Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) is the first of the global iron ore majors expected to report lower half-year earnings from this week, as supply chains normalise after covid-19 and attention turns to how suppliers to China’s steelmaking industry see customer demand.

The world’s biggest iron ore producer is expected report its lowest half year earnings and dividend in three years on Wednesday, mostly on the back of a 15% fall in received iron ore prices over the period.

Iron ore accounts for about 70% of Rio’s earnings. A Visible Alpha consensus expects Rio to log profits of $5.85 billion and dividends of 185 US cents, 32% lower than last year’s $8.63 billion and 267 US cents.

Iron ore prices have recovered this quarter to the highest in four months on hopes of targeted stimulus for China’s property sector.

China’s top leaders pledged on Monday to step up policy support for the economy amid a tortuous post-COVID recovery, focusing on boosting domestic demand, signalling more stimulus steps.

“The China reopening trade is coming towards an end,” said analyst Kaan Peker of RBC in Sydney. “We don’t think there is going to be large stimulus.”

Rio warned of the risk to global growth when it reported its quarterly production last week.

The world’s biggest listed miner, BHP Group, reports on Aug. 2, when it is expected to log a 35% fall in underlying profit for the half to $7.45 billion from $11.6 billion for the second half of the 2021-2022 financial year.

Fortescue sets out its quarterly production results on Friday and its financial results on Aug. 27. Vale, the world’s second biggest iron ore miner, reports its financial results July 27 after sales lagged output during the quarter.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton and Sameer Manekar)

“It is the destiny of an elm tree to grow sidehill.”

This line from a Mongolian folk song reflects the character of the country – one that is resilient despite the odds. The elm tree grows in rocky terrain where soil is sparse, holding on to rainwater, making its way downhill, to survive.

Yet, even the most resilient of trees – and people – now face the biggest crisis of our time: climate change. Last month, June 2023, was the hottest on record. The last decade was the hottest in human history. Drought, floods, storms and wildfires are becoming more intense and more frequent.

Mongolia is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. About 76.9% of its land is affected by desertification and land degradation. Natural disasters have doubled in number in the last 20 years. The situation is dire.

But there is good news: with its forests and deserts, mountains and rivers, valleys and steppes, Mongolia is a climate microcosm of the world. The climate challenges here can be found elsewhere – and the solutions that succeed here can work elsewhere.

Diversifying with green and digital trade

To drive solutions at the systemic level requires redefining socioeconomic progress. Our efforts to develop trade must truly support people, prosperity and the planet. This is why Mongolia and the International Trade Centre co-hosted the World Export Development Forum at the end of June. The theme, “diversifying with green and digital trade,” explored how societies can set economic foundations in a sustainable way, with small businesses, women and young people driving the change.

When exploring strategies to respond to climate change, from policies to platforms to partnerships, prioritizing innovation is at the core, but seeking the help of the oldest of technologies, nature’s solution – trees – is crucial. To go beyond a symbolic gesture to create a viable plan to reverse desertification, taking a science-based approach to tree planting is key.

This involves mapping eroded land and water sources, conducting soil research and creating a plant atlas. Backed by data collection and close monitoring, tree planting can be highly effective for countries combating desertification. The people of Mongolia have a saying: "The cradle of life is water; the cradle of water is the trees.” They believe that soil, food and people hold umbilical kinship.

By 2030, Mongolia’s Billion Tree National Movement aims to plant and nurture billions of trees to increase the forest cover to 9%. This will absorb more carbon from the atmosphere, increase water resources and accelerate climate-friendly business development. Beyond reforestation, the plan focuses on afforestation – planting new forests in favourable areas – to reverse desertification and the other effects of climate change, sustain biodiversity and improve food security.

As part of the movement, developing agro-forestry parks and growing fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs will not only help to meet domestic demands but support exports, thus increasing employment opportunities and boosting the income of citizens.

