Labour, Water and Development
Two of the potentially most contentious resources related to development are labor and water. This could be especially relevant for a quickly developing country with a quickly growing population.
Mongolia does not have a quickly growing population. However, the growth of indigenous populations are sometimes overwhelmed by the inflows of expatriate workers who will work in the factories, mines, and services in a quickly developing country. As a country develops, it will need workers. Developing the required skills from the indigenous population may take more time than the industries and others are willing or able to wait. One can have laws to have a certain percentage of local labor involved in a project, but those laws and agreements need to have training and education offsets attached to them to make sure this labor is increasingly skilled.
Two examples where countries needed to import labor very quickly are the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. Their populations are now 90 percent outsiders. So far, these countries have been very lucky with their expatriate labour. There have not been any serious problems or disturbances. Both of these countries are newly rich. They found their riches on natural resources such as oil and gas.
They are also quite small in geography and are set up in such ways that the imported labour is under legal and other controls. They have strict immigration and labour laws. Most people who are native to the country do not complain much about the imported labour. Most are rich and comfortable. They have little to complain about.
Qataris and Emiratis were mostly poor in the 1960s and 1970s. There has been a huge growth in wealth, but many of the skills needed to run these countries were not developed amongst the Qataris and Emiratis.
Repeating this pattern may not be the best for Mongolia.
A more balanced development of labour skills and work ethic may be best for the future of all three countries. However, this is easier said than done.
Qatar and the UAE are doing well now. However, what happens when the oil and gas are finished. The leaders of both are worried about skills and work ethics. They are putting a lot of money toward the development of universities and training institutes.
However, building schools does not guarantee a skilled and hard working population. I respectfully suggest the Mongolia look hard at the examples of countries around the world. Mongolian leadership might want to look at how others have handled the development of their labour skills and work ethics, as well as how they handled imported labour. Repeating the mistakes of others is not in the best interests of Mongolia or Mongolians.
Qatar and the UAE are countries that are water short. They are water short to the point that they both have at most two days of water reserves if their desalinization plants ever need to be shut down. Both countries are looking into solutions to their water issues, but this is far from easy. The UAE is looking to build a nuclear power plant that would produce electricity for its growing needs, but also produce fresh water via nuclear desalinization. Qatar is looking into the possibilities of large desalinization plants using concentrated solar power. Most desalinization in both countries is powered by oil or gas. Both countries are looking into importing water for agricultural needs from the waste and other water of other countries. Both are looking into better ways to manage and price the water. Water security is one of the major worries of the leadership of both of these countries.
Qatar and the UAE are on the Arabian Gulf. They have access to salt water that they can turn into fresh. Mongolia is landlocked.
Mongolia has water resources, but as the country develops these water resources need to be properly developed and managed.
There is the Yenisei river basin, which flows towards Russia in the north. The water flows from mountains in the north. The majority of the water flows in Mongolia are from this basin. There is also the Amur River basin in the east of Mongolia. Mongolia also has some drainage areas in the south.
The most important pooled source of water in Mongolia is Lake Khuvsgul. It contains about 75 percent of the freshwater resources of the country. If the lake’s environment is not properly protected, there could be very serious problems in the future. That could be said also of the over 3,000 lakes in Mongolia. Frankly, as population, agriculture and industry grow Mongolia will need all the water it can find. The fact that the lakes freeze for much of the year adds complexity to making water policies for the country.
The Tuul River basin is where most of the population can be found. This will be an area to watch the closest as the population and industrial growth occurs. Most of the sources of water for Mongolia are in the north and the west in the mountains, but that is not where most of the population of the country resides.
Most of the over 4,000 rivers in the country are in the north. Most of the population is in Ulaanbaatar, which is in the north, but it is not the in the best place to capture and use all of that water. Most of the greatest growth in industry will likely be in the Gobi area, where water resources are far scarcer than in the north.
There is a lot of groundwater flow in the Gobi. That could help in these developments.
On the other hand, there is only so much water to go around.
Most of the use of water by Mongolia is from groundwater. Close to 50 percent water use is for livestock
and agriculture. About 25 percent is used for industry. This intersection of agriculture and herding with industry may be the most contentious use of water in the future. There could be serious tensions developing between those who work in agriculture and herding and the mines. These sorts of issues might need to be planned out, contracted, and have policies in place before the problems could occur, not during or after.
In addition, over 50 percent of the water that lands on Mongolia flows into other neighbouring countries.
Mongolia does not receive any water from other countries. There will likely be a need to control these water resources better in the future as Mongolia develops. (Those interested in learning more about water resources in Mongolia can look at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report on Mongolia at its Aquastat web page from which I got most of this water data.)
Then there are the problems of the dzud, the droughts and freezes, which kill off huge numbers of livestock regularly. As the dzud happen, the water tensions will likely rise in the future. The dzud have also caused great migration flows of people to the cities and towns, and especially to Ulaanbaatar. Those population flows have put water, education, food, employment and other stresses on the cities and towns.
Changes in the use and availability of one resource can affect the use and availability of other resources. Mongolia cannot look at the use and management of each resource separately, but, I respectfully submit, should look at properly integrating its use, pricing, and policies for many resources with a very long run view towards sustainable and balanced development.
