Ulaanbaatar
“The time has come for the nation to fight against desertification and soil degradation”
Politics
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On September 30, President of Mongolia U.Khurelsukh held a meeting with forest sector specialists, scholars, and researchers as well as representatives of civil society organizations in connection with the ‘Billion Trees’ national movement.
Highlighting that the time has come for everyone in the country to join forces in order to protect the environment and fight against desertification and soil degradation, the President expressed his hopes for citizens, entities, and organizations, and especially domestic large-scale companies to make their contributions for the ‘Billion Trees’ national movement. He also noted that he is planning to involve the military personnel of the Mongolian Armed Forces.
During the meeting, it was announced that Erdenet Mining Corporation state-owned enterprise will be making their contribution by planting 100 million trees in the next 10 years, while Erdenes Tavantolgoi JSC will be growing 176 million trees by the year of 2030.
The participants agreed that the president’s initiative was a timely decision as 76.9 percent of the country’s total territory - 120 million hectares of land have been affected by desertification and soil degradation, and noted the importance of preparing specialists and creating favorable job conditions for them.
A number of suggestions were also put forth during the meeting, which included developing a plan with several phases based on research and past experience, creating a unified organizational structure, having 10 percent of the trees to be trees and shrubs that yield fruits and berries, providing support for greenhouse farming and the production of fertilizers, involving volunteers, supporting domestic entities that supply seedlings and saplings, establishing regional forest units, and involving over 170 thousand herder families in the movement as studies have found that each household loses about MNT 2 million in income due to pasture degradation.
