Climate Change and Public Health: What does climate change mean for the people of Mongolia?

16 Days  ◦  8 Instructors

June 19- July 4, 2023

This course will focus on how climate change is impacting public health in urban environments and rural communities in Mongolia. We will visit sites in Mongolia to meet with local health officials and climate scientists to gain an understanding of how climate change (hotter days, more wildfire, colder winters, drought) is threatening human wellbeing. Mongolia, with its vast landscapes, limited infrastructure, and large indigenous population, is particularly vulnerable to climate change. You’ll come away from this course with a good understanding of climate and health issues facing this remote region as well as the social-economic disparities associated with climate-change responses. Hopefully, you’ll also see new opportunities to help chart a resilient and equitable future for Mongolia as well as for your own country.

Course Overview

Warmer temperatures are bringing more fires, drought, and extreme weather events to regions around the world, including Mongolia, and these changes are threatening water supplies, natural resources, and the people who depend upon them.  Participants in this course will have the opportunity to spend time in the field with experts in climate science, public health, and natural resource management, and to examine firsthand the connections between climate change, the environment and human health in one of the most wild and scenic places on Earth.   Together, we’ll witness some of the changes underway in a range of settings from Mongolia’s arid lands to its forested mountains. We’ll also meet with healthcare practitioners, resource specialists, and community leaders to gain insight about the climate-related health and environmental challenges facing rural and urban communities.  

 

This course will focus on how climate change is impacting public health in urban environments and rural communities in Mongolia. We will visit sites in Mongolia to gain an understanding of how climate change (hotter days, more wildfire, colder winters, drought) is threatening lives, livelihoods, and environments. Mongolia, with its vast landscapes, limited infrastructure, and large pastoralist population, is particularly vulnerable to climate change. You’ll come away from this course with a good understanding of climate and health issues facing this remote region of the world as well as the social-economic challenges associated with climate-change responses.  Hopefully, you’ll also see new opportunities to chart a resilient and equitable future for Mongolia as well as for your own country.

 

The class will start with discussions with government, health and climate leaders in Ulaanbaatar, then travel to the countryside to see how climate change is impacting traditional nomadic practices and public health delivery in rural areas.  Our travels begin with visits to urban and rural communities en route to the Eg-Uur Valley of Khovsgol Province, a region of stunning lakes and mountains. Along the way, we’ll meet with healthcare providers in rural community clinics, herders and resource specialists observing environmental change, and spiritual leaders considering the ethical issues of climate change.  At the end of the course, we will travel to the arid region of Kharkhorin in the Övörkhangai Province. There will be plenty of time to learn and explore on your own. 

 

Each student will examine a topic of their own interest, and as a group we’ll ponder some of these questions:

  • What are the global and local trends in climate with regard to extreme heat, extreme cold, drought, flooding, fires and smoke?
  • How has climate change affected natural resources, water and food security, and human health globally and in Mongolia?  
  • How are vulnerable populations affected and responding to climate change and how is indigenous knowledge offering unique perspectives for resilience?
  • What are the demographic and socioeconomic trends in Mongolia and current trends in health status/services?
  • What actions can health agencies, rural clinics, and health certification programs take to respond and adapt to climate change, and what messages will be most effective for clinics and communities, community planning, monitoring, policy change, and personal action?

 

This course is a great fit for those interested in climate science, environmental studies, global health, public health, medicine, health disparity research, ecotourism, community engagement, communications, journalism, and policy development. All are welcome as we assess together our collective global climate future. 

Anticipated Course Activities

Day 1-2

people at orientation

Course and Program orientation in Ulaanbaatar.

Course and Program orientation in Ulaanbaatar. Gain an introduction to Mongolian culture and language, history, and contemporary issues. Meet course faculty and participants, begin course sessions with a few agency meetings and review of air quality issues, and engage in team building through visits to some of the local sites as time allows (e.g., Gandan Monastery, markets, museums).

Program and course orientation in Ulaanbaatar

An introduction to the course leaders and methods, with site visits to and meetings with government ministries, NGOs and mining companies. Stay in hotel.

Day 3

Amarbayasgalant Monastery in Erdenet

Depart to Amarbaysgalant Monastery

Depart to Amarbaysgalant Monastery and stay overnight at the ger camp.

