Pollution in the sky Ulan Bator

The city lies in a valley between the peaks. Therefore, thick black smoke clouds are often stuck above the city for hours. In some places, smoke makes people no longer see buildings. Ulan Bator airlines often blame poor visibility when canceling or delaying international flights. Smoke makes it difficult to breathe and affects the health of the people of Ulan Bator.

Director of the Center for Environmental Health Research in Ulan Bator, Dr. N Saijaa said: "Mortality rates are increasing, people's health deteriorates, respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer is increased. "

Wave of emigration from the countryside

Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, with about 2.6 million people. However, this country is becoming increasingly urbanized. According to the United Nations Population Fund, 60% of people live in urban areas, of which about a third converge on Ulan Bator.

Many areas in Ulan Bator are now turned into ger districts

Sarantuya Myagmarjav, an official from the Ministry of Nature and Environment, said that the people rushed to the capital in 1991 due to socio-economic issues in rural areas. That was when the country moved to a market economy.

Since then, the trend of urbanization continues, people move to Ulan Bator to find work, study and hope for a brighter future.

The latest figures from the Department of Statistics under the City Mayor's Office show that more than 220,000 people flocked to Ulan Bator between 2000 and 2006.

The apartments are not much, but the price is relatively expensive. So many people set up traditional tents, which in Mongolian called Ger, in settlements known collectively as ger districts.

In ger districts, the city's water source is not led. People still have to continue burning coal, burning wood and anything they can earn for heating. The ger districts play a major role in air pollution. But coal-fired thermal power stations and even more cars also contribute to winter dust.

Exist

Tuvshinjargal and her husband and five young children moved to one of Ulan Bator's ger districts in 2001. Her family used to live in a small village 95km away, where they helped her sister raise herds of cattle. .

The Tuvshinjargal family hopes their children will receive a better education when they arrive in Ulan Bator

When most of the herds died because of severe weather, her sister could no longer support her family. Tuvshinjargal said: "Without a herd, there is no way to live in the countryside. Plus, there is no work to do, so you cannot afford to live."

"We want to improve our lives and hope to find jobs in Ulan Bator more." Tuvshinjargal said, there's one more factor. That is the learning of the children. "We think it might be better to let children go to Ulan Bator, because it's hard to go to school in the countryside."

New thrust

The whole family burned coal to heat the tent. They have electricity, but like many other families living in ger districts, they cannot afford to pay for heating. Tuvshinjargal explains: "For us, it is a big deal. Because of our poor financial ability, we only use coal, not electric heating."

The Department of Air Quality Management under the Bureau of Environmental Meteorology often measures the rate of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide at four points around the city. In January, almost every day the levels of both gases were above the Mongolian standard. Although pollution is not something new, this year, it seems that people have more reasons to act.

In December, the editors of some dailies wrote a joint letter, calling on the international donor community to help reduce air pollution for Mongolia.