Tree planting on such a wide scale is also important to building capacity in related services, such as environmental engineering and water management, making Mongolia more resilient overall and better able to face future shocks. This is a twenty-first-century path to growth and economic diversification.

In parallel, Mongolia aims to reduce emissions by 27.2% by 2030 in the energy, transportation, construction, industry, agriculture and waste sectors. An ambitious but necessary target.

Tackling climate change as a society

To translate these national campaigns and plans into change on the ground, all parts of society must be involved. The tree-planting campaign is moving faster than expected, for example, because everyone is contributing, in all 21 provinces.

In other words, while the government sets the framework, others fill it in. This includes the 'silent majority' or small businesses. They make up most businesses worldwide, including two-thirds of registered businesses in Mongolia. By the end of 2022, with the involvement of small-scale producers and workers, the production of seed reserves was 4.5 times the amount produced in previous years.

While small businesses are willing to contribute to the low-carbon transition, they need financing, skills and technology to do so. They need training, for example, to start tree nursery businesses, fruit farms or medicinal herb farms and to trade biodiverse products abroad. As the lead United Nations agency on small businesses, the International Trade Centre works with firms on dynamic agroforestry to replenish forests, diversify crops and improve soil quality with fewer chemicals, increase yields and create access to new markets seeking sustainably produced goods. Incentivizing farmers to adopt such practices is key to long-term change and sustainable economic growth.

Looking back to the elm tree, it is not just one growing sidehill in Mongolia: 308 million will be planted as part of the tree-planting campaign. In good company, the benefits brought forth by the elm tree will grow exponentially as the trees grow.

Perth-based TMK Energy says it has proven mobile gas can be flowed to surface at its Gurvantes XXXV coal-seam gas project in Mongolia’s South Gobi Basin, flaring first gas from its Lucky Fox-1 well for three hours.

The company says it will now complete an extended production test at the project as it aims to prove continuous gas flow by increasing pump rates in all three of its wells – Lucky Fox-1, 2 and 3. It believes that will cause more coal seams to reach critical desorption pressure and release their stored gas pay.

The three production wells combined are currently producing about 500 barrels of water per day, in line with reservoir modelling and current pump rates. And the produced water will not go to waste in the arid Gobi Desert, with TMK agreeing to provide coal miner Mongol Alt LLC (MAK), which also owns the Gurvantes lease, with early-stage water from the well tests to feed its nearby power and water-hungry coal mining operations.

The early signs we are seeing from the performance of the three pilot wells is in line with our reservoir modelling work and bodes well for the extended production test. The good water rates combined with the decreasing fluid levels in each of the wells is very encouraging. The flaring of the gas for over three hours proves there is gas in the system that can be and is flowing to surface, and we now aim to demonstrate that gas can be produced at a sustained economic rate as we proceed with the extended production test. The results to date from this maiden Pilot Well Program are very encouraging for the future of the Project, the Company, and its shareholders.

TMK Energy chief executive officer Brendan Stats

The company has moved with purpose at Gurvantes since earlier this year when it discovered thick gassy coal intervals of up to 68m in its Lucky Fox wells. It has installed three sets of downhole pumps and driveheads, in addition to surface gas-handling facilities in preparation for production testing.

Management last week continued the momentum by commissioning production testing and now proving first gas to surface.

As the extended production test matures in coming weeks and steady gas flow at surface is achieved, TMK will have a clear and immediate pathway to commercialisation through an energy offtake agreement, signed in March this year between TMK and MAK. As part of the deal, the produced gas will be used for modular power generation at site before being on-sold to MAK at the prevailing local energy wholesale price.

The company says it expects to demonstrate sustained economic gas flow rates at surface to propel Gurvantes from the exploration phase firmly into appraisal and commercial development. The test data will feed into TMK’s prefeasibility study for the project, which has an estimated (2C) contingent resource of 1.2 trillion cubic feet of high-methane gas.

