12. MONGOLIA

Title of the Project
Multi-stakeholder partnership building to promote education for sustainable development in Mongolia

Summary

The project aims to facilitate the process for facilitating the development and implementation of an action plan and related activities on education for sustainable development (ESD) in Mongolia. One of the institutional constraints in bolstering the overall ESD activities in the country is the deficiency in institutional networking among the universities and educational institutions on environment and sustainable development issues even just in Ulaanbaatar.

All the universities that have campus in Ulaanbaatar have various subjects related to the environment and sustainable development, for instance, the National University of Mongolia, University of Science and Technology and Mongolian Agricultural University. Yet, in the absence of formal agreements among these institutions, there is no substantive coordination and collaboration among these institutions and the expertise available in the countries on environment and sustainable development issues are not consolidated and provided for students to comprehend and take actions on environmental and sustainable development issues.

Another way for raising awareness and educating people on environmental issues is to include environmental news and information in media reporting. However, the market oriented media sector still receives little support to environmental news and reporting. It is essential to influence a mind-set of business and media on the environmental and sustainable development issues.

The under-development of institutional set-ups for ESD is not limited to the university educational systems. National parks are being increasingly used as field sites for ESD for the people at all age groups including children, students, and adolescence. Despite that the increasing number of both Mongolian and foreign tourists visit national parks and visitor centers, the centers are not properly equipped to provide information sufficient for visitors to understand the dynamics of wildlife and ecosystem and the acute need for protecting them.

The same can be also said for the tourist camps. They are the places where nature lovers and holiday makers in country sides stay and meet. However, the tourist camps are still in the simple functional lodging facilities and do not offer any information on nature and the environment.

It is worth noting that a growing number of private corporations must be also brought into the framework for promoting ESD. In many other countries, private companies are now increasingly pressured and also becoming more responsive to a global call for corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, the private companies in Mongolia have not yet substantiated work on CSR. Both national and foreign affiliated corporations must reinforce sustainable development in their core business principles, and involve their executives and employees in the national and global endeavors for promoting ESD.

Key Activities
(i) Component 1: Supporting the multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on ESD in Mongolia.
(ii) Component 2: Institutional network development among universities and educational institutions in Ulaanbaatar for promoting ESD
(iii) Component 3: Media campaign for ESD in Mongolia
(iv) Component 4: Strengthening a function of a national park visitor center in the Hustai National Park

(v) Component 5: Transforming a tourist camp into a ESD field center

Contact Info

C.P.O. Box 752, Ulaanbaatar-13, Mongolia
Te l : +976-11-312458, +976-99192160
Fax : +976-11-312320
E-mail : ozoff@magicnet.mn
adyats@yahoo.com