I will turn to these and other issues later.
Mongolia does not have a quickly growing population. However, the growth of indigenous populations are sometimes overwhelmed by the inflows of expatriate workers who will work in the factories, mines, and services in a quickly developing country. As a country develops, it will need workers. Developing the required skills from the indigenous population may take more time than the industries and others are willing or able to wait. One can have laws to have a certain percentage of local labor involved in a project, but those laws and agreements need to have training and education offsets attached to them to make sure this labor is increasingly skilled.
Two examples where countries needed to import labor very quickly are the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. Their populations are now 90 percent outsiders. So far, these countries have been very lucky with their expatriate labour. There have not been any serious problems or disturbances. Both of these countries are newly rich. They found their riches on natural resources such as oil and gas.
They are also quite small in geography and are set up in such ways that the imported labour is under legal and other controls. They have strict immigration and labour laws. Most people who are native to the country do not complain much about the imported labour. Most are rich and comfortable. They have little to complain about.
Qataris and Emiratis were mostly poor in the 1960s and 1970s. There has been a huge growth in wealth, but many of the skills needed to run these countries were not developed amongst the Qataris and Emiratis.
Repeating this pattern may not be the best for Mongolia.
A more balanced development of labour skills and work ethic may be best for the future of all three countries. However, this is easier said than done.
Qatar and the UAE are doing well now. However, what happens when the oil and gas are finished. The leaders of both are worried about skills and work ethics. They are putting a lot of money toward the development of universities and training institutes.
However, building schools does not guarantee a skilled and hard working population. I respectfully suggest the Mongolia look hard at the examples of countries around the world. Mongolian leadership might want to look at how others have handled the development of their labour skills and work ethics, as well as how they handled imported labour. Repeating the mistakes of others is not in the best interests of Mongolia or Mongolians.
Qatar and the UAE are countries that are water short. They are water short to the point that they both have at most two days of water reserves if their desalinization plants ever need to be shut down. Both countries are looking into solutions to their water issues, but this is far from easy. The UAE is looking to build a nuclear power plant that would produce electricity for its growing needs, but also produce fresh water via nuclear desalinization. Qatar is looking into the possibilities of large desalinization plants using concentrated solar power. Most desalinization in both countries is powered by oil or gas. Both countries are looking into importing water for agricultural needs from the waste and other water of other countries. Both are looking into better ways to manage and price the water. Water security is one of the major worries of the leadership of both of these countries.
Qatar and the UAE are on the Arabian Gulf. They have access to salt water that they can turn into fresh. Mongolia is landlocked.
Mongolia has water resources, but as the country develops these water resources need to be properly developed and managed.
There is the Yenisei river basin, which flows towards Russia in the north. The water flows from mountains in the north. The majority of the water flows in Mongolia are from this basin. There is also the Amur River basin in the east of Mongolia. Mongolia also has some drainage areas in the south.
The most important pooled source of water in Mongolia is Lake Khuvsgul. It contains about 75 percent of the freshwater resources of the country. If the lake’s environment is not properly protected, there could be very serious problems in the future. That could be said also of the over 3,000 lakes in Mongolia. Frankly, as population, agriculture and industry grow Mongolia will need all the water it can find. The fact that the lakes freeze for much of the year adds complexity to making water policies for the country.
The Tuul River basin is where most of the population can be found. This will be an area to watch the closest as the population and industrial growth occurs. Most of the sources of water for Mongolia are in the north and the west in the mountains, but that is not where most of the population of the country resides.
Most of the over 4,000 rivers in the country are in the north. Most of the population is in Ulaanbaatar, which is in the north, but it is not the in the best place to capture and use all of that water. Most of the greatest growth in industry will likely be in the Gobi area, where water resources are far scarcer than in the north.
There is a lot of groundwater flow in the Gobi. That could help in these developments.
On the other hand, there is only so much water to go around.
Most of the use of water by Mongolia is from groundwater. Close to 50 percent water use is for livestock
and agriculture. About 25 percent is used for industry. This intersection of agriculture and herding with industry may be the most contentious use of water in the future. There could be serious tensions developing between those who work in agriculture and herding and the mines. These sorts of issues might need to be planned out, contracted, and have policies in place before the problems could occur, not during or after.
In addition, over 50 percent of the water that lands on Mongolia flows into other neighbouring countries.
Mongolia does not receive any water from other countries. There will likely be a need to control these water resources better in the future as Mongolia develops. (Those interested in learning more about water resources in Mongolia can look at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) report on Mongolia at its Aquastat web page from which I got most of this water data.)
Then there are the problems of the dzud, the droughts and freezes, which kill off huge numbers of livestock regularly. As the dzud happen, the water tensions will likely rise in the future. The dzud have also caused great migration flows of people to the cities and towns, and especially to Ulaanbaatar. Those population flows have put water, education, food, employment and other stresses on the cities and towns.
Changes in the use and availability of one resource can affect the use and availability of other resources. Mongolia cannot look at the use and management of each resource separately, but, I respectfully submit, should look at properly integrating its use, pricing, and policies for many resources with a very long run view towards sustainable and balanced development.
I will turn to these and other issues later.
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