The Mongolian government is planning to declare 2004 as "the Year of Water" and take more concrete measures to improve water resources management, the Mongolian Nature and Environment Ministry said on Thursday.

At a press conference, Ihanbai, chief of the Strategy Planning and Management Department in the ministry, said Mongolia has witnessed a sharp increase of water problems in recent years mainly because of global climate changes.

Drought and desertification have badly affected the development of the inland country, he said.

The ministry is drafting a package of laws to restrain the use of water sources and improve economic water management, he said.

The new laws will clarify the building of water reservations on rivers which flow out of Mongolia and the checks and controls of water utilization.

The government will also help mining industries to use non-water technology in gold mines, Ihanbai added.

Mongolia is a country with scarce water resources and has only about 22,000 cubic meters of water per square kilometer, lower than the world average.

A survey in 2002 showed more than 700 rivers and rivulets had dried out in Mongolia.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2003)