Health status and risk factors of seminomadic pastoralists in Mongolia: A geographical approach

The particular lifestyle of nomadic or seminomadic people has much to do with their health status. This discussion of the conceptual basis and some preliminary results of the 1992-1994 health status and risk factor survey in Mongolia serves to highlight some of the relationships existing between the general health status and potential risk factors observed among pastoral nomads. In addition to graphic description of the data, a statistical analysis suggests significant associations between certain health status indicators and gender, location, lifestyle factors (e.g. smoking), socio-economic status, preventive health care and the physical environment. With regard to locational factors, there are strong regional differences in a wide-ranging number of health status indicators. The results of this study, obtained as they were at the threshold of Mongolia's economic and political transformation, will serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes in the health of Mongolians.Mongolia health status risk factors medical geography cultural nomads lifestyle environment healthcare

Understanding transportation-caused rangeland damage in Mongolia

Mongolia, a vast and sparsely populated semi-arid country, has very little formal road infrastructure. Since the 1990s, private ownership and usage of vehicles has been increasing, which has created a web of dirt track corridors due to the communal land tenure and unobstructed terrain, with some of these corridors reaching over 4 km in width. This practice aids wind- and water-aided erosion and desertification, causing enormous negative environmental effects. Little is being done to counter the phenomenon, mainly because the logic of the driving behaviour that causes this dirt road widening is not fully understood.The research in this article postulates that this driving behaviour has rational foundations and is linked to various geographical factors (natural and man-made geographical features). We analysed 11,000 km of arterial routes in the country using spatial statistics and determined that geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis offers a good explanation for whether, and by how much, the selected geographical factors affect the creation of corridor widths and how their effect varies across the landscape.We determined that corridor widths are correlated to factors such as proximity to river crossings, traffic intensity, and vegetation abundance. Knowing these factors can help local planners and engineers design counter-measures that could help to control and reduce the widths of these corridors, until paved roads can replace the dirt track corridors

Understanding transportation-caused rangeland damage in Mongolia

Mongolia, a vast and sparsely populated semi-arid country, has very little formal road infrastructure. Since the 1990s, private ownership and usage of vehicles has been increasing, which has created a web of dirt track corridors due to the communal land tenure and unobstructed terrain, with some of these corridors reaching over 4 km in width. This practice aids wind- and water-aided erosion and desertification, causing enormous negative environmental effects. Little is being done to counter the phenomenon, mainly because the logic of the driving behaviour that causes this dirt road widening is not fully understood.The research in this article postulates that this driving behaviour has rational foundations and is linked to various geographical factors (natural and man-made geographical features). We analysed 11,000 km of arterial routes in the country using spatial statistics and determined that geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis offers a good explanation for whether, and by how much, the selected geographical factors affect the creation of corridor widths and how their effect varies across the landscape.We determined that corridor widths are correlated to factors such as proximity to river crossings, traffic intensity, and vegetation abundance. Knowing these factors can help local planners and engineers design counter-measures that could help to control and reduce the widths of these corridors, until paved roads can replace the dirt track corridors