Mendel University in Brno 

Basic characteristics
Mongolia is a landlocked country located in Central Asia. It borders the Russian Federation to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south. It is the 18th largest country in the world with an area of ​​1,564,116 km2 (UNdata, 2016). The capital is Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia is divided into 21 ajmags (provinces / regions), which are then divided into sums (districts) (WHO, 2012).

Despite the large area of ​​Mongolia, the population is not very high - the population is 3,072,005 (National Statistical Office of Mongolia, 2016), which leads to a low population density - about 1.9 inhabitants / km2. The official language is Mongolian. The Human development index (HDI) is 0.727. The literacy rate is 97.3% (UNDP, 2016).

Economical situation
Mongolia is gradually becoming a modern and vibrant economy with remarkable economic growth driven mainly by the mining sector, which still has huge potential in the country in the future. The trade regime is increasingly open and the new regulatory framework is becoming more effective, and above all facilitating the development of an ever-growing private sector (The Heritage Foundation, 2016).

Since the adoption of the new constitution in 1992, Mongolia has transformed from a closed society controlled by the Communist Party to an open society with a dynamic and pluralist democracy. This transition was accompanied by the gradual introduction of free market reforms and relatively well-maintained political stability. While Mongolia continues to improve its international relations with the United States, Japan and South Korea, it continues to maintain strong ties with Russia and China. The most important economic sectors are agriculture and the mining industry (The Heritage Foundation, 2016).

In 2014, despite a significant (24.2%) increase in production in the mining sector due to the first year of full performance of the Oyu Tolgoi mine (copper, gold), GDP growth slowed to 7.8% compared to 11.7% in 2013. Total industrial production increased by 16.1% and contributed 4.8% to GDP growth, despite a 16.3% decline in coal production. Agriculture, which is strongly influenced by the weather, contributed 14.4% to growth thanks to favorable conditions and remained a driver of growth, thus contributing 1.5% to overall GDP growth, as did the services sector. The inflow of foreign investment continues to decline due to the uncertainty associated with investment rules, declining by 80.7% year on year, reflecting the negative situation in commodity markets as well as the still missing real signals of an improving investment climate in the country. The local currency (Mongolian tugrik, MNT) weakened against the USD by 13.8% in 2014 (by 19.2% in 2013) and is currently still weakening. A positive act was the adoption of the so-called Glass Account Law, which is expected to bring transparency to the management of government agencies and entities with a state share in general (MFA CR, 2016).

The main risks for Mongolia's economy are its considerable vulnerability to external shocks, especially in relation to the development of the Chinese economy, which accounts for 87% of Mongolia's total exports (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, 2016).

A major limiting factor in Mongolia's economic growth is very underdeveloped infrastructure, both transport and energy, which the Mongolian government is actively addressing by tendering for concession-based projects (PPPs), donor money, private investment and partly the state budget ( Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, 2016).

The mining industry is essential for Mongolia and the extraction of minerals accounts for 24% of GDP and 67% of industrial production (Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), 2015). Minerals account for about 80% of exports and mining provides about 40% of total government revenue. The manufacturing sector accounts for only about 11% of GDP (UNDP, 2016). Mined commodities include, for example, gold, copper, black and brown coal, uranium, silver, iron ore, molybdenum and rare earth elements.

The agricultural sector employs almost 30% of Mongolia's economically active population and accounts for about 14% of GDP. Livestock farming plays a key role in Mongolia's economy and is crucial for employment and export earnings. Livestock production accounts for about 70% of the sector's total production. Livestock numbers in Mongolia are still growing, reaching 61 million in September 2014, of which sheep accounted for 90% of the total, followed by cattle with 3.7 million, horses with 3.1 million and camels with 380 million. . pieces (Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), 2015).

According to FAOSTAT from 2013, the utilized agricultural area is 1,133,099 km2 (FAO, 2016), which means that almost 90% of the land can be used for agriculture and especially for grazing. Arable land and permanent crops cover about 1.3 million ha, while permanent pasture stands 117.1 million ha. The main agricultural crops are wheat, barley, legumes, potatoes and fruit (FAO, 2001).

Mongolian agriculture can be divided into 4 categories (FAO, 2001):

1. Extensive grazing, a traditional semi-nomadic grazing system in which camels, horses, cattle, sheep and goats graze together.
2. Mechanized large-scale production of cereals and fodder.
3. Intensive farming with potato and other vegetable products using mechanization and simple productive methods.
4. Intensive grazing with housing of dairy cows, pigs and hens.

The 1st sector dominates, accounting for 84.9% of total agricultural production.

Social situation
Currently, there is a trend of population growth in Mongolia, which in 2010-2015 was about 1.5% per year. At the same time, there is the trend of abandoning traditional nomadic and pastoral life and moving to cities with the possibility of a better life and the vision of getting rich, with the urban population growing by 2.8% per year in the same time frame. This massive influx of people into cities with limited accommodation capacity has resulted in the construction of huge slums in the suburbs, which are made up of traditional Mongolian dwellings - yurts. In 2014, up to 71.2% of the population lived in cities, most of which are concentrated in Ulaanbaatar (UNdata, 2016). Other larger cities include Erdenet, Darchan, and Choibalsan, none of which have more than 100,000 inhabitants (Brinkhoff, 2015). The share of the economically active population in the productive age is 44.5% (MFA CR, 2016).

Brief history
A wise man settled in Mongolia about 40,000 years ago. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest empire in world history. Later, Mongolia came under Chinese administration and did not regain its independence until 1921. The Mongolian People's Republic was established, which was under strong Soviet influence. In 1961, Mongolia became a member of the UN. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a relatively peaceful democratic revolution took place in 1990, which led to a system of more political parties, in 1992 to a new constitution and a transition to a market economy. This transition has shaken the foundations on which trade with Russia has stood for 70 years, falling by 80% and having a severe impact on people's lives (UNDP, 2016).

Problems of Mongolia
Mongolia is currently facing a number of challenges, which take many forms and have many implications. One of the biggest social problems is urbanization, where people abandon the traditional nomadic life and move to cities in search of a better and more comfortable life. Cities, especially Ulaanbaatar, have limited accommodation capacity and new construction is growing only slowly. Extensive slums are being built around the perimeter of the city, where people live in traditional yurts in poverty.

The country's infrastructure is also problematic. For example, in Ulaanbaatar there is a magnificent small center with representative buildings and a good transport network, but just a few streets away the asphalt road is full of holes, buildings are falling into disrepair or left unfinished, and in the outskirts of the city the road is unpaved with huge potholes and standing yurts.

The climate also causes major problems in agriculture. Climate stress, especially late and early frosts, can cause crop losses of 10 to 30% (FAO, 2001).

The access of local people to development aid is also a problem, especially in the area of ​​water resources, with which Mongolia has a problem due to the arid climate and on which it depends. In the past, a number of wells and spring protection have been built by foreign companies in the Gobi Desert. At present, many of these places are degraded, pumps are broken, wells are backfilled or contaminated, fencing around springs is broken down by cattle, and unique water sources are thus degraded or degraded.

In general, the biggest problem is desertification, which is caused and supported by many interrelated factors, which are in themselves quite significant problems. These may include, for example, climate change, melting permafrost, illegal logging and, in general, deforestation or grazing.

The nature of the landscape
The character of the landscape of Mongolia, which is mostly located on a plateau, can be relatively well expressed by the character of the local ecosystems.

Finch (1996) recognizes six major ecosystems in Mongolia. These are alpine ecosystems, taiga, mountain forest steppe, steppe, desert steppe and desert. Alpine ecosystems are characterized by extreme living conditions, are still partially covered by glaciers and occupy about 5% of the area in the north of the country. The taiga covers about 5% of Mongolia in the northern part of the country, mainly in mountainous areas, and is made up of mixed forests. The mountain forest-steppe covers about 25% of Mongolia's area, mainly in the central part of the country, and creates a transition between low mountains and pastures, consisting of grassland and scattered forest. The steppe covers about 20% of the area of ​​Mongolia in the central and southern part and is made up of grasslands. The desert steppe covers about 20% of the area, mainly in the south of the country, and is characterized by stony desert with sporadic vegetation. The desert ecosystem is represented by the Gobi Desert.

Reference