The Council of American Overseas Research Centers ( CAORC ) is a private not-for-profit federation of independent overseas research centers that promote advanced research. CAORC foster international scholarship by providing fellowships, grants, faculty development, and more.
This year, Dr. Paniagua was awarded along with 14 faculty to participate in a two-week seminar in Mongolia focused on issues related to Climate Change and Public Health hosted by the American Center for Mongolian Studies. The The American Center for Mongolian Studies hosted the CAORC program during the XX Anniversary Celebration.
The American Center for Mongolian Studies ( ACMS ) is a private, non-profit educational organization that supports academic projects and exchanges in Mongolia and the Inner Asian region.
Please find below some links to the XX Anniversary Celebration and ACMS Facebook describing some activities of the CAORC group.
A story map (link below) provides an overview of the May to June 2024 field seminar. My journey began and ended at the Indianapolis International Airport with a connecting flight to LA International Airport, to Seoul Incheon International Airport, and finally to the Chinggis Khaan International Airport, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Please find next a link to a Story Map (This is an interactive map. The buttons allow changes to the points of interest. To return to the original map, double click any of the buttons.)
We visited several hospitals and clinics in UB, Kharkhorin and Tsetserleg.
It is vital to quantify and raise awareness about how some weather factors, such temperature increase, desertification because high temperatures and precipitation patterns changes, melting permafrost, and extreme weather events are affecting health conditions particularly among vulnerable rural population such children and elderly . Desertification and lack of access to water impact agricultural output leading to food insecurity and malnutrition and the importance of promoting community-based adaptation measures such as improving the capacity of the health system, water management, sustainable land management to respond to climate-related health issues.
The Kharkhorin hospital has laboratory equipment, supplies, and a training center. Kharkhorin is improving health resources for over 15,000 rural Mongolians. I am thankful to Dr. Dorjderem Khureltumur, for sharing his presentation.
Tsetserleg's clinic provides health care not only to the people in town, but also to distant and isolated families. The clinic has laboratory equipment, supplies, and a fitness center. COVID-19 response in the primary health care system in rural Mongolia was key, and a subsequent phase of technical assistance was designed to strengthen capacity with a focus on increasing oxygen availability and building clinical capacity among providers at all Soum facilities across the country (Soums are primary health care facilities located in rural areas).
Thankful to The Venerable Battsengel Asralt, Head of International, Social, and Public Relations at Gandan Monastery and to Dr. Bataa Mishig-Ish, Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Institute of Philosophy, Mongolian Academy of Sciences for welcomed us to the Buddhist monastery complex and sacred temples. The monastery was founded in 1809, closed amid persecutions in 1939, and from 1944 to 1989 was the country's only active monastery. Today, it is the center of Buddhism in Mongolia.
The museum contains artifacts from the Hunnu period, Liao dynasty, the Uyghur Khaganate, the Mongol Empire and Rouran Khaganate. Many thanks to Enkhmend Sugar, Researcher of Kharakhorum Museum, for her awesome guide and talk.
The Mongolian yurt/ger has been inseparable from the lives of Mongolians living in the countryside with their livestock and currently, the small tribes are the primary source of traditional culture. The basin of the Orkhon River was home to a cycle of nomadic peoples that evolved over time in harmony with the natural landscape of the plains, resulting in a society, economy, and culture that was unique to this region. It is in this valley that Enkhmend Sugar, Researcher of Kharakhorum Museum, has been doing research since 2004, and established two temporary ger exhibitions of Traditional Mongolian game dedicated to Mongolian games and heritage's Kharkhorin.
Intangible Heritage in Orkhon Valley by Enkhmend Sugar
Erdene Zuu monastery is the oldest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. This Tibetan Buddhist monastery was built in 1585, rebuilt in the 18th century and partially destroyed in 1939.
Agata Bareja-Starzynska describes the Erdene Zuu Monastery Life based on Notes by Kotwicz in a Expedition to Mongolia in 1912 as not only a local centre of Buddhist worship in Qalq-a, but as a very influential centre of Buddhist faith among all Mongols.
Naadam is a festival known as Eriin Gurvan Naadam that celebrates the Mongolia's nomadic culture and heritage. The festival focuses on three traditional games: horse racing, wrestling, and archery. By regularly performing the Naadam festival, the Mongolian people are constantly constructing and restructuring their culture, customs, traditions, values and identity, both to themselves and to the world beyond.
UB Dialog conference session on Climate Change and Security Challenges in Northeast Asia
The CAORC-group attended the Ninth International Conference on Northeast Asian Security “Ulaanbaatar Dialogue”. It was organized jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute for Strategic Studies of Mongolia on 6–7 June 2024. This year the dialogue welcomed more than 230 participants representing governments, international organizations and academia from around 30 countries.
Government representatives, experts and scholars participating in the conference discussed “Security Challenges and Opportunities in the Region”, “Multilateral Cooperation in Northeast Asia”, “Climate Change and Security Challenges in Northeast Asia”, “Secure and Affordable Energy Transition in Northeast Asia” and “Developing Sustainable and Resilient Value Chains for Critical Energy Transition Minerals”. In addition, Track I roundtable meeting for government representatives was organized during the Ninth International Conference on Northeast Asian Security “Ulaanbaatar Dialogue”.
The traditional ger has been developing for thousands of years. The name yurt is from the Turkic language and describes the house of nomad peoples, primarily herders, from Central Asia. They developed a typology of houses that permits easy assembling, disassembling and transport.
Elsen Tasarkhai is a part of the Mongol Els dunes, and they are eighty kilometers long. Climate change and water security have serious implications for the lives of nomadic herders. Nowadays, desertification is affecting more than 76 % of Mongolia’s total land territory.
Environmental preservation and protection of Elsen Tasarkhai site is necessary. Mongolia’s desertification, especially manganese sand, is pleasant for tourism and the most effective way to cope with desertification. Research is vital to analyze and to suggest the way to solve the issues arising between locals who serve tourism.
Forestry education in Mongolia was started in 1962 with the establishment of the Department of Forestry in the Mongolian Agricultural University. Mongolia lost 1.6 million hectares of forest area between 1974 and 2000 due to fire, overgrazing, mining activities, improper and illegal logging, severe ecological stress in some regions. It is important to understand the research and education in Mongolia and find possible solutions to strengthen and develop forestry education and research in Mongolia.
Measuring poverty conditions is complex. Mongolia uses Income/cost Per Capita (IPC) per day and the multidimensional poverty index (MPI). In the case of nomadic herder households in Mongolia, a livestock number is used as an indicator to measure livelihood and poverty. Considering that, a herder’s household is considered poor with less than 200 animals.
