Air Pollution in Mongolia
Bat Baatarkhuu
Problem Statement:
Air pollution in Mongolia poses significant health issues to all people in Ulaanbaatar, as it is the most polluted capital city in the world. This problem stems from the geographical make-up of the city, as it is surrounded by mountain ranges that traps pollution in the city. Some harms that come from air pollution are emphysema, asthma, and lung damage, all of which are rampant in Ulaanbaatar. Air pollution is perhaps the biggest issue facing Mongolia right now, and the government has been actively creating legislation to combat it. A major theme of the air pollution problem in Mongolia is that it affects poorer people more on average, as burning raw coal is one of the few ways they can afford to keep themselves warm during the cold winters. Methods that are being used to measure air pollution and the effects vary by study, but the most common type is using raster layers of satellite images.
Source 1: Yuchi, W., Knudby, A., Cowper, J., Gombojav, E., Amram, O., Walker, B. B., & Allen, R. W. (2016). A description of methods for deriving air pollution land use regression model predictor variables from remote sensing data in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien, 60(3), 333–345. doi: 10.1111/cag.12279
This study aims to use different LUR models to analyze the pollution of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which is the most polluted capital city in the world, and one of the most polluted cities. LUR stands for Land Use Regression, and it uses different environmental factors in an area to see the concentration of pollution of the area using different variables. The data collected for these variables often use GIS, and this specific study used satellite images, road locations from OpenStreetMap, ger (small yurts/huts that many poor people in Mongolia live in) locations, and other variables to create the LUR models. The three variables used here were the land cover, road length, and ger density. Land cover was split into brightness, greenness, and wetness, with the data coming from satellite images and the data was recorded as a number that represented the degree of each of the three types of land cover. The second variable they mapped was road coverage, as emissions from cars on roads is another source of pollution. This data was collected by downloading road network data from Google Maps, then they checked the colors to see whether or not it was a part of the road,
According to this study, more than three million die annually due to pollution, and the effects of pollution are most felt in low to middle income countries, such as Mongolia. This is made more profound by identifying the biggest source of pollution in Mongolia, which is coal being burned by people in ger villages, which they have to because Ulaanbaatar is also the coldest capital city in the world, reaching -40 C during the winter. Although not stated in this article, the fact that mapping ger districts is needed to find pollution info, this shows the inequality of wealth in Mongolia as the rich can afford to live in the heart of the city with central heating, while the majority of the population lives in huts in the outskirts. This relates to the unfreedom of inequality in income leading to a decrease in mortality, as the poor people do not have access to the same level of basic standards as the richer people or even as people in other countries.
Source 2: Allen, R. W., Gombojav, E., Barkhasragchaa, B., Byambaa, T., Lkhasuren, O., Amram, O., … Janes, C. R. (2011). An assessment of air pollution and its attributable mortality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 6(1), 137–150. doi: 10.1007/s11869-011-0154-3
This study aims to see the link between mortality and air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Studies such as this are rare outside of Europe and the US, and so this study helps to quantify and show the effects of air pollution on the inhabitants of Mongolia. Air pollution has always been linked to decreased lifespans, with the majority of deaths occuring in Asian countries. This study states that half of the population of Ulaanbaatar lives in ger villages, with the population of Ulaanbaatar almost doubling within the past few decades. Each of the ger households burning an average of burn an average of 5 t of coal and 3 m3 of wood per year, with the majority of the air pollution being attributed to coal combustion. The methods that the authors used to do this study were fixed-site monitoring and LUR. fixed-site monitoring is the simplest way of measuring air pollution, where they measured the air quality and solids in the air in a fixed spot, with the map of the city showing numerous measuring stations set up. This study also uses LUR (Land Use Regression) models, similar to source one, and this study uses covariates such as road configuration, population density, land use, elevation, and other geographic characteristics surrounding the measurement sites to create graphs and see the relationship between the variables and pollution. This study admits that there is a lack of GIS data about Mongolia, making this project fairly difficult. The authors also used World Health Organization and the Mongolian government data for air pollution mortality to estimate deaths from lung cancer and cardiopulmonary causes, diseases which are often caused by pollution. The main conclusion of this study is that these methods about seeing the effects of air pollution, which are very cost effective, are able to show the sources of pollution and effects on the well being of the inhabitants. The LUR methods, which were found using satellite-based land cover and other predictors, were able to produce concentration maps of the city, creating a strong spatial concentration gradients consistent with a major contribution from home heating in the ger areas. From the study, close proximity to burning coal is the one of the biggest contributors to diseases that plague people who live in pollution. All of the children and inhabitants of the ger villages breathe in the fumes almost on a constant basis during the winter, and similar to all the other sources, this relates to the Kader Mia story. This could also relate to what Amartya Sen talked about in Development as Freedom, stating that during WWII, although Great Britain was running short on food and supplies, the life expectancy of inhabitants increased. He says that many attribute this to the booming economy at the time, but refutes this by saying that the real cause of it was the increase in public support for social services, and an overall more focus on the people by the government during the time. Although the Mongolian economy has been expanding for the past few decades, overpopulation and an increase in health issues have been plaguing the country. Using a question posed by the next source, perhaps the switch from a centralized economy to a market-based one may be the reason why there is an increase in issues and slight decrease in quality of life overall, as the focus on the people has decreased in favor of the economy (and corruption), leading to half of the population in the capital living in huts and resorting to burning coal. Development should be of the people, for the people, by the people, and the issues surrounding Ulaanbaatar in overpopulation and pollution contradicts this.
Source 5: Amarsaikhan, D., Bat-Erdene, T., Janzen, J., Ganzorig, M., Narantsetseg, C., & Nergui, B. (2017). Remote Sensing-Based Urban Land Use/Land Cover Change Detection and Monitoring. Journal of Remote Sensing & GIS, 06(02). doi: 10.4172/2469-4134.1000196
Chen, B., & Kan, H. (2008). Air pollution and population health: a global challenge. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 13(2), 94–101. doi: 10.1007/s12199-007-0018-5
This study is the most interesting of the five, with it attempting to compare the urban land cover of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia between “centralized economy” and “market-based” economy. During the latter half of the 20th century, Mongolia was a part of the Soviet bloc of communist countries, with it adopting the communist structure of government and economics. This is the centralized economy that the study is talking about. During the 1990’s, the Soviet Union collapsed, during which time the communist government of Mongolia also collapsed. Mongolia would adopt a democratic government after the collapse, and this is the market-based economy discussed in the article. This study aims to provide some reasons for the changes of urban population and land coverage during the change of government in order to see if the type of economy and government has an effect on these factors. The authors accomplish this by using multitemporal high resolution optical and microwave remote sensing (RS) images as well as geographical information system (GIS) and census data sets. They fused the images collected on the city for ger villages, soil, and urban areas to get a more layered and thorough image that can describe more aspects of the city. GIS methods have developed rapidly in the past few years, and so the timeline of the study makes studying the older times harder, as few data was collected back then on variables such as buildings and soil coverage, and so the authors used arcGIS data from back then and multiplied the pixels of objects to estimate what type of building was used or what road coverage there was. The main conclusion of this study is that industrialization during the market based economy has contributed to an influx of people moving into the city from rural parts, as they seek better lives and jobs. The ger (small huts) villages around the city expanded drastically because of the increase in population, as the apartments that were set up in anticipation of this growth could not handle the amount of people coming. The people who lived in rural areas also faced worse conditions in health, social, and cultural aspects, during market-based economies. Amartya Sen would definitely say that the market based economy is a better choice than centralized economies, as he says that a free market is akin to the ability of free speech, and that centralized economies are taking away a freedom from us. Amartya Sen would perhaps say that the rapid change of the urban landscape of Mongolia after the shift of economy is because people were using their newfound freedom after being restricted during the centralized economy, but I believe that it is from less support being given to the former subsistence farmers, and so they are forced to go to the city in order to provide for their families, limiting the freedoms of commerce that a market-based economies is said to offer. This relates to my problem statement as a major factor of pollution is overpopulation according to the National Institute of Health, as it lists “economic development, urbanization, energy consumption, transportation/motorization, and rapid population growth are major driving forces of air pollution in large cities”. The conclusion of the the second linked study is that developing cities in Asia have much higher levels of pollution when compared to others, with high densities of populations being associated with it. Another conclusion of the original study is that although the population increased after the change of economies, the number of buildings did not increase, leading to many people having to live in ger villages, as there is not enough housing to accommodate everyone in the city. This in turn leads to people being poorer and lighting up pure coal, which the last source states is the biggest cause of pollution in Mongolia, leading to the health issues.
Source 4 : Amarsaikhan, D. et al. (2014). A Study on Air Pollution in Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 2, 123-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/gep.2014.22017
This study aims to tackle the issues of air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, including the causes of it and techniques on how to measure it. Air pollution has skyrocketed in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in the past couple years, with a possible explanation for this being the increase of urbanization to the capital city by the nomads in the rural areas. This is especially harmful because Ulaanbaatar is the only urban center in the whole country, so overpopulation adds to the already harmful practices of many people in the capital city. This study uses lots of satellite images, and they are used to show geographic regions of Mongolia, and the raster images are used to highlight that Ulaanbaatar is surrounded on all sides by mountains, leading to a phenomenon This study states “Much of the population growth has been in the city’s low-income ger (Mongolian national dwelling) districts where coal and wood are burned for heat” and the “Majority of Ulaanbaatar’s population lives in a ger”. This represents the unfreedom of inequality highlighted by Amartya Sen, and is very similar to the story of Kader Mia. Similar to how Kader Mia put his own life in danger in pursuit of economic gains, many people from the countryside move to the city in order to make a living, often living in worse conditions and being forced to burn coal to survive.
Source 5: Enkhtur, Bayarmaa. “Geospatial Information in Mongolia.” UN-GGIM, UN, 10 May 2017, ggim.un.org/meetings/2017-Kunming/documents/Session%207%20-%20Bayarmaa%20Enkhtur.pdf.
This article is a speech given at a UN conference for Global Geospatial Information Management given by Bayarmaa Enkhtur, who is the Senior officer, Department of Geospatial information and technology Agency for Land administration and management, Geodesy and Cartography. This presentation goes over GIS (Geographic Information System mapping) development in Mongolia as a whole, with it starting off with basic information about Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar, such as the population, area, GDP, etc. This presentation also highlights the development plans of Mongolia’s infrastructure for the future, with the development of airports and new cities being planned for construction. It also states that spatial development in Mongolia is lacking, and that it can lead to Mongolia being underprepared for disasters that could have been avoided otherwise. This article relates to my problem statement as it highlights the goals of Mongolia to develop GIS data and methods in the country, which this project is about. Although it does not specifically mention human development, it relates to Amratya Sen’s definition of human development, as he states that “industrialization or technological progress or social modernization can substantially contribute to human freedom”, which is what this presentation is meant to highlight.