12 December 2008

A problem of the capital “city”: Contamination of Land


By Erdenetuya Urtnast
Main causes of contamination of land in Ulaanbaatar are population growth caused by rural-urban migration, the expansion of ger-settlements, improper behavior and habit of people (for example, blowing the nose, spitting out saliva, dumping rubbish, excreting in public places and streets), the increasing use of plastics and chemicals.
There most of rural-urban migrants settle besides native settlers. Total squares of ger-settlements are 3 times larger than other areas. There is no green area in ger-districts and land devastation is higher than other areas. Due to simple or outside latrines, cesspits and rubbish dumps the chemical pollution of the ground is 2.5-8 times higher than other areas and bacterial contamination is 10 times higher than flat areas. It was estimated that there are more than 150 thousand latrines and the same number of sewage water pits in Ulaanbaatar.

A survey report conducted among low income and poor families of ger areas of Songinokhairkhan and Khan-Uul districts of Ulaanbaatar says: “Environmental hygiene is worse. Due to insufficient service to remove refuse, carelessness and laziness of the residents nearest ravines, holes and streets have heavily been dumped and polluted by refuse. Some of inhabitants pour sewage water, excrete and dump cinder around or outside of their wooden fence (khashaa).
Many households haven’t got sewage water pits in their khashaas. Sanitation and cleaning of latrines and sewage water holes are a headache for ger area residents. Some households try to sanitize by chlorine. During winter time they remove frozen excrements by shovel and litter into ravines”. A geoecological survey result conducted by Prof. Ch.Gonchigsumlaa in 2003-2006 shows that in ger areas of Sharkhad, Denjiin 1000, Khailaast and around electric power plants the contamination of land was 10-16 times higher than other areas of the city. Also in outskirts of city dump places and cemeteries have been expanding their squares with the population growth. These places severely threaten not only to ecosystem but also national security. For many of settlers it is very common to live in the neighborhood of cemeteries and dump points.

03 December 2008

Ulaanbaatar: Air pollution


By Erdenetuya Urtnast
More than 1.5 billion people on the planet, including Ulaanbaatar residents are exposed to potentially health-damaging levels of air pollution. Concentrations of poisonous chemicals in air are several times larger than permissible standards show that today’s air pollution in Ulaanbaatar is at fatal level. Ulaanbaatar is one of the world's smoggiest capitals, so it has been nicknamed as “Utaanbaatar”. Ulaanbaatar means “red hero”. Utaanbaatar means “smoky hero” (the world utaa(n) means smoke, fume, exhaust & etc.). The geographical location of the city and excessive continental climate cause air pollution as well. It might be a key factor of air pollution.

A source says that nitrous dioxide concentration in air is 15 times, carbon oxide is 2-4 times and dust concentration is 7.8 times than permissible standard. According to official statistics of January 2008 exceeding percent of sulphur dioxide (SO2) was by 62 per cents higher than permissible standard, whereas nitrous dioxide (NO2) amount was by 97 percents higher than permissible level. [1]

Unfortunately we have come to accept smog and polluted air as “normal”. “Urban smog not only limits visibility; it can lead to health problems as uncomfortable as eye irritation and as deadly as lung cancer. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 700 000 premature deaths per year could be prevented if pollutants were brought down to safer levels“ [2]

Air pollution in Ulaanbaatar is caused primarily by electric power plants, low pressure boilers (heat only boilers) for heating, some industries, earth roads, ger-quarters which burn crude coal, car exhaust, and etc. To supplying of 80 per cents thermal energy and electricity of Ulaanbaatar the power plants burn 3.3 million tons coal each year and emit sulphur oxide (SO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases. Also there are more than 400 low pressure heat-only-boilers in Ulaanbaatar. They supply 7 per cent of heating in Ulaanbaatar.

Ger-quarter fumes are the main reason for air pollution. According to official statistics, by the end of 2007 total 1 031 000 residents of 234743 households were registered in Ulaanbaatar. But including inhabitants without Ulaanbaatar citizenship, more than 1.3 million people are living in Ulaanbaatar.

Approximately 60-70 per cent of the households in Ulaanbaatar are residing in ger-settlements. Households of ger-districts burn about 700 thousand tons of crude coal every year. More than 60 per cent of Ulaanbaatar territory belongs to ger-settlements. Ger quarter residents have no access to tap (fauset) water and the sewage system. Fires caused by unprotected electricity lines and sparks fly out of pipes are very common. There is no infrastructure except for earth roads, water tanks, power lines (domestic wiring), communications networks and telephone lines.

Most of low income families dwell in ger-quarters. For heating and cooking they burn not only fuelwood and crude coal but also plastic bottles, plastic bags, tires (tyres) and overlays, used lubricants (oil or lube) of vehicles and rubbishes as well. Traditionally the Mongols prohibit defiling of the hearth and fireplace. But because of lacking of money to buy fuelwood and coal, some poor people scavenge plastic bottles, scrapped shoes, from rubbish dumps and burn the stuffs. A resident of 7th khoroo of Songinokharikhan district says that “For not defiling the fireplace we drip a drop of vegetable oil or butter into the fire. It is a kind of ritual to purify the fireplace. It is much better to be hungry than being chilled”.

Another factor of the air pollution is the location of ger areas. In generally the city is surrounded by ger areas and majority of them are located in the west, north-west and north directions, from where blow wind.