Gurvantes is operated by TMK as part of a joint venture with Perth-based partner Talon Energy and signals the company’s commitment to long-term gas production in Mongolia, where it has an exploration licence for 15 years in an area widely regarded as one of the most prospective coal-seam gas basins in the world.

In addition to the local Mongolian need for gas, other market opportunities for TMK includes China’s significant natural gas market, currently serviced by importing via long-distance pipelines from central Asia, Russia and Myanmar.

China is hungry for natural gas to feed its power and manufacturing industries. Mordor Intelligence estimates the compound annual growth rate for China’s LNG market at about 7 per cent from this year to 2028, in part due to the phasing out of coal-fired power in a step towards reduced carbon emissions.

Gurvantes is tantalisingly close to the Chinese border, which is less than 20km south of the project. China’s huge west-east gas pipeline sits another 280km across the border.

Outcropping coal seams are underfoot along strike of Gurvantes where the company believes there is more gas potential. It will investigate that possibility with a planned 2D seismic survey, in addition to eight more exploration wells.

The market seemed to resonate with TMK’s gas flow confirmation today as the company’s stock jumped more than 14 per cent. And with production test data on the horizon, it should not be too long a wait to find out just how much gas is tied up within the Mongolian coals.

As geopolitics continue to evolve, the initiative to build a China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, spearheaded by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in 2015, gains increasing relevance. The project, aimed at facilitating the development of these three nations, has the potential to radically change geo-economic processes worldwide.

The corridor, spanning the breadth of the Eurasian continent, enables Russia to broaden its export flow towards the East. It was in Tashkent, in 2016, that a program formalizing the creation of the economic corridor was signed. The agreement set forth seven primary domains of cooperation, including the development of interconnected transport infrastructure, industrial and investment cooperation, environmental protection, and promotion of cross-border and regional collaboration.

Five years post-signature, the involved parties will assess the program’s success and decide on its extension. During a 2022 meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin, alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, proposed an intensified five-year effort to expedite the program’s existing objectives.

Three priority areas were identified in 2018 for immediate focus: modernizing the Ulan-Ude to Tianjin railway corridor; developing road transport along the AN-3 highway; and exploring opportunities for Chinese enterprise involvement in modernizing Mongolia and Russia’s power grids.

Experts are confident that these integration transport projects could speed up the construction of the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline, part of the Power of Siberia-2 project. The Mongolian side is optimistic about this prospect, anticipating financial benefits from transit payments and the potential to supply gas to Ulan Bator.

However, challenges persist, particularly concerning the single-track, non-electrified railway corridor in Mongolia. The disparity in track width between China and Mongolia/Russia, coupled with the Mongolian government’s hesitance in modernizing this section, further complicates matters. Nonetheless, cargo transport on this route has consistently risen in recent years, albeit still lower than transit through Kazakhstan.

As the Central Railway Corridor undergoes modernization, discussions regarding the development of Eastern and Western Corridors through Mongolia continue. While the Western Corridor could connect Kuragino, Kizil, Kobdo, and Urumqi, the Eastern Corridor may run from Borzi to the Chinese urban region of Panjin.

Despite these promising plans, issues remain in road communication between countries. The reconstruction of the Darkhan – Ulan Bator section of the AN-3 highway, slated for completion this year, and the lagging road infrastructure development contribute to these problems. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down several projects in the economic corridor.

Considering the current geopolitical landscape, Mongolia’s balanced stance towards its neighbors, Russia and China, and its partnerships with Western nations becomes of significant interest. With Russia keen on reorienting most of its export flow towards the East, Mongolia’s transport infrastructure is of strategic importance.

It can be inferred that a shift in Russia’s foreign economic relations is underway, with China possibly replacing EU countries as the primary trading partner. In this scenario, Mongolia could emerge as a pivotal transit link. This shift towards the East could also stimulate development in Siberia and the Far Eastern regions of Russia, positively affecting the standard of living and economic activity in these areas.

