Source: Reuters                              Date: 29 September, 2011

The relationship between development and tradition is a contentious one for Mongolia. Although Mongolia's mining sector promises economic growth and greater standards of living, it has also interfered with traditional nomadic ways of life and is scarring its landscape.The coal production firm Mongolia Mining Corporation (MMC) has recently began utilizing its 147 kilometer, two-lane road designed for the transport of coal to China. Before the road's construction, overloaded trucks drove through the Gobi Desert on dirt paths. The bumpy roads puts sulfurous dust into the air and the overloaded trucks put great strain on the land. The road is one of a variety of projects MMC is using to minimize its environmental impact.Yet, the people who populate the Gobi Desert, where Ukhaa Khudag projects resides, struggle as well. Herders are beginning increasingly displaced from their traditional pasture lands."We are nomads, and we move from one place to another—the mining stops us from moving around,” said a herder struggling to continue his traditional occupation in this new era. “Mining is not a good thing for us because it is spoiling our pastoral land."Mongolia is also beginning to realize how important it is to develop responsibly. In addition to the future of its environment and people, Mongolia must protect its economy. To do so, it must learn from the past mistakes of others. Mongolians point to nations such as Switzerland as an example of a country it would like to follow in the footsteps of. Mongolians admire how the European nation turned a basic resource economy to a high-end banking and manufacturing sector. Currently, however, Mongolia's economy is too heavily dependent on China and its mining sector exacerbates that problem.Now, the nation must learn how to manage it policies to preserve its cultural traditions while moving forward as a globalized nations."Herders tell us that mines are really causing a problem and that the water is deteriorating," he said. "There is no question there are herders giving up herding, and the question then is what are they going to do?"