Ulaanbaatar
UN Resident Coordinator meets Minister for Environment and Tourism
Society
Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On March 9, the UN Resident
Coordinator in Mongolia Tapan Mishra met with the Minister for Environment and
Tourism N.Urtnasan and had the opportunity to discuss the UN’s partnership in
Mongolia’s environment and tourism sector.
The UN in Mongolia has been a long-term partner in the
environment sector of Mongolia. At the meeting, Mr. Mishra had the opportunity
to explain the UN development system reform aimed at better-integrated
coordination of the UN system in the country.
He conveyed his interests to further strengthen the existing
partnerships in the environment and tourism sector in Mongolia. He expressed
his appreciation for Mongolia’s commitment to the reduction of greenhouse
emission by 27.2 per cent and emphasized the importance of better and improved
coordination among all stakeholders to achieve this ambitious goal.
The Minister for Environment and Tourism N. Urtnasan
expressed her gratitude for the long-term support from the UN agencies in the
environmental protection, sustainable consumption and rehabilitation for use of
natural resources. She shared her vision to make Mongolia green by encouraging
the Mongolian public to plant trees not only in Ulaanbaatar but also in all
provinces. It would require strong commitment and participation from the public
to care and nurture the trees, she assured.
Furthermore, she also highlighted the sectoral priorities
including addressing water scarcity especially in Gobi region, forestation and
revival of the tourism sector that has been hit hard by the pandemic. The
tourism sector has suffered a loss of est. 1.5 trillion tugrics and more than
88,000 jobs are at risk.
In 2021, Mongolia received the green recovery fund for nature-based solutions for COVID-19 recovery and green jobs creation through ecological and cultural tourism, to be implemented by UNDP, UNIDO and ILO.
UN’s Resident Coordinator highlighted the UN’s support
through the Partnership Action for Green Economy (PAGE) to implement energy
subsidy study in Mongolia and prepare recommendations for a reform plan in the
energy sector.
The UN system is implementing about 10 projects in the
environment and tourism sector in Mongolia. Mr. Mishra mentioned that this week
two UN agencies (UNDP and FAO) are expecting to sign the new projects on Land
Degradation and Biodiversity funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) with the
MET this week.
Source: UN Mongolia
