Mongolia: Nomadic Minimalism in Danger

Another interesting and informative episode of the BBC's 《World Questions》, recorded at Chingis Khan Museum in Ulaanbaatar, capital city of Mongolia.

While I've been a loyal listener to BBC programs for a decade, this episode attracted me in particular for two reasons.

First, as a Taiwan national, Mongolia was related to my country, though whether such relationship is just nominal, indirect or direct remains in dispute - within my country, I mean. I'm curious how Mongolia has progressed and how their people have to say about their country.

Second, like most people who are fond of history, I've been impressed by the legends of Chingis Khan, and would like to know how his descendants are doing these days.

So I listened to it, twice, and it was all worth my time, indeed. 

For one thing, it surprises me that Mongolia's economy has grown to be three times as big since it turned to democracy 34 years ago, largely thanks to the new discovery of copper and coal mines, yet corruption has been so prevalent that the increased wealth has gone to only a few while ordinary people have not benefited from the growth, and many are in fact worse-off. To date, about a third of the population live under the poverty line, while 65% of population are "food-insecure".

The other thing is: how it feels like, having been sandwiched between the two giant neighbors - Russia to the north and China to the south? In this regard a strong concern was unanimously expressed throughout the debate, and the country appeared to have worked hard to connect with their third neighbor - the rest of the world. Their strategy? "Sticking to democracy" for one, and the other is "making English the 2nd official language", so they can be connected with the rest of the world more easily.

To this end, I was amazed by the excellent command of English by the panelists and participants who are all Mongolian nationals. The English language proficiency they demonstrated is the best I've experienced from speakers who are not from a former British colony.

Another critical issue is climate change, affecting every country but more so in Mongolia, which is attributed to its high latitude and dry climate, and as such Mongolia is twice as susceptible to rising temperatures. To date, 3 quarters of its traditional grassland has been affected by climate change, more or less.

With the grassland diminishing, the iconic nomadic culture of Mongolia that was born of pastures and grassland is under severe threat, too. In this connection, I'm fascinated that all speakers agreed that keeping their nomadic culture is the single most important thing on their agenda. One speaker elaborated that as Mongolians they internalized it as nomadic minimalism: moving around, sustaining with minimal things, which is what adaptability is all about, and the reason their nation has existed to this date. Currently, about 40% of the population still live in a nomadic fashion.

Also on their urgent agenda is the issue of air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, which is among the worst in the world, and is absolutely counterintuitive for Mongolia is among the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It turned out that the disaster is man-made because there's a huge power plant (coal burning) built right within the capital city.

Now, I have known Mongolia a bit more, from a new perspective (not the ideological one dictating geography education in my school days), and may as well visit Ulaanbaatar some day.😊

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5yyg