To frozen Mongolia to save the forests
16. 3. 2022
MENDELU researchers set out to save the forests of frozen Mongolia. The trip was made mainly to pre-select suitable areas for the STREAM project.
Inspection of the research plots established by MENDELU in cooperation with Mongolian universities on the land of Domogt Shariin Gol cooperative in 2019.
Winter in Mongolia, it's all about bitter cold and icy winds. Especially at night, temperatures routinely drop well below -20 °C, and even during the day, temperatures approaching at least zero are quite rare. Despite the bitter cold, snow is scarce due to the arid climate and the air is often choked by dust from the steppe tracks and smog from home heating. Although the air quality situation in local cities has improved significantly in recent years, Ulaanbaatar is still one of the most polluted cities in the world in winter.
The trip started with formal meetings in Ulaanbaatar. After a short acclimatization, the LDF team met with Mongolian members of the international university consortium led by MENDELU at the National University of Mongolia (NUM). Representatives from NUM and the German Mongolian Institution for Resources and Technology (GMIT) were present. "The aim of the meeting was to clarify the activities of the Mongolian partners within the STREAM project. In a similar vein, other meetings were held at the headquarters of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), with which MENDELU primarily cooperates on the project within the forestry section," said the project's principal investigator Antonín Kusbach. The meeting day was concluded with a visit to the Czech Embassy and thanks to Ambassador Jiří Brodský for his unwavering support and promotion of MENDELU activities in Mongolia.
From Ulaanbaatar, the forestry team moved north to the western part of the Khentii Mountains. Here they visited the forest nursery of the Domogt Shariin Gol cooperative, which was built thanks to the Czech forestry project in 2015-2018.
The visit also included an inspection of the research plots that have been established on the cooperative's land by MENDELU in cooperation with Mongolian universities in 2019.
The next stage of the trip was focused on the selection of forest areas for the demonstration of forest management in Yorro, Bugant and Tunchel. The vastness of Mongolia, coupled with the very poor quality of the road network, resulted in daily challenging crossings of several hours. Along with the selection of sites for the STREAM project, we also downloaded data from the long-term measurements that our scientists are carrying out in Mongolia.
In the remaining days, the researchers still had a trip to the eastern part of the Khentii Mountains to complete their Mongolian mission this year.