News from Mongolian environmental group-The United Movement of Mongolian Rivers and Lakes

Regarding the law implementation:

A lot of work is being carried out in the frame of the law implementation “to prohibit mining operations at headwaters of rivers, protected zones of water reservoirs and forested areas”. In order to delineate the boundaries of the law, the Mongolian government and the River Movements have extensively worked together to set its implementation step by step. Unfortunately, the process is being slowed down because of this year’s harsh winter in Mongolia.

Mr. Ts. Munkhbayar, head of the Onggi River, became a member of the working group which is working on delineating the boundaries of the protected zones of water reservoirs around the country.

Starting from the beginning of April 2010, some government officials from the Water Agency will work together with both civil movements and local people to delineate these boundaries in each soum and province in Mongolia (334 soums in 21 provinces). This work is very difficult and will take a long time but we are confident that we will able to make it together. Mr. L.Gansukh, Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, has planned to spend 430 million tugriks (215 000 €) for this step to be carried out.

A few counter activities have been undertaken against the implementation of the law. However, the government and other official bodies must make sure that, once the law was passed, its integrity remains safe.

In parallel, the Government is working to compensate mining license holders whose licenses are to be revoked under the new law. The River Movements have therefore lodged a complaint before the Constitutional Court, claiming that some provisions of the Mineral Law (passed in 2006) violated the Constitution of Mongolia.

On January 25th, representatives of the River Movements met the President of Mongolia, Mr. Ts. Elbegdorj. At this meeting, our representatives declared their wish to collaborate with the Government and to offer guidance on four issues. You can find details about the meeting by clicking here: http://www.president.mn/eng/newsCenter/viewNews.php?newsId=138

Partnership and Collaboration:

The United Movement of Mongolian Rivers and Lakes has become an Associate Partner of the Living Lakes International Partnership for the Global Nature Fund.

Global Green Grants Fund has granted Onggi River, Toson Zaamar and Khuder River Movements with a total of $20 000 to implement small projects and to support the UMMRL’s strategic planning for 2010-2011.

The representatives of the River Movements met Mr. Dorjee Sun, chief executive of the Carbon Conservation and 2009 Hero of the Environment while he visited Mongolia. We talked about our environmental work and future cooperation.

Other activities:

As a side-body of the UMMRL, an Environmental Student Club named “Fresh water” was established on March 10th, 2010. Its main goal is to involve Mongolian young people and students in the protection of the environment and natural resources. In the middle of April they will organize their first scientific conference for Mongolian students

For more information, please contact Chimgee Ganbold
Foreign Relations Officer
United Movement of Mongolian Rivers and Lakes
Tel: 976-11-55150663
Fax: 976-11-452917
E-mail: rivermovements@gmail.com