SUMMER SCHOLARS BLOG: Saujan Khapung
Mongolian Government palace in Ulaanbaatar
I arrived in Mongolia in the second week of June. Because of the delay in getting my Visa, I had already started working remotely two weeks prior to my arrival in Mongolia.
For the Summer Scholars fellowship, I have been assigned to work with the UNDP Mongolia Country Office. Mongolia is a landlocked country sandwiched between Russia in the North and China in the South, East, and West. Although the country covers an area of 1,564,116 km², it has a population of only around 3.3 million. This makes Mongolia the country with the second lowest population density.
The UNDP Mongolia Country Office is located in Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia. Surprisingly, almost half of the whole population of the country lives in the capital. Apparently, Ulaanbaatar was built with the aim of accommodating only 500,000 residents. However, the current population is almost three times that, resulting in bad traffic situations and overload on the infrastructures. Despite this, Ulaanbaatar is a very walkable city, and I always walk everywhere.
Where I work
The UNDP Mongolia Country Office is located in Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia. Surprisingly, almost the half of the whole population of the country lives in the capital. Apparently, Ulaanbaatar was built with the aim of accommodating only 500,000 residents. However, the current population is almost three times that, resulting in bad traffic situations and overload on the infrastructures. Despite this, Ulaanbaatar is a very walkable city, and I always walk everywhere.
To get to Ulaanbaatar, you have to fly via the largest international airport of Mongolia, the Chinggis Khaan International Airport. It is located around 52 km south of Ulaanbaatar. The airport has been built in an open desolated place far from the city. It is quite a dramatic change, especially coming from a busy international airport. The ride from the airport to the capital was captivating, with open blue sky, horses running in the fields on the side of the road, and Gers (Traditional Mongolian hut for dwelling) spread across the meadows.
UN House, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
The UNDP Mongolia office is situated on the 5th Floor of the UN House in Ulaanbaatar. All other UN agencies in Mongolia, are stationed on the rest of the floors.
Weather in Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar, the coldest capital in the world, has an average temperature of -1 degree celsius. I didn’t know what to pack before I left New York. Given the information that I had about Ulaanbaatar being the coldest capital, I packed relatively warmer clothes. However, the summer in Ulaanbaatar is short and quite warm. I found that there is a wide fluctuation in temperature in the summer. It went from 34 degrees centigrade in the day to 11 degrees centigrade during the night. Interestingly, this year has been one of the hottest years in Mongolia.
July is supposed to be the wettest month of the year in Ulaanbaatar. It rained a lot more than what I had expected. This was surprising to me, as I had read that Mongolia’s climate is dry and arid. This year was also surprising to my Mongolian colleagues, as they commented on how they had never witnessed the amount of rainfall, in their recent memory. The incessant rain led to two floods during the month of July. This led to displacement of thousands of people from their flooded home, damage to the properties like vehicles, and thousands were stranded without electricity for weeks.
My Assignment
Extreme heat and rainfall are definitely the symptoms of Climate Change. It shows how extreme the climates all around the world has turned. This is yet another reminder that we have to work towards solving this issue as soon as possible, by adopting the use of Renewable Energy. My main assignment with UNDP is related to providing supporting roles in writing the National Human Development Report with focus on Just Energy Transition. I will be writing more about my works near the end of my assignment…
Read and see more blogs and photos by Saujan here
____
Our Summer Scholars Blog, a collection of reports from post-grad scholars that UNA-NYC has sponsored globally, showcases our fellows' experiences with UN agencies and non-governmental organizations in the country where they are working. Learn more about our Summer Scholars fellowship program and fellows here.