Notice the Nomads Mongolia Exped
Donation protected
PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR EXPEDITION
www.noticethenomads.weebly.com
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught.” -Baba Dioum, Senagalese poet.
The rationale:
We believe economic development, poverty, migration and loss of identity are interrelated.
Mongolia, a country with one of the largest nomadic and most thinly dispersed population in the world, is a place of serenity and calm. But in the coming years, there will be significant movement of people due to a phenomenon which is wreaking havoc to indigenous communities on its frontline;
Climate change.
Climate change is pronounced in Mongolia with an increase of mean annual temperature of 2.1°C between 1940 and 2007.
In recent years visible changes have occurred to Mongolian grasslands and water sources. This has had an unprecedented impact on the nomadic herders, such as the drying up of rivers and shrinking of lakes.
While nomadism is trying to survive in increasingly harsh and difficult conditions, many younger generations face a conundrum... As the nomadic lifestyle is hard, should they move away from their nomadic roots and gain an education in the city? Or should they stay out of the circle of globalization and commodification of resources that comes with modern day society?
Climate change is an issue that will affect everyone, and we believe it isn’t fair that those who have contributed least to the issue are the ones facing most risk.
It isn't just changing landscapes shrinking lakes, drying soils and expanding deserts, its changing cultures too.
Half of the country's population reside in Ulaanbaatar (the capital) and the rest, nomadic herders, can be found dotted around a land three times the size of France.
The loss of the nomadic culture leaves uncertainty for the future of the steppe and the Southern Gobi and our expedition hopes to bring to light that uncertainty and suggest some reasons for the 21st century threats that the nomadic lifestyle faces.
By carrying out this research we are hoping to link the impacts on local Mongolian communities by giving the nomadic people a voice by using scientific platforms and audiences to increase awareness of the endangered nomadic culture.
The Team:
Our expedition team consists of 8 members. The idea began with our collective interest in the study of indigenous cultures worldwide and the way that they are so often isolated from mainstream society and often undermined as they can be viewed as backward or underdeveloped.
We are a group of young people most of which are students of varying degrees at the University of Falmouth and Exeter based in Cornwall. We are a mixture of undergrads, graduates and masters students in subjects such as Geography, Illustration, Press and Editorial Photography and Interior Design.
Our wide range of knowledge and interests have brought us together with a mutual desire to capture true nomadism via the medium of art, storytelling, photography, film and ethnographic study (which involves recording observations made out in the field).
The Output:
We want to develop a short film from the footage that the media savvy team members will edit on our return. We hope that this film will act as a educational platform that will raise the profile for the threatened nomadic culture, the NGOs working out there already and provide scope for support for these groups that are working hard to protect one of the world's last nomadic populations from extinction.
The film will incorporate and portray an element of all the major threats that nomadism in Mongolia faces, bringing the people in the landscapes into view; making people notice the nomads.
The film will raise awareness of the threats that an ancient tradition faces in a time of pressing environmental change. We want to publicise our film through schools, education portals, any sponsors that we have established connections with before we leave as well as our university and other environmental and indigenous campaign groups.
www.noticethenomads.weebly.com
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught.” -Baba Dioum, Senagalese poet.
The rationale:
We believe economic development, poverty, migration and loss of identity are interrelated.
Mongolia, a country with one of the largest nomadic and most thinly dispersed population in the world, is a place of serenity and calm. But in the coming years, there will be significant movement of people due to a phenomenon which is wreaking havoc to indigenous communities on its frontline;
Climate change.
Climate change is pronounced in Mongolia with an increase of mean annual temperature of 2.1°C between 1940 and 2007.
In recent years visible changes have occurred to Mongolian grasslands and water sources. This has had an unprecedented impact on the nomadic herders, such as the drying up of rivers and shrinking of lakes.
While nomadism is trying to survive in increasingly harsh and difficult conditions, many younger generations face a conundrum... As the nomadic lifestyle is hard, should they move away from their nomadic roots and gain an education in the city? Or should they stay out of the circle of globalization and commodification of resources that comes with modern day society?
Climate change is an issue that will affect everyone, and we believe it isn’t fair that those who have contributed least to the issue are the ones facing most risk.
It isn't just changing landscapes shrinking lakes, drying soils and expanding deserts, its changing cultures too.
Half of the country's population reside in Ulaanbaatar (the capital) and the rest, nomadic herders, can be found dotted around a land three times the size of France.
The loss of the nomadic culture leaves uncertainty for the future of the steppe and the Southern Gobi and our expedition hopes to bring to light that uncertainty and suggest some reasons for the 21st century threats that the nomadic lifestyle faces.
By carrying out this research we are hoping to link the impacts on local Mongolian communities by giving the nomadic people a voice by using scientific platforms and audiences to increase awareness of the endangered nomadic culture.
The Team:
Our expedition team consists of 8 members. The idea began with our collective interest in the study of indigenous cultures worldwide and the way that they are so often isolated from mainstream society and often undermined as they can be viewed as backward or underdeveloped.
We are a group of young people most of which are students of varying degrees at the University of Falmouth and Exeter based in Cornwall. We are a mixture of undergrads, graduates and masters students in subjects such as Geography, Illustration, Press and Editorial Photography and Interior Design.
Our wide range of knowledge and interests have brought us together with a mutual desire to capture true nomadism via the medium of art, storytelling, photography, film and ethnographic study (which involves recording observations made out in the field).
The Output:
We want to develop a short film from the footage that the media savvy team members will edit on our return. We hope that this film will act as a educational platform that will raise the profile for the threatened nomadic culture, the NGOs working out there already and provide scope for support for these groups that are working hard to protect one of the world's last nomadic populations from extinction.
The film will incorporate and portray an element of all the major threats that nomadism in Mongolia faces, bringing the people in the landscapes into view; making people notice the nomads.
The film will raise awareness of the threats that an ancient tradition faces in a time of pressing environmental change. We want to publicise our film through schools, education portals, any sponsors that we have established connections with before we leave as well as our university and other environmental and indigenous campaign groups.
Organizer
Notice the Nomads 2016 Mongolia Expedition
Organizer