Car exhaust is the main reason for the city's smog problem. By the end of 2006 total 140000 vehicles were registered in Mongolia and 56 per cent or 80000 vehicles were in Ulaanbaatar. 70 per cent of cars in Mongolia have been used more than 10 years. It means those old cars are main causes of air pollution because they emit harmful gas that contains 270 sorts of poisonous chemicals, including nitrogen dioxide, carbon oxide, sulphur oxide, lead and other heavy metals.

For rural-urban migrants it has always been difficult to find a job. That is why considerable number of them chooses to be a taxi driver by buying or renting a car. Generally second hand and old cars ejected from Korea, Japan, Hong kong and Germany market are sold in Mongolia’s market. Most of the Mongols can’t afford new cars.

[1] – Monthly bulletin of statistics: January 2008, (Ulaanbaatar, 2008),pp.83
[2] – Carty, 1999

02 December 2008

Urbanization or Sub-Urbanization in Mongolia

A part of Ulaanbaatar (from a window of my place)
By Erdenetuya Urtnast
After 1990’s rural-urban migration abruptly increased because of the variety of factors: social, economical, political, cultural and so on. I am going to talk about it in more detail. That is why now I’ll try to describe present state of the urbanization process in Mongolia and its’ main peculiarities.
At first, I would like to mention that intensive process of urbanization and rural-urban migration are not only socio-economical phenomenon in Mongolia but also throughout of the World rural people have been moving to larger cities and the era can be said as urbanizing century.
In 1900 there were only 13 cities each had in excess of 1 million people, but in 2000 the number reached to 375. Expectations are for 564 million cities in 2015. “The amount of urban growth differs from continent to continent and from region to region, but nearly all countries have two things in common: The proportion of their people living in cities is rising, and the cities themselves are large and growing. In consequence, most of the world’s people will soon be city dwellers. Urban population is increasing much more rapidly in developing countries than in the more developed economies” [1] .
Briefly, Ulaanbaatar can be described as a medium-sized and typical primate city of a developing country surrounded by shantytowns. A resident of a ger-settlement of Ulaanbaatar would get upset if anyone explained what is the shantytown or a ghetto.
Interestingly, there is no contrasting social hierarchy among settlement areas of Ulaanbaatar. That is why in ger-settlement areas comfortable detached houses of wealthy families are found. It might be a distinction of the capital city.
By the way what does the primate city mean? Primate city patterns are very popular for developing countries of Asia and Africa. By size, most of primate cities are several times larger than second cities of the certain country. Darkhan, the second city of Mongolia has 74 thousand populations. It means Ulaanbaatar is 14 times bigger than Darkhan by its size of population. “For a characteristic of a primate city hierarchy is one very large city, few or no intermediate-sized cities, and many subordinate smaller settlements. The capital cities of many developing countries display that the overwhelming primacy” [2] . In Mongolia’s case, the capital city is not very large one, it contains over 46 per cent of the total population.
“There are some common features of developing world cities. All, for example have endured massive in-migrations from rural areas, and most have had even faster rates of natural increase than of immigration. As a result, most are ringed by vast squatter settlements high in density and low in public facilities and services. All apparently have populations greater than their formal functions and employment bases can support. In all, large numbers support themselves in the informal sector. They have modern centers of commerce”.
The capital city of Mongolia as well shares common features of other cities of developing world: en masse rural-urban migration, ringed by ger-settlements high in density and low in social services and unsanitary environmental conditions and etc. Large numbers support themselves in the informal sector – black market traders, taxi drivers, cooks of small cafes, builders and etc.
Another peculiarity of primate cities of developing world is most of them are ringed by shantytowns. “Between one-third and two-thirds of the population of most developing world cities is crowded in shantytowns and squatter settlements built by the inhabitants. They usually have little or no access to publicly provided services such as water supply, sewerage and drainage, paved roads, and garbage removal… More usually, however, overcrowding transforms these settlements into vast zones of disease and squalor subject to constant danger from landslides, fire, and flooding. The informality and illegality of the squatter housing solution means that those who improvise and build their own shelters lack registration and recognized ownership of their domiciles or the land on which they stand” [3] .
About 60-70 percent of Ulaanbaatar population resides in ger-settlements which are can be described as typical shantytown – they have little access to publicly provided services. Many residents of ger-settlements “erect their dwellings on steep mountain slopes where the danger of landslides is high. Those families settling down in the flood plains of rivers and streams risk being washed away in the case of heavy rains which can result in destructive floods…

The urban administration faces great problems in providing sufficient infrastructural services, especially enough clean water and electricity. The disposal of waste and excrement is unsolved. The bad hygienic conditions bear a high risk for the health of the inhabitants. As building ground becoming rare near the town centre, the migrants are even settling close to the major cemetery of Ulaanbaatar” [4]...

[1]- Jerome.D, Fellman, Arthur Getis and Judith Getis, Human Geography: Landscapes of Human Activities, (McGraw Hill, 2003), pp.396
[2]- ibid., pp.410
[3]- ibid., pp.436
[4]- Janzen,J. and Bazargur,D, “The Transformation Process in Mobile Livestock Keeping and Changing Patterns of Mobility in Mongolia. –With Special Attention to Western Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar,” in Ishikawa, Y and Montanari,A ed., The New Geography of Human Mobility – Inequality Trends? IGU, vol.4, , (Home of Geography, Societa Geografica Italiana. Roma, 2003), pp.207