Journalists help create a greener Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar, often described as polluted and dusty, will soon have a very large park. 

This year 100 hectares of land will be planted with trees within a 1280 hectare park. Last Saturday the Office of the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar and the Mongolian Journalist’s Union worked together in or the 100 Journalists 100 Tree Project where the journalists planted trees in the park. The Head of the Journalists Faculty, scientist, PhD M.Zulkakafil, Honorary Cultures Meritorious D.Albaselmaa and many others gathered and participated in the event to establish a green city.

Birch trees live for 100-120 years. The gardeners who instructed the journalists had said that the seedlings they were planting were about 10 years old and once planted correctly they would not require much looking after, but that the planting process required many preparations such as black earth, a nursery, manure and fertilizers. 

During the event the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar G.Munkhbayar stated, “Thank you to all the journalists that participated in the planting. Our plan to build a green establishment, talked about during the City and Journalist Conference, has today been successfully implemented. I trust that planting trees will take place in the following years as well and that the organisations will take care and nourish the trees they have planted. 

Planting is the easy part but consistently taking care and maintaining the trees throughout the year is the challenge. This year we plan to finish the building of the fountain and bicycle track in the National Park.”

In other cities of the world, green areas in cities take up to 50-70% of the city but in Ulaanbaatar’s case it only takes up about 3-5%. 

The National Park was established to protect the Tuul River water source, to fight pollution and to provide a calming and peaceful environment for residence of the city. Up until now 94 thousand trees have been planted in the park.

The President of the Mongolian Journalist’s Union B.Galaarid stated, “The 100 year anniversary of the establishment of Journalism in Mongolia will happen next year. Before the anniversary the Mongolian Journalist’s Union wanted to participate in the establishment of the National Park and to have their own park. The media and press organisations will work together to look after and maintain the park.”