Travel to the most contaminated capital

Ulan Bator (Mongolia)

Mongolia conjures images of endless steppes, blue skies, wild animals, and ancestral traditions refuse to die. At the end of the day, its land surface triples that of France but has less inhabitants than Madrid. However, half of the three million Mongolians breathes in winter the most polluted air in the world.

They are the people who are concentrated in the capital, a city that grows frantic pace of globalization and an economy that exploits mining. Between 30,000 and 40,000 nomads here embrace a sedentary lifestyle and assert their constitutional right to a plot of land to settle with their yurts in the hills that protect the capital.

The problem is that, like they did in the countryside, burning coal and wood stoves in their antiquated to combat the harsh temperatures also make Ulaanbaatar in the coldest capital in the world. In fact, at dawn mercury can plummet to 40 degrees below zero. This is also the time when the imposing power plants that have been engulfed by the megalopolis are at peak performance, emitting thick loads of polluting gases into the atmosphere. And before sunrise inadequate road infrastructure collapse with a jam perpetual.

Unfortunately, the combination of these three socioeconomic factors have dramatic effects: in 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that 10% of deaths in the city, the most polluted capital of the world in winter ahead even of Beijing or New Delhi, were related to pollution. Between 2004 and 2008 there was a 45% increase in cases of respiratory diseases, which, according to the World Bank, causing additional spending on health of over 300 million euros a year. And the situation does not improve.

Group 2: Amalia Cortés and Natalia García.