The successful development of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor could revolutionize global geo-economic processes. With a strategic approach, this corridor could potentially emerge as a key driver of global economic progression.

Copyright © 2023 The Eastern Herald.

"XacBank" LLC, which issued securities on the stock exchange, presented its report on the use of funds collected from the public.

The company, whose shares were traded on May 29 of this year after conducting an IPO in the stock market, collected MNT 35.7 billion. Disbursement of funds collected as of June 30 of this year:

• Citizen loan portfolio: MNT 17.8 billion

• Corporate loan portfolio: MNT 410.9 million

• Financial leasing package: MNT 2.7 billion

• The unspent balance of net financing is MNT 13,463,776,627

The company plans to finance the bank's main product, lending, as follows, net of the direct costs associated with issuing securities. It includes:

• 66 percent of citizens' loan portfolio or MNT 22.5 billion

• Corporate loan portfolio 19 percent or MNT 6.5 billion

• 15 percent of financial lease package or MNT 5.1 billion

"XacBank" LLC offered 5.0 percent of its total shares or 52,700,000 shares to the public at MNT 677 each, and raised a total of MNT 35,677,900,000.

Mongolia established diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1992. It is the world's largest landlocked country with a population of just 3.3 million people. According to a 2020 national census, 52 percent of the nation is Buddhist, 41 percent consider themselves "non-religious," 3.2 percent are Muslim, and 1.3 percent are Christian. The Holy Father's upcoming pilgrimage (August 31-September 4) is the culmination of decades of Buddhist-Christian encounter

Ulaanbaatar (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father’s upcoming trip to Mongolia is being hailed as a first since no pope has ever visited, yet decades of missionary and diplomatic work laid the ground for this pilgrimage, which will unfold August 31-September 4.

The Buddhist-Christian dimension of the encounter is a crucial reason Pope Francis has prioritized Mongolia. We know he cherishes inter-faith dialogue as an antidote to division and the demonization of opponents practiced by too many politicians.

By tracing three long-term Church efforts to find common ground with Buddhist communities, then to witness how Francis has actively accelerated these trends, we see how missionaries and diplomats are in sync—especially under his leadership. It’s a powerful partnership that will be on display in Mongolia.

Through the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue (DID), Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique-Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIM-MID); and individual religious who have given their lives to increased understanding, tremendous gains have been made toward building a culture of compassion—the title of an excellent book on the Buddhist-Catholic encounter (Urbaniana University Press, 2020) with a valuable introduction by Georgetown University scholar John Borelli.

Vesak Messages

Sri-Lankan Msgr. Indunil J. Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage is secretary of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue (DID), appointed in 2019, after serving as undersecretary since 2012. He describes himself as “born into inter-religious dialogue” because his mother was brought up in a Buddhist family and became Catholic when she married. His neighbors and classmates included Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians.

“I grew up in a pluralistic culture and this pluralism has shaped my attitudes, my perceptions, my worldview,” he explained. While teaching missiology at Pontifical Urbaniana University, he brought his students to a Buddhist temple in Rome “because students should meet monks.”

Kodithuwakku says inter-religious dialogue is an “evolutionary process.” He credits Second Vatican Council, especially Nostra Aetate, as providing the main impetus and in 1986, Buddhists attended the Assisi Prayer led by Pope John Paul II.

Two 1995 DID initiatives—the first Vesakh message and theological colloquium—signify regular, respectful encounters that build relationships over time.

To mark the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha, April-May’s full moon is a sacred feast day for Buddhists worldwide. Under Cardinal Francis Arinze’s leadership, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (DID today) began marking Vesak by sending greetings addressed to “Buddhist Friends,” through apostolic nuncios in nearly every country. Greetings are translated into local languages and distributed.

Most recently on April 21, DID’s prefect, Cardinal Miguel Angel yuso Guixot and Kodithuwakku sent a Vesak greeting titled "Buddhists and Christians: Healing the Wounded of Humanity Through Karuna and Agape".

