In Ulan Bator, the capital city of Mongolia, air pollution from traditional winter stoves fueling the city's ger districts is a major health problem. Pollution levels of tiny particulate matter are six to seven times higher than WHO guidelines and research shows pollution is responsible for one in ten deaths in the city. The Mongolian government and foreign donors have distributed over 100,000 cleaner burning stoves in an effort to reduce emissions and cut pollution, but challenges remain as the city's population and economy continue to grow rapidly. Drastic ongoing changes will be needed to make Ulan Bator a healthier place to live.

1. In Ulan Bator, winter stoves fuel a smog
responsible for one in 10 deaths
Mongolia's capital is the coldest in the world – and in its tented slums, pollution from
traditional heating is a killer. But change is on the way
Asthma suffers Jugder Batmunkh
inside her ger with her coal burner. Photograph: Dan Chung forthe Observer
Dan Chung/Observer
Tania Branigan
Sunday 20 October 2013 00.07 BSTLast modified on Thursday 22 May
201407.40 BST
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They call Mongolia the "land of blue sky"; its spectacular desert, forest and
grasslands are blessed by sun for two-thirds of the year. But climb to a snow-
dusted hilltop overlooking Ulan Bator and you see a thick grey band hanging
over the city. In the coming weeks, as temperatures plummet, the smog will
spread across the streets and into homes, shutting out the light.
While Beijing's "airpocalypse" has made headlines worldwide, it pales beside
the haze of the Mongolian capital. Ulan Bator is the world's second-most
polluted city, superseded only by Ahvaz in Iran, according to World Health
Organisation research.

2. Pollution is a common problem for quickly developing countries. But the
biggest issue is not the smokestacks on the horizon – Mongolia's
manufacturing sector remains minute – nor the vehicles jamming the capital's
streets. Rather, it is the collision of urbanisation and traditional culture: 60-
70% of winter pollution comes from the old-fashionedstoves heating the
circular felt tents or gers that sprawl across the slopes aroundthe city.
More than half of the city's 1.2 million inhabitants live in the impoverished ger
districts, burning coal, wood and sometimes rubbish to cook and keep warm.
Ulan Bator is the world's chilliest capital, with temperatures dipping as low as
-40C in January.
"As soon as people start getting cold they start up their stoves, and that's when
the smog begins. It looks like thick fog and every year it's getting worse. It's
only a bit of an exaggeration to say you could get lost in it," said Otgonsetseg
Lodoisambuu, who lives in a district to the north of the city with his children.
"The little one stays inside all the time in the winter, but my older son is in
first grade now, so we have to take him to school; I just put a scarf over his
face. The only time it's OK to let the kids out is between one and two in the
afternoon, when people let their fires die down because they have finished
cooking.
"In the morning it hurts my throat as soon as I go outside. It must be hurting
my lungs, too."
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Ulan Bator's pollutant levels of PM2.5 – tiny particulate matter, which can
penetrate deep into lungs – are six or seven times higher than the WHO's
most lenient air-quality guidelines for developing countries. The result, say
researchers, is that one in every 10 deaths is causedby air pollution – on their
most conservative estimate.
Ryan Allen, of Simon Fraser University, in Canada, who led the study, said the
true figure could be as high as one in five. The study did not consider the
effects of indoor air pollution, excluded the deaths of those aged under 30 and
was based on data from a centrally located government monitoring site, in a
relatively less polluted area of the city.
He and his Mongolian co-researchers are now studying how pollution affects
foetuses and whetherusing air filters could reduce the impact; Ulan Bator's
public health institute has warned of a sharp increase in birth defects in the

