{"id":13011,"date":"2024-03-29T09:32:58","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T09:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/a-harsh-mongolian-winter-leaves-millions-of-livestock-dead\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T09:32:58","slug":"a-harsh-mongolian-winter-leaves-millions-of-livestock-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/a-harsh-mongolian-winter-leaves-millions-of-livestock-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"A Harsh Mongolian Winter Leaves Millions of Livestock Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/29\/multimedia\/29xp-mongolia-bzgp\/29xp-mongolia-bzgp-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Harsh Mongolian Winter Leaves Millions of Livestock Dead\" title=\"A Harsh Mongolian Winter Leaves Millions of Livestock Dead\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An unusually brutal winter in Mongolia has left much of the country\u2019s grazing land frozen and snow-covered, starving or freezing millions of animals and upending thousands of lives in a country where a third of the population depends on herding and agriculture to make a living.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This year has brought the most snow <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/westernpacific\/emergencies\/dzud-in-mongolia\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">in 49 years<\/a> to Mongolia, and the deaths of more than <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/app.powerbi.com\/view?r=eyJrIjoiODIxNzExMzYtNWNjZi00NzUzLTk5MzktZDM2ZTRkOGRkZDllIiwidCI6IjBmOWUzNWRiLTU0NGYtNGY2MC1iZGNjLTVlYTQxNmU2ZGM3MCIsImMiOjh9\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">5.9 million<\/a> livestock, the worst toll since 2010, international aid groups said this week. While the harshest weather might have passed, about 60 million animals face starvation until new grass sprouts in May, imperiling the future of herding families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe worst is yet to come,\u201d Tapan Mishra, the top United Nations official in Mongolia, wrote in a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unocha.org\/publications\/report\/mongolia\/mongolia-2024-dzud-early-action-response-plan-dec-2023-may-2024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> this week. \u201cThe peak of livestock mortality is expected at the end of April.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The die-off is caused by a weather event known in Mongolia as dzud, where a dry summer is followed by a severe winter that brings deep snow and bitter cold, locking pastures under ice. The deaths can be devastating for families and the country\u2019s economy, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fao.org\/biodiversity\/news\/detail\/mongolia's-livestock-breeds--a-precious-part-of-global-biological-diversity\/en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">13 percent<\/a> of which is driven by agriculture, mostly livestock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This month, Evariste Kouassi-Komlan, UNICEF\u2019s representative in Mongolia, spent nearly three days traveling from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, to a remote western village to deliver medicine. His S.U.V. often got stuck in the snow. Outside each home, called a ger, he found as much as two feet of snow, and piles of frozen animal carcasses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSome of the herders have lost all of their animals,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cAll of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In eastern Mongolia, Shijirbayar Dorjderem, 48, said that he had lost 800 livestock this year out of the 1,000 he inherited from his parents. That was even after he had purchased thousands of packs of fodder and several tons of wheat, with money borrowed from a bank to feed them over the winter. He said it wasn\u2019t enough to fill their stomachs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAll I can think about is my bank loan,\u201d he added, afraid the bank might take away his remaining livestock. \u201cI lost almost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His province, Khentii, was one of the worst-hit by the dzud. Its deputy governor, Oyunbold Lkhagvasuren, said the winter was \u201cmerciless.\u201d About 45 percent of the livestock there have died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mongolian herders are no strangers to harsh winters. Temperatures can fall to 40 degrees below zero, leaving livestock to freeze to death in a standing position. In 2010, the dzud killed more than 10.3 million livestock, equal to 25 percent of the country\u2019s livestock population, according to the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unocha.org\/publications\/report\/mongolia\/mongolia-2024-dzud-early-action-response-plan-dec-2023-may-2024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the rising frequency of extreme weather events has made herders\u2019 lives more precarious. Droughts, dust storms, heavy rainfall and flooding <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fao.org\/biodiversity\/news\/detail\/mongolia's-livestock-breeds--a-precious-part-of-global-biological-diversity\/en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">have all tripled<\/a> in the past decade, as temperatures in Mongolia rise <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/redd.unfccc.int\/uploads\/2234_50_boreal_forests_in_a_changing_climate_mongolia.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">twice as fast<\/a> as the global average. While dzuds used to happen about once every 10 years, this year\u2019s was the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.savethechildren.org.au\/media\/media-releases\/another-severe-winter-in-mongolia-as-climate-chang\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">fifth in the past decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This year\u2019s dzud, which began in November, has left more than <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ifrc.org\/press-release\/ifrc-launches-appeal-mongolia-faces-its-harshest-winter-50-years\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">7,000 families<\/a> in Mongolia lacking adequate food as the livelihoods of thousands of