Theological Dialogue

The same theme will be explored at the seventh DID-sponsored Buddhist-Christian colloquium being held this November in Bangkok, Thailand at the Maha Chulalongkorn Raja Vidhyalaya University—a Theravada Buddhist university. But event planning is also coordinated by Maha Makut Buddhist University, associated with the Mahayana tradition, so the two most prominent schools of Buddhist thought are both represented.

The first DID-sponsored Buddhist-Christian colloquium was hosted in 1995 by Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order in their Kaohsiung, Taiwan monastery. Three years later, the second colloquium was held in a Benedictine monastery in Bangalore, India.

“We live in a time when tribalism is growing,” observed Kodithuwakku. “In tribal society is you are bonded to your own group. You think only of your own group. Others can exist but they are secondary. Whereas, Pope Francis is promoting a fraternal society – human fraternity.”

“Fraternal society means you try to treat the other as a brother and a sister, it is just the opposite of the tribal society,” the Sri Lankan priest continued. “So religious dialogue, from the beginning, has been promoting fraternal society. Even though I am deeply rooted in religious identity, we try to open ourselves with respect and understanding. It doesn’t mean that we hide our differences, or cancel our differences, differences are there.”

“All religions are not the same. But at the same time, you respect the diversity and based on universal values, you try to make this world a better place,” Kodithuwakku said.

Cardinal Marengo & FABC

A Church leader who speaks highly of the Buddhist-Christian colloquium series is Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar. In an interview at the 2022 FABC meeting, Cardinal Marengo reflected on his participation in the Buddhist-Christian colloquia.

“This has given me a great opportunity to know more about the Buddhist world. I attended the 2015 edition in Bodh Gaya, India, and for me it was really an eye opener to the wider Buddhist work because in Mongolia I knew only the reality of Mongolian Buddhism. The 2015 meeting was more about the Theravada tradition,” the cardinal said.

He continued, “Then in 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan [at the Ling Jiou Buddhist Monastery], again, it was a fruitful initiative. I asked the organizers to invite one Buddhist monk from Mongolia because they had not participated. So, it was also an experience of friendship. The monk who attended is a well-known abbot leading a big monastery in Mongolia. These occasions gave me an opportunity to know more about Buddhism in general.” (Buddhism in Mongolia, like Tibet, is more aligned with the Mahayana tradition while Theravada is practiced in Southeast Asia— Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam, for example.)

FABC has its own history of advancing with the majority faith in Asia. At its first plenary assembly in 1974 in Taipei, it took as its guiding principle the image of the Asian Church as a Church of dialogue. Four years later, FABC set up an Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, which sponsored grassroots engagement.

What the FABC understands about Buddhism is beautifully stated in a 1997 document about how the Holy Spirit animates faith:

“For so many centuries, Buddhism has nourished the spiritual life of almost the whole of Asia bearing the fruits of Sympathetic Love, Compassion, Joy, and Peace of Mind in the lives of millions of Asia’s people. As Christians come to share something of the vision and experience of the Buddha as lived out in the lives of the people…what can they perceive but the work of the Spirit which they too have experienced?”

DIM-MID & Extraordinary Individuals

The Benedictine Order formalized exchanges between Christian and Buddhist monks in the 1960s and 1970s. The secretariat Dialogue Interreligieux Monastique-Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (DIM-MID) even features a logo incorporating a Christian cross and the Zen enso.

(DIMMID is a commission of the Benedictine Confederation with formal links to both branches of the Cistercian order.)

At least 15 exchanges over the last 30 years brought Buddhist monks for extended stays in Christian monastic communities and vice versa.

Venerable Phra Dr. Anil Sakya is a Buddhist scholar and assistant abbot at the royal monastery of Wat Bovoranives Vihara in Bangkok, Thailand where I met him.

