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A U.S. scientist has been awarded
the Mongolia Friendship Medal by Mongolia President Nambariin Enkhbayar.
The medal is one of the highest awards a non-Mongolian can receive.
Presented in the Presidential
office, Dr. Clyde Goulden, Director of The Academy’ of Natural Sciences
Institute for Mongolian Biodiversity and Ecological Studies, received
the award for helping develop relations between the U.S. and Mongolia
and for helping develop natural and environmental fields of research
in Mongolia.
Goulden’s first trip to Mongolia
was, in part, to visit Lake Baikal in 1966. However, discussions with
a Bhuddist lama in Buryatia, a Russian republic bordering Mongolia,
resulted in Goulden’s future work to protect the Mongolian environment.
Goulden reported the lama expressed
concern about the impact economic development was having upon the pristine
lands sacred to Bhuddists.
An aquatic ecologist, Goulden
also visited Lake Hövsgöl in northern Mongolia in 1994. “I was stunned
at how beautiful and clean the lake was and at how much we still had
to learn about this lake,” said Goulden.
The following year, Goulden
helped found The Institute of Mongolian Biodiversity and Ecological
Studies to support research into the environmental and economic forces
challenging the nation.
Goulden’s ongoing research
has included the impact of economic development on Mongolia’s land
and natural resources as well as the impact of climate changes on the
region.
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