Mongolia: Future leader in sustainable development and green economic growth
Natural resources are depleting, and the depletion rate is speeding up with the fast growth of lower income countries, while the developed countries’ resource usage and environmental pollution levels are also increasing gradually. Resource constraints are threatening future growth.
Today, sustainable development and green economy are being urged and encouraged for every Government to take-up for the development of their countries. The days of resource abundance and low fuel prices are over.
A recent UN report on green growth, titled “Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific” stated that by 2030 the world will need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water. It means that the demand for natural resources, renewable or not, will definitely increase; while sustained consumption of resources is entirely up to us.
For Mongolia, a country of very small population but a vast, nearly untouched natural landscape, it could mean that we are at a slight advantage for being somewhat industrially and economically underdeveloped.
The concept of green growth was born in the Asia pacific, and is now practiced globally. In today’s already developed economies, the UN emphasizes policy changes to widen the scope of sustainable development and green growth. Due to difficulties in today’s already developed policies which limit the ability of operations and effectiveness of sustainable growth, it is hard to implement green growth strategies on a larger, more effective scale.
“A green economy will not materialize through incremental changes. A shift towards green growth requires a fundamental system change, restructuring both the visible (physical infrastructure) as well as the invisible structures of the economy (market prices, fiscal policies, institutions, governance and lifestyles),” the report states. Now, if the research this statement is based on is true and valid in every aspect, developing countries like Mongolia are in a very appropriate position for future green growth. As we are not completely integrated into the world market and going through major infrastructural construction and judicial development at present, we should begin implementing the green growth strategy on every new corner we turn.
According to a UN guideline on green growth dedicated to the world’s policy makers, for developing countries green growth can be an economic strategy to sustain growth in the face of resource constraints and climate crisis. Developing countries with limited technological and financial resources can pursue green growth; financing and green technologies are necessary but not sufficient. System changes, such as market price restructuring and designing infrastructure to be eco-efficient are more critical in starting the process of green growth.
Mongolia has a population of nearly 3 million people with about half of them are living in UB. The air pollution in UB is critical during winter times (the most polluted city in the world in terms of particle matter suspended in the air) and somewhat moderate during the summer, and its contribution to the total carbon dioxide emission stands at 0.04%, ranked at 95th out of 216 countries. The Mongolian Government’s strategy on sustainable development and green growth is progressing (felt strongly in the mining sector through ecologically friendly exploitation of resources and policies that enforce them) and is also reducing pollution and carbon dioxide emissions at the same time. As stated by the Mayor of UB in early 2012, the capital city’s two major concerns are pollution and traffic congestion. On the latter issue, a proposal to ban the traffic of vehicles older than 10 years was proposed, and was subsequently supported by the State Great Khural.
Mongolia has great potential and a good opportunity to fully implement green growth. Today, Mongolia’s economy is just ‘standing up on its feet’; there is no better opportunity than now to create as many environmentally friendly decisions as possible.
Today, sustainable development and green economy are being urged and encouraged for every Government to take-up for the development of their countries. The days of resource abundance and low fuel prices are over.
A recent UN report on green growth, titled “Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific” stated that by 2030 the world will need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water. It means that the demand for natural resources, renewable or not, will definitely increase; while sustained consumption of resources is entirely up to us.
For Mongolia, a country of very small population but a vast, nearly untouched natural landscape, it could mean that we are at a slight advantage for being somewhat industrially and economically underdeveloped.
This is because green growth is roughly a complete transition of a country’s economy and policy into one that only progresses using renewable and sustainable resources. Since Mongolia is rapidly developing both sectors, we should begin thinking of making them more environmentally friendly, starting right now.
The concept of green growth was born in the Asia pacific, and is now practiced globally. In today’s already developed economies, the UN emphasizes policy changes to widen the scope of sustainable development and green growth. Due to difficulties in today’s already developed policies which limit the ability of operations and effectiveness of sustainable growth, it is hard to implement green growth strategies on a larger, more effective scale.
“A green economy will not materialize through incremental changes. A shift towards green growth requires a fundamental system change, restructuring both the visible (physical infrastructure) as well as the invisible structures of the economy (market prices, fiscal policies, institutions, governance and lifestyles),” the report states. Now, if the research this statement is based on is true and valid in every aspect, developing countries like Mongolia are in a very appropriate position for future green growth. As we are not completely integrated into the world market and going through major infrastructural construction and judicial development at present, we should begin implementing the green growth strategy on every new corner we turn.
According to a UN guideline on green growth dedicated to the world’s policy makers, for developing countries green growth can be an economic strategy to sustain growth in the face of resource constraints and climate crisis. Developing countries with limited technological and financial resources can pursue green growth; financing and green technologies are necessary but not sufficient. System changes, such as market price restructuring and designing infrastructure to be eco-efficient are more critical in starting the process of green growth.
Mongolia has a population of nearly 3 million people with about half of them are living in UB. The air pollution in UB is critical during winter times (the most polluted city in the world in terms of particle matter suspended in the air) and somewhat moderate during the summer, and its contribution to the total carbon dioxide emission stands at 0.04%, ranked at 95th out of 216 countries. The Mongolian Government’s strategy on sustainable development and green growth is progressing (felt strongly in the mining sector through ecologically friendly exploitation of resources and policies that enforce them) and is also reducing pollution and carbon dioxide emissions at the same time. As stated by the Mayor of UB in early 2012, the capital city’s two major concerns are pollution and traffic congestion. On the latter issue, a proposal to ban the traffic of vehicles older than 10 years was proposed, and was subsequently supported by the State Great Khural.
Mongolia has great potential and a good opportunity to fully implement green growth. Today, Mongolia’s economy is just ‘standing up on its feet’; there is no better opportunity than now to create as many environmentally friendly decisions as possible.
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