Sakya was born in Nepal in 1960, then sent by his father, a Buddhist priest, to study in Thailand at age 14. He was the first monk to receive a scholarship from the Thai king to study social anthropology at Cambridge University in the UK where he was the only Buddhist monk at the school—and possibly in the town.

"I was an alien everywhere I went," said the thoughtful Phra Sakya.

Since then, he has moved fluidly between countries and traditions. He calmly and lyrically describes how he has worked closely with the Thai Supreme Patriarch, met Pope Francis when the Holy Father was in Thailand, and attended a sustainable development conference at the Holy See.

“There is an openness to learn about the dharma among Catholic priests I’ve met,” explained the monk. “This openness is reciprocated by Buddhists. We’ve had many wonderful encounters.”

Pope Francis & Fraternity

It was a Buddhist monk who was the first to congratulate Bishop Marengo on his selection to the College of Cardinals in 2022.

“I was in Italy and went to Sunday Mass with two Mongolian Catholic priests who were traveling with me, together with a Buddhist monk,” recounted Marengo.

“Then we went to visit a community of Consolata Missionary sisters outside Rome. We had a nice meeting. Meanwhile, the announcement [about the new cardinals] was given at the Angelus. We got the news only after. And the Buddhist abbot was the first to congratulate me for the appointment!” he said.

He continued, “It was, of course, a great surprise for me, but we know how important interreligious dialogue is for Pope Francis.”

Indeed, the pope’s visit to Mongolia is the culmination of almost 60 years of increasing fraternity with our Buddhist brothers and sisters.

As DID prefect Cardinal Miguel Ayuso Guixot writes, “Accompanied by Pope Francis’s dialogue of fraternity and respect, Buddhists and Christians across the world have been able to find creative ways to share the joys and mysteries of life together and to cooperate for the common good for all, and the survival of our common home.” (Agenzia Fides, 24/7/2023)

*Victor Gaetan is a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Register, focusing on international issues. He also writes for Foreign Affairs magazine and contributed to Catholic News Service. The Catholic Press Association of North America has given his articles four first place awards, including Individual Excellence. Gaetan received a license (B.A.) in Ottoman and Byzantine Studies from Sorbonne University in Paris, an M.A. from the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy, and a Ph.D. in Ideology in Literature from Tufts University. His book God’s Diplomats: Pope Francis, Vatican Diplomacy, and America’s Armageddon (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) comes out in paperback in July. Visit his website at VictorGaetan.org.

In late May, the Pacific Air Forces’ headquarters at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, welcomed airmen from the Mongolian Armed Forces Air Force Command, the U.S. Air Force and the Alaska National Guard for the third Airman-to-Airman talks.

This mutual exchange provided an avenue for relationship building, best practices sharing, and collaborative planning for future engagements between Mongolian and U.S. air forces.

“We share a common purpose: to protect our countries and promote global security and stability,” said Alaska Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Ken Radford, director of the Joint Staff for the AKNG and co-chair of the A2AT. “Our militaries work together on a regular basis, and the Airmen-to-Airmen talk is another example of the strong bond that exists between our two nations.”

Throughout the event, attendees divided into four working groups: operations, exercises and engagements, logistics, medical, and professionalization and education. Subject matter experts within the groups evaluated the effectiveness of previous engagements, identified goals for future collaboration, and developed strategic, long-term plans.

Five members of the AKANG participated in the engagement, providing expertise in airlift and rescue aviation, Arctic and expeditionary medical, and airfield logistics.

“It was a very fulfilling mentoring conference as I got to understand what challenges [the MAF AFC] are facing and what we can do to help them progress,” said Air National Guard Maj. Paul Padilla, 176th Medical Group clinic nurse. “The representatives were gracious and friendly, and have an earnest desire to grow. I look forward to any further opportunities to work with them in the future.”

During the medical sessions, Padilla discussed modernization of flight and operational medical programs with a medical representative from the Mongolian Armed Forces and an international health specialist from JBPHH, offering regional expertise in high-altitude, cold-weather medical operations.

2023 also marks a special year for the relationship between the Alaska National Guard and the Mongolian Armed Forces as they celebrate 20 years of bilateral relations through the State Partnership Program. This partnership emphasizes deep continuity and long-term relationships as military and emergency management personnel in both nations can participate in engagements multiple times throughout their career.

“Alaska and Mongolia have a rich partnership due to a whole-of-society relationship spanning interagency ties and similarities in cold climate and dispersed populations,” Radford said. “The real work is ongoing as we continue to improve our air forces, our capabilities and our partnership to build alliances and bonds to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

Looking to the future, the MAF AFC and the AKANG left the A2AT with an actionable framework spanning the next five to ten years of exercise participation, academic opportunities and continued force development.

Unseen by many, a silent storm is brewing on the plains of Mongolia, a storm that carries more than just sand and dust. It brings with it severe air quality issues, particularly for neighboring China. The capital city, Beijing, already suffers from air pollution, but the increasingly frequent sandstorms originating from Mongolia have added a new layer to the problem. These storms are attributed to the combined effects of climate change and economic development, and it appears Mongolia is on the brink of surpassing a tipping point towards irreversible desertification.

A Landscape Under Stress

The grasslands of Mongolia have been under significant stress due to overgrazing and mining. Livestock numbers have increased more than threefold since 1982, contributing to the degradation of the grasslands. Moreover, the mining sector, which accounts for 26% of Mongolia’s GDP, has also played a significant role in this environmental challenge. The degradation of the grasslands, in turn, contributes to the increased frequency and intensity of sandstorms.

A Collaborative Response

In response to this escalating problem, China and Mongolia have agreed to establish a joint center to combat desertification. However, the solution does not lie solely in these two nations’ hands. Other factors, such as the Asian winter monsoon, stronger polar vortexes in the Arctic, and increased cyclone activity in Mongolia, are also contributing to the problem. Future research will be required to establish whether this year’s increase in sandstorms is a one-off event or a new normal due to climate change.

The Fallout in Beijing

Beijing, a city already grappling with air pollution, is experiencing the fallout of these sandstorms. Chinese forecasters have warned citizens about the respiratory dangers and very low visibility while traveling during these events. Real-time air quality indices have shown serious pollution levels, with the concentration of fine particulates in the air in Beijing reaching 46.2 times the World Health Organization’s annual air quality guideline value.

The impact of the sandstorms is not confined to Mongolia and China. A dozen provinces, including Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Hubei, Inner Mongolia, and the metropolis Shanghai, are affected by these sandstorms and major dust events. The sandstorms have become a hot topic on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, with users expressing concerns about the effects on their daily lives and health.

Moving Forward

These sandstorms pose significant human security challenges, including food insecurity, threats to human health, and infrastructure degradation, plus human migration to escape these impacts. However, they also present an opportunity for international cooperation and the development of joint programs to mitigate, prepare for, and respond to the impacts of these sandstorms.

The future might be uncertain, but one thing is clear: the increasing frequency of sandstorms in Mongolia is more than just an environmental issue. It’s a regional security concern that requires a comprehensive, collaborative response. The dust storms are a stark reminder of our interconnected world, where a problem in one area can have far-reaching effects in another.

Rain-triggered floods hit the Mongolian capital, severely damaging public and private buildings and infrastructures.

Basements or first floors of hundreds of residential buildings across Ulan Bator were inundated, and roads in several city locations were submerged, the country's National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement on Monday.

In a tragic incident, a young woman was severely electrocuted and subsequently hospitalized after unintentionally touching a live cable in downtown Ulan Bator amidst the Sunday rain.

The Mongolian capital has been suffering heavy rainfall since Saturday. The water levels of major rivers in and around the city such as Tuul and Selbe have exceeded warning levels.

The capital city, home to around half of Mongolia's 3.4 million population, is expected to see more rain in the coming days, the agency said, warning the public to take extra precautions against possible disasters.