Day 4-5

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Drive to Erdenet

Drive to Erdenet and spend a day attending public health briefings and meeting with environmental quality specialists. During our travel route, we’ll observe how Mongolia’s ecosystems have been impacted by climate change, and how these shifts can and do impact human health. Night at a ger camp.

Day 6

Visit to Darkhan, Darkhan-Uul Aimag

Visits with local officials and residents on environment and mining issues.

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Drive to Erdenbulgan.

Drive to Erdenbulgan. Arrive at Eg-Uur Camp.

Day 7-11

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Class sessions in the forest-steppe of Eg-Uur valley

Class sessions in the forest-steppe of Eg-Uur valley include meetings with town leaders, healthcare practitioners, and natural resource specialists, as well as time exploring the ecosystem.  We plan visits to Dayan Deerkh Monastery and river camps.

Day 12-14

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Drive to and stay in Karakorum.

Drive to and stay in Karakorum. Tour of the Erdene Zuu monastery, and visits with local officials and spiritual leaders.

Return to Ulaanbaatar

The trip distance between Erdenet and Ulaanbaatar is 240 miles.

Day 15-16

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Depart to Ulaanbaatar. Conclusion

Depart to Ulaanbaatar, stop by Elsen Tsarkhai on the way. Conclusion and group presentations in Ulaanbaatar.

Course Conclusion in Ulaanbaatar

Course debriefing and a chance to browse in Ulaanbaatar, and plan for further research and explorations in Mongolia and beyond.

Recommended Reading:

Adams A, Byron R, Maxwell B, Higgins S, Eggers M, Byron L, Whitlock C. 2021. Climate change and human health in Montana: a special report of the Montana Climate Assessment. Bozeman MT: Montana State University, Institute on Ecosystems, Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity. 216 p. https:// doi.org/10.15788/c2h22021.

Instructors

Cathy

Dr. Cathy Whitlock

Montana State University
Regents Professor Emerita of Earth Sciences at Montana State University and a Fellow of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems. She is lead author of the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment, and co-lead of the 2021 Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment. Cathy is nationally and internationally recognized for her scholarly contributions and leadership activities in the field of past climate and environmental change. She has published over 230 scientific papers on the climate and ecological history of Yellowstone and similar regions around the world. Cathy is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2018, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
board-rob-byron

Dr. Robert Byron

Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate
Robert Byron, MD, MPH is an internist who worked on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and helped establish the Bighorn Valley Health Center/One Health, a federally qualified health center. Appointed to the Montana Board of Environmental Review from 2015-2017, he was governor of the Montana Chapter of the American College of Physicians. Dr. Byron is a strong advocate for addressing the health and environmental justice impacts of climate change. He is Co-Chair of the Citizens Climate Lobby Health Team and the Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. He has contributed to the National Climate Assessment 5 and the Lancet Countdown-U.S and will be co-teaching the Climate and Health course for Johns Hopkins in 2023.
Public Health Enzo

Enkhzorig Batbayar MD

Neurology Center at First Central Hospital of Mongolia
Dr. Enkhzorig is interventional neurologist. He has been working at the Neurology Center at First Central Hospital of Mongolia since 2007. Dr. Enkhzorig graduated ffrom the Guanzhou University of Chinese Medicine in 2007. He has a degree in Public Administration and an MBA from the Academy of Governance of Mongolia in 2015 and 2017 respectively. In 2013 he did residency at FCHM neurology residency. In 2015 he received SNU Boramae hospital fellowship. In 2023 the TCHM angiography fellowship. in 2018 Dr. Enkhzorig Traning to Teacher (T2T) program at the Harvard Medical School. In 2023 he is doing LIMSEA 2023, the Leadership in Medicine: Southeast Asia program.
Susan

Susan Higgins

Susan Higgins
MS, engages in water resources planning, landscape collaboratives and drought resiliency. She has consulted with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, The Tributary Fund and The Taimen Fund, where she facilitated research activities, leadership exchanges and species and drought resiliency planning in Mongolia, Bhutan and Montana, all with an emphasis on developing best practices for scientists working with faith and indigenous communities. Prior, she directed research communications and water education at the Montana State University Water Center. Currently, Susan works to connect health science researchers with rural and Native Montana communities for the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity.
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JoRee LaFrance

University of Arizona
JoRee LaFrance, also known as Iichiinmáatchileesh/Fortunate with Horses, comes from the Apsáalooke/Crow Nation of southeastern Montana. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College and is a doctoral student at the University of Arizona, studying seasonal river flow and pollutant flux in the Little Bighorn River Watershed. Among many honors, she is an Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Fellow, Ilíiaitchik: Indigenous Correspondent, Aspen Institute Forum on Women and Girls SOAR Fellow, Carson Scholar, Sloan Scholar, and an NSF NRT Indigenous Food, Energy, Water Security, and Sovereignty (Indige-FEWSS) Fellow.
Public Health Amgalan

Amgalan Batsuuri

University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Amgalan Batsuuri was born and raised in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the National University of Mongolia. Amgalan is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Prior she worked on German government-funded projects as an officer responsible for communication and public relations. She has a keen research interest in well-being studies and is currently conducting her research focusing on evaluating sustainability policies based on well-being measurements in the Ger district of Ulaanbaatar.
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Dr. Lori G. Byron

Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate
Lori G Byron, MD, MS has practiced pediatrics for 27 years on the Crow Indian Reservation and has chaired the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. With a dedication to environmental issues, she co-chairs the Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate and the Health Team for the national group, Citizens’ Climate Lobby. She is serves on the Children’s Health Advisory Committee to the EPA and the Executive Committee of the Council on Environmental Health at the American Academy of Pediatrics. She earned her MS in Energy Policy and Climate from Johns Hopkins, and will be teaching its Climate and Health course in 2023.
Public Health Deegii

Dr. Delgerzul Lodoisamba

Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project
Dr. Delgerzul is a project coordinator for Component 1/ National Training Consultant in Mongolia at the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project and E-health project financed by the World Bank implemented by MoH Mongolia from 2022. Dr. Delgerzul was a lecturer at the School of Public Health, Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences in Mongolia(2013-2022). Her medical degree is from the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (2008) and her MSPH in Environmental Health is from the Health Sciences University of Mongolia(2013). She was one of the team members of the very first projects on health impact assessment of ambient air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, which was funded by World Bank in 2008. She has evaluated three projects implemented in Mongolia, funded by the United States, Czechia, and Switzerland, focused on reducing air pollution, namely “Right to Breathe” implemented by People in Need International NGO and “Impact of airpollution on maternal and child health” project in Mongolia, financed by SDC and implemented by UNICEF. In 2012- 2013, she worked as the project manager for the “EEP, Household Behavior Monitoring and Data Collection Project,” implemented by Millennium Challenge Account, Mongolia. She is also involved in PEER projects, funded by the National Academy of Sciences, USA. She is a founder and board member of the Mongolian Medical Women's Association and the Social Democratic Club and C4A start-up company which is the very first company developing medical diagnostic tool kits in Mongolia. She has quite many experiences in working within international organizations and quickly adapt to any work environment and condition. Her future study area of interest is air pollution policy analysis.
Liz-SQ600

"Attending the renewable energy field school was the best decision I made in 2019! I was already attending a fulltime graduate program in Canada, but the field school added rich value to my learning. As the world is becoming more globalized, looking at how Mongolia is responding to the challenges of supplying cleaner energy was a valuable experience. Our instructors came with a vast amount of knowledge and a passion to teach.’’

Liz B.

Participant of Mongolia Field School 2019
Batkhuu SQ600

"As a sociology major student, this program was very helpful to explore urban issues and migration processes in contemporary Mongolia. Through this program, I sharpened my academic capabilities while refining soft skills essential for my future studies.’’

Batkhuu B.

Participant of Mongolia Field School 2019
Janis-Michael-SQ600

"The ACMS field school is a unique experience that has changed my life and teaching. In most programs, international participants are isolated from the country in which we are studying except for controlled visits to local people and sites. Not so with ACMS! Half of the participants in each field school are from Mongolia, ensuring that local and international participants have a chance to understand each other’s perspectives.’’

Janis M

Participant of Mongolia Field School 2019
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