Ulaanbaatar
MNT 200 million to be spent for reservation of Ugii lake ecosystem
Environment
Arkhangai /MONTSAME/ A total of MNT 400 million were allocated in the state budget for 2019-2020 for the protection and improvement of Ugii lake of Arkhangai aimag, of which MNT 200 million were budgeted for 2019.
Ugii lake is one of the two lakes in Mongolia included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands, the other one is Ganga lake of Sukhbaatar aimag. These lakes provide habitat and food source for rare species of fish, birds and wildlife. However, the lakes are polluted and the ecosystem degrades year by year due to unorganized tourism, overgrazing and human activities. Thus, the Government has issued a resolution on protection of Ugii and Ganga lakes, budgeting a certain amount of money.
MP J.Munkhbat, Ministry of Environment and Tourism officials exchanged views with the locals living around Ugii lake on budget expenditure, protection and improvement of the lake.
Participants of the meeting pointed out that it is necessary to excavate a trench, input and output channels in order to maintain the water quality of Ugii lake. Another problem the lake facing is fishing, the population of fish has significantly reduced in recent years. Therefore, the participants proposed to assess the fish population and prohibit fishing in case of serious decline in fish numbers. Moreover, it is said that the tourist camps around the lake are overloaded, so the locals emphasized the need to conduct research and take actions regarding this issue.
According to the research of 2006, the circumference of Ugii lake is 24.5 km and some 129 species of birds, 15 species of fish and 266 species of plants were found there. About 3000 foreign and domestic tourists visit Ugii lake annually and the number of tourists increases year by year.
