environmental change in their pastures that are affecting their lifestyle.


Goats are combed for cashmere wool in the spring.
“They often have to move further and more often to find good grazing for their goats, sheep, horses and camels. Therefore many are concerned that any moves towards privatisation of pasture will reduce their ability to maintain their livelihoods and nomadic culture.”

Geographers from the University of Leicester, in England, are involved in research on pastoralism, environment and livelihoods at a critical juncture in decision-making over the future of Mongolia’s rural areas."

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Mongolian Nomadic Herders Get Electricity from Off-Grid Solar - CleanTechnica

Mongolian Nomadic Herders Get Electricity from Off-Grid Solar - CleanTechnica: "Over half a million men, women, and children now have access to electricity wherever they travel as they follow their herds of yak, cattle, sheep, goats, and camels around the 1.5 million square kilometres they call home.
“We are proud to be part of this effort, which means 500,000 people, or half the rural population of Mongolia, have electricity through portable and affordable solar home systems,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia and Pacific in her first visit to the country.
“Now, children can study at night, families can watch TV and recharge cell phones, enabling them to connect to the world while maintaining their nomadic lifestyles. This is one of many innovative ideas that we are putting to work on the ground to make growth more inclusive.”"

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Earth Sounds: Native American, Mongolian, and Australian Musical Cultures Celebrated at Wang Center Tonight - ICTMN.com

Earth Sounds: Native American, Mongolian, and Australian Musical Cultures Celebrated at Wang Center Tonight - ICTMN.com: "Tonight, October 4, at the Wang Center on the Stony Brook University campus in Stony Brook, New York, musical cultures will be celebrated in a special event. Earth Sounds creates and explores resonances between Native American, Mongolian, and Australian musical cultures. The ancient traditions of these three cultures are intrinsically linked with the experience of nomadic life, seasonal migrations, the sounds of nature, and ultimately the Earth itself. Together, they merge into a meditative, healing, and inspiring musical creation. "

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With Portable Solar, Nomadic Herders See The Light | Earthtechling

With Portable Solar, Nomadic Herders See The Light | Earthtechling: "A ger, if you didn’t know, is the traditional tent home for Mongolia’s nomadic peoples, who roam widely– packing up and bringing their home with them as they move – over a hard landscape to find pasture for livestock.

Way back in 2000, the government of Mongolia recognized solar as uniquely appropriate for bringing electricity to this rural population. Not only is Mongolia’s climate right for solar – long cold winters, yes, but more than 250 days of sunshine a year, too – but solar power systems can be broken down, moved and reinstalled easily, giving the herders the benefits of electricity without forcing a radical change in their traditional way of life."

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Mongolia: Herders Caught Between Cashmere and Climate Change | EurasiaNet.org

Mongolia: Herders Caught Between Cashmere and Climate Change | EurasiaNet.org: "Batogoo Dorj is a nomad in southern Mongolia’s Bayankhongor Region who makes his living raising cashmere goats. Each spring, Dorj can shear about 300 grams of the valuable, downy wool from each of his 350 goats. Those voracious and sharp-hoofed animals are contributing to the desertification and climate change that is reducing Mongolia’s available grazing land. Yet for Dorj and thousands like him in Mongolia, short-term necessity is eclipsing long-term sustainability.

Cashmere wool is one of Mongolia's most prized animal-product exports. The second-largest cashmere producer (after China), Mongolia accounts for 28 percent of the world's total supply, according to the Mongol Cashmere Association. The wool brings around $180 million annually into the country. For the 36 percent of Mongols who still adhere to a nomadic lifestyle, cashmere is often an integral part of their livelihood.

"Eighty percent of our income is from cashmere. It's the money we earn now [in the spring] that we rely on for the entire year -- to send our kids to school, to stock food, repair things," says Dorj."

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Mongolian way of life threatened by dramatic climate change | PRI.ORG

Mongolian way of life threatened by dramatic climate change | PRI.ORG: "Mongolia’s nomadic herders make up roughly half the country’s population, but their traditional lifestyle is seriously threatened by climate change.

In a broad green valley near Mongolia’s border with Siberia, two Mongolian girls tend shaggy yaks while their parents invite guests into their nearby ger—a traditional round felt tent.

Inside, the hosts offer tea in tiny cups, heavily salted and made with yak milk, boiled over a crackling fire. Next come chips of dried yak cheese."

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Today I'd go ... to Mongolia

Today I'd go ... to Mongolia: "Every Thursday I like to write about a place I'd love to go, usually in my dreams because in real life I don't have the time or the money. This week, I found a 20-day trip from Nomadic Expeditions to Mongolia.
From the email I received:
It has been 20 years since Nomadic Expeditions stepped out as the pioneer of exceptional adventures in Mongolia. In celebration of its platinum anniversary, Nomadic Expeditions is launching an exclusive and encompassing journey: Around Mongolia in Twenty Days. The 20-day anniversary journey will present an epic journey exploring all four different regions of Mongolia: the legendary central steppes, fragrant forests by the Siberian border, high mountains in the west and the mystical desert in the southern part of the country. Travelers will discover from the diverse wildlife of the G"

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Mongolia: Nomadic Life in the 21st Century « AARP

Mongolia: Nomadic Life in the 21st Century « AARP: "Our next big destination along the historic Trans-Siberian Railway was Mongolia. As we left the hustle and bustle of Moscow, I was eager to experience how life in this large expanse of terrain would unfold.
I had known some of the country’s history even since grammar school when I had read about the great Genghis Khan, but I really had no idea what to expect as I made the 6,000 mile journey across the Russian steppes into Siberia and through the Gobi Desert to the capital city Ulaanbaatar. We began our trip in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, and I was anxious to take it all in."

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Mongolian music conquers the world - Features - VietNam News

Mongolian music conquers the world - Features - VietNam News: "by Nhat Nam
My visit to Mongolia coincided with the country's National Day and its biggest celebration, the Naadam Festival. Traditional music performances were the highlight of my trip.
The roots of their unique music reflect Mongolia's rich identity, which has been formed by its people's nomadic life on vast grasslands and amid hills and mountains.
As I departed Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, for the countryside, I noticed hundreds of young people, both male and female, on horses."

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Mongolians Team Up to Preserve Huge, Grassy Commons | Care2 Causes

Mongolians Team Up to Preserve Huge, Grassy Commons | Care2 Causes: "Written by Keith Goetzman, the Utne Reader

Mongolia has an outsized reputation for vast emptiness, but in fact there are plenty of creatures living there, including 2.7 million people and the 35 million horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and camels that they keep. All those pasturing animals leave a large ecological hoofprint, reports Ronnie Vernooy in Solutions Journal, and climate change is disrupting the weather patterns that sustain the country’s many nomadic herders.

A new program, though, is pointing the way toward a more sustainable future, using the concept of the commons as a way to share resources—in this case, those seemingly endless pasturelands. Writes Vernooy:

The government has begun to respond to the threat to herders and their way of life. In a number of regions across the country, herders, in collaboration with local governments and researchers, and supported by a number of new policy measures and laws, are practicing comanagement, a form of adaptive management that builds community resilience."

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Could Mongolia Be the Next Dubai? - EurasiaNet - International - The Atlantic

Could Mongolia Be the Next Dubai? - EurasiaNet - International - The Atlantic: "The tiny nation found $1 trillion in mineral deposits. Now, Mongolian leaders are studying the lessons of other research-rich countries

Workers walk along the Oyu Tolgoi mine site in Khanbogd village, Mongolia / Reuters

This is the time of year when blasts of Arctic air start sweeping across Mongolia's steppe, ushering in the long, hard winter. It's when many, especially those who adhere to traditional nomadic rhythms of life, hunker down until spring. But this year, there is an unusual air of expectancy amid the deepening chill - a mood borne by the prospect of windfall profits generated by the country's mining sector."

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