3. capital as well as a 45% rise in the number of patients with respiratory
illnesses between 2004 and 2008. The World Bank has estimated that
pollution-related health problems cost the country £290m annually.
Dr Byambaa Onio, vice-director of the Bayanzurkh district hospital, arrived in
the capital 46 years ago, when it was "a nice, clean city"; now the pollution
levels are "disastrous", he said – and are producing a growing number of
patients.
Like many of the capital's residents, he and his wife rarely open the windows
in winter. But when they set up an air purifier at home, to test how severe the
problem had become, they were shockedto see how dirty the filter became in
just two days. "We've continued to use the purifiers, so my wife and I are
breathing clean air – but others don't," he said.
Nor do others have the option to buy their children masks and decamp to a
home outside the city at weekends, as the couple do, he notes. The residents of
ger districts are hit twice over: pollution levels can be double those of the city
centre, and they cannot afford to take evasive measures.
Joint research by the World Bank and National University of Mongolia
suggests that halving ger stove emissions could cut year-round levels of the
larger PM10 particles by a third. Foreign donors and Mongolian authorities
have spent millions of dollars subsidising the distribution of 128,000 "clean"
stoves in the last year and attempting to step up the production of clean fuels.
Galimbyek Khaltai, deputy head of the city's air pollution agency, says PM2.5
levels have already fallen by around 25% since the programme began. Other
experts believe it is too early to judge its effectiveness because the monitoring
network is not rigorous enough and unusually high levels of wind and snow
last year are likely to have affected data.
Jugder Batmunkh is one of the keenest advocates of the stove replacement
project. The 63-year-old is raising her grandchildren in a ger district to the
north of the capital; last year she developed asthma, which her doctor blamed
on pollution.
Disposing of the ashes from gers is easier and cleaner with the new model.
When you take the cover off, the ger does not fill with smoke as it tended to do
before. But the biggest advantage for her is its efficiency: it uses just half as
much coal. Her family burn through just one bag a day now, saving themselves

4. perhaps 45,000 tugriks (£16) a month – in an area where the average income
is around 600,000 tugriks.
Most of her neighbours in Bhayan Khoshuu have bought the appliances, but
not all are so enthusiastic. Some have heard rumours that the new stoves
might explode; others are unimpressed by their performance.
Twenty-two-year-old Nadmid Rentsenosor's recent purchase is standing idle.
"It takes too long to heat up, so it warms the place much more slowly – we are
still using the old one instead," she said.
The city is launching a two-month campaign to show people how to use the
stoves and minimise emissions. But even if officials can persuade everyone to
adapt, the resulting fall in pollution will be vulnerable to fresh shifts in Ulan
Bator's development. As its economy grows, construction projects are under
way aroundthe city, churning up dust, and more vehicles sit in traffic jams on
the streets. The city's population continues to swell and anotherbitter winter
could bring a fresh surge of migrants to the ger districts; many of the current
residents moved to the capital from desperation when their livestock died in
extreme weather conditions.
"Clean stoves reduce air pollution, but that's a short-term project. Our long-
term project has to be to build affordable apartments," said Galimbyek of the
air pollution agency.
The scale of demand is daunting and the quality of new buildings will be as
important as the quality. Much of the city's housing dates from the Soviet era:
it lacks double glazing and in many cases has just 5mm of basic polystyrene
insulation on the concrete walls, said Graham McDarby of Gradon
Architecture, a British firm now working on flats in the city. Raising current
building standards to European levels could dramatically improve energy
efficiency. "If you've got quality insulation and it's air-tight, the family in there
will generate enough heat," he said.
The country also has its first wind farm, not far from the capital. There are
ambitious plans for a new subway system, which shouldhelp cut traffic
pollution.
But the ultimate problem, said Galimbyek, was that there were simply too
many people in the capital: its size has tripled since 1979 and it has over a
third of the country's population. It is where all the universities are located,
and much of Mongolia's employment. To make Ulan Bator a healthier place,

5. he believes, it has to stop mushrooming, which means that rural areas have to
be developed instead. That might soundlike a radical prescription, but drastic
changes are needed. "For years we thought the effects of air pollution fell on a
straight line: if you reduced it by 10 units, it didn't matter whether you were at
the higher or lower end. What we seem to be learning more recently is that it
is a curve, not a straight line, and actually you get the biggest bang for your
buck in lower [pollution] conditions," said Allen.
"In a city like Ulan Bator you would actually need to have quite a dramatic
reduction in air pollution before you started to see really good improvements
in public health."