MINING SETS OFF DEADLY PROTEST

Mergen, a Mongolian herder whose death set off a round of protests in the area, was killed on May 10 while trying to block coal trucks near his village in West Ujimqin Banner. He was blocking the trucks as a form of protest against the mine.

Yan Wenlong, the victim in the second murder case, was run over by a forklift at a coal mine in Abag Banner after a clash between local residents and coal miners over pollution cause by the mine.

Following their deaths, thousands of people took to the streets in the Inner Mongolian city of Xilinhot, demanding justice for the murder victims and better protection of the region's grasslands and the welfare of herders, who are mostly ethnic Mongolians.

Pictures of excavators and coal-hauling trucks driving over and destroying the grasslands have been circulated on Weibo, a popular microblogging site. The pictures have drawn anger and support from Internet users across the country who are concerned about the vulnerable ecology of Inner Mongolia's grasslands.

Uyunbatu, a village head in Mergin's home of West Ujimqin Banner, said dust and sand are omnipresent on the coal truck paths that thread through local herders' residential areas.

"Because of the dust, we seldom open windows, nor do we dry our laundry outdoors," said Uyunbatu.

He said the noise at night is even more irritating.

"We believe the grasslands are as important as life itself," another herder said. "It is sad to see them being damaged by mining operations."

The herder said it might take more than ten years for grass to grow on pastures that have been damaged by coal trucks.

Government statistics show that desertification claimed about 52 percent of the total land area of Inner Mongolia by the end of 2009.

Over the past decade, about 12 million mu (804,000 hectares) of grasslands in the region have been lost to desertification annually.

The area's mines have seriously damaged the grasslands as well, said Altanhobotxar, a professor from the University of Inner Mongolia.

Local herders are most irritated by seeing mining-related exploitation occurring on grasslands that were previously sealed off by the government to prevent overgrazing, the professor said.

Local residents have complained about the excessive draining of underground water by coal mines, which has exacerbated the desertification problem.

Bagatur, chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government,acknowledged in an article published in the most recent issue of the Communist Party's "Seeking Truth" magazine that resource exploitation, along with industrialization and urbanization, have brought new environmental challenges to Inner Mongolia's agricultural society.

"There is an urgent need to prevent the environment from deteriorating any further," Bagatur said.