Mongolia's Millennuim Development Goal-9 Indicators Project Brief

DOI: 10.5564/mjia.v0i15-16.34Mongolian Journal of International Affairs No.15-16 2008-2009 pp.135-17

An Analysis of Mongolia’s Resource-Led Development: the Impact of Foreign Direct Investment in the Extraction Industry

It has been 26 years since Mongolia transitioned to democracy. I decided to evaluate the progress of Mongolia’s development since the transition to evaluate whether the country of only 3 million people with vast land and natural resources successfully implemented policies to attain growth and societal wellbeing. In order to evaluate Mongolia’s development progress, this thesis uses FDI in Mongolian development since 1990 as a case study to examine the relationship between FDI, state development strategies, and development outcomes. My research questions encompass a series of interrelated inquiries including 1) whether human development can be achieved through extraction industries 2) whether the source of FDI has a strong impact on development outcomes, and 3) whether FDI influences state-led development efforts and decision making to the extent that it threatens the development of Mongolian sovereignty. I conclude that Mongolia is at a crossroads. Foreign direct investment in the extraction industry can either help or harm Mongolian development; the long-term results of FDI will depend upon the Mongolian government’s actions. The source of the FDI does not have a strong impact on development outcomes. There are some differences in industry conduct regarding transparency and corporate social responsibility based upon the source of funding. The main responsibility for attaining development falls to the Mongolian government. However, my research indicates that FDI could have a corrosive impact on state sovereignty if the state is weak in enforcing rule of law. Surprisingly, I find that a strong, active civil society is necessary to maintain the integrity of development strategies in the face of significant FDI

Why do countries join international literacy assessments? an actor-network theory analysis with case studies from Lao PDR and Mongolia.

International assessments are a growing educational phenomenon around the world, increasingly picking up in lower and middle income countries and entering the space of global educational governance (Fenwick et al. 2014). Following the success of the OECD’s first international assessments, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) set out in 2003 to develop the Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP) to measure adult literacy levels across lower and middle income countries in a context-sensitive way. As international organizations rationalize international assessments as essential tools for policy (Rizvi and Lingard 2010) target lower and middle income countries, researching the rationales behind these countries’ participation becomes an urgent area of investigation. In this thesis I enquire into what drives lower-middle income countries to join international assessment programmes through case studies of LAMP in the Lao PDR and Mongolia. Setting my research in the emerging field I define as International Assessment Studies, I argue that Lao PDR and Mongolia join international assessments for reasons that go beyond the need to inform policy (as stated by the UIS and the OECD) and to access foreign aid (Lockheed 2013). Different, and often contradictory interests are being played out through heterogeneous alliances (Latour 1996) which include human and non-human actors (including standardized testing instruments). Through the application of Actor-Network Theory, the data generated in my fieldwork suggests countries are joining the recent phenomenon of international assessments as a global ritual of belonging, comparing the gap with reference societies, and ‘scandalizing’ and ‘glorifying’ (i.e. statistically eliminating problems) with international data. The thesis suggests that understandings of governmentality need to be revised in light of the international and comparative character of educational governance. My findings have implications for understanding the politics of reception of international assessments, but also for the upcoming Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Development which the OECD is in the process of developing – in a similar manner to LAMP – for lower and middle income countries

Derivation of forest inventory parameters from high-resolution satellite imagery for the Thunkel area, Northern Mongolia. A comparative study on various satellite sensors and data analysis techniques.

With the demise of the Soviet Union and the transition to a market economy starting in the 1990s, Mongolia has been experiencing dramatic changes resulting in social and economic disparities and an increasing strain on its natural resources. The situation is exacerbated by a changing climate, the erosion of forestry related administrative structures, and a lack of law enforcement activities. Mongolia’s forests have been afflicted with a dramatic increase in degradation due to human and natural impacts such as overexploitation and wildfire occurrences. In addition, forest management practices are far from being sustainable. In order to provide useful information on how to viably and effectively utilise the forest resources in the future, the gathering and analysis of forest related data is pivotal. Although a National Forest Inventory was conducted in 2016, very little reliable and scientifically substantiated information exists related to a regional or even local level. This lack of detailed information warranted a study performed in the Thunkel taiga area in 2017 in cooperation with the GIZ. In this context, we hypothesise that (i) tree species and composition can be identified utilising the aerial imagery, (ii) tree height can be extracted from the resulting canopy height model with accuracies commensurate with field survey measurements, and (iii) high-resolution satellite imagery is suitable for the extraction of tree species, the number of trees, and the upscaling of timber volume and basal area based on the spectral properties. The outcomes of this study illustrate quite clearly the potential of employing UAV imagery for tree height extraction (R2 of 0.9) as well as for species and crown diameter determination. However, in a few instances, the visual interpretation of the aerial photographs were determined to be superior to the computer-aided automatic extraction of forest attributes. In addition, imagery from various satellite sensors (e.g. Sentinel-2, RapidEye, WorldView-2) proved to be excellently suited for the delineation of burned areas and the assessment of tree vigour. Furthermore, recently developed sophisticated classifying approaches such as Support Vector Machines and Random Forest appear to be tailored for tree species discrimination (Overall Accuracy of 89%). Object-based classification approaches convey the impression to be highly suitable for very high-resolution imagery, however, at medium scale, pixel-based classifiers outperformed the former. It is also suggested that high radiometric resolution bears the potential to easily compensate for the lack of spatial detectability in the imagery. Quite surprising was the occurrence of dark taiga species in the riparian areas being beyond their natural habitat range. The presented results matrix and the interpretation key have been devised as a decision tool and/or a vademecum for practitioners. In consideration of future projects and to facilitate the improvement of the forest inventory database, the establishment of permanent sampling plots in the Mongolian taigas is strongly advised.2021-06-0

Differentiated Instruction in Teaching from the International Perspective:Methodological and empirical insights

This book reports findings based on a largescale project on differentiated instruction across various education systems documenting evidence of its measurement, differences, changes, and links with student engagement.We document empirical findings of differentiated instruction practices in secondary education across diverse countries/education systems, covering student, teacher, school, and education system/country levels. Classroom observations and student surveys, both collected in authentic classrooms, are the core measures of inquiry used. Findings on similarities and differences in differentiated instruction practices, changes over time, links with student engagement, and the role of some personal and contextual factors, contribute to advance the knowledge base particularly in the field of teaching effectiveness, learning environments research, and differentiation in education. Findings are relevant for research, practice, and policy

Access to Environmental Justice: NGO Environmental Advocacy on Mining-Related Environmental Issues in Mongolia

In this thesis, I apply the theory of environmental justice to determine how NGOs use substantive and procedural environmental rights to advocate for mining-affected nomadic communities in Mongolia. Environmental NGOs often possess legal and scientific expertise pertinent to resolving and mitigating environmental risks and demanding justice for environmental damages on behalf of the mining-affected local communities. Based on the environmental justice theories, I have constructed a theoretical framework to examine how NGOs access and implement environmental justice tools, both domestically and internationally. Using a multi-methods research approach, including documentary analysis and qualitative interviews with NGO experts and lawyers, I was able to uncover the experiences, difficulties, and challenges faced by NGOs as they seek favorable environmental outcomes. My findings demonstrate that domestic and international environmental justice tools provided opportunities to NGOs to litigate, advocate, negotiate, and mediate the disputes between marginalized mining-affected nomadic communities and their much-larger opponents, mining companies

Governance from Below: Decentralization, Innovation, and Disaster Management in East Asia

Research on decentralization has emphasized that the distribution of power between the national and local levels has different effects on various outcomes. This dissertation aims to contribute to this discussion by shedding light on the three types of decentralization (political, fiscal, and administrative) and their effect on two main outcomes: the production of technological and intellectual innovation and COVID-19 management. I argue that decentralization – including its three types – works differently under different conditions, resulting in different outcomes. That is, fiscal and administrative decentralization empower local decision-makers to make autonomous decisions, which can be beneficial for promoting innovation, but unhelpful during nationwide disasters like COVID-19. I also argue that political decentralization per se would be a machine with no function, meaning, I expect it would have no influencing role in increasing economic innovation or decreasing the COVID-19 outcomes. This dissertation provides an in-depth discussion of this relationship among East Asian countries, with a particular focus on Mongolia – the least studied country in that region. The dissertation relies on quantitative and qualitative methods, such as large-N statistical analyses, Textual Network analyses, and semi-structured interviews with Mongolian local decision-makers. The results of those analyses and interviews show that decentralization does matter in explaining East Asian nations\u27 level of innovation and the success/failure of their COVID-19 management. The interviews conducted with Mongolian local decision-makers provide evidence that the country is low fiscally and administratively decentralized. This low empowerment negatively influences the local levels\u27 ability to promote innovation and to have an autonomous decision during nationwide disasters