Population Lab Mongolia
Janet Huang
APES Biodiversity Lab Write Up
Due: Wed. January 7th 2009
Abstract
I choose to examine the population of Mongolia. Despite 30% of the country’s 2.98 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic, the country is slowly moving into a industrialized state. Over the past 5 years, Mongolia’s population has moved from rural areas to urban areas. This has lead to better health care, and higher education amongst its population. Because of urbanization, Mongolia has experienced a decline of total fertility rate. In 1970’s, fertility was 7.33, while in 2005, it was 1.87. [1] With a decrease in the birth rates, Mongolia is moving to industrialization.
Introduction:
Mongolia is the most sparsely populated independent country in the world. Most of the country is covered by arid and unproductive steepes. A large percentage of the country’s population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. Despite this, Mongolia is rapidly industrializing. Its economy is centered on agriculture and mining. Mongolia also has large mineral deposits including copper, coal, tin and gold account for a large part of industrial production. Mongolia has a high per capita CO2 emission, which is set to increase even more as three coal-fired power stations are being built. The power generated by them will be exported to China. Much of the population still uses biomass for fuel. The increased industrial activity, including the burning of soft coal and airborne industrial pollution from the Communist regime has caused many air pollution problems. The heavy concentration of factories in Ulaanbaatar has also polluted the environment. [2]
Besides air pollution, water pollution is also a significant problem because the water sup0ply is so limited. The country only has about 35 cubic kilometers of renewable water resources, 53% of which are used for farming. Only 77% of urban dwellers and 30% of rural dwellers have access to pure water. Drought and overgrazing by livestock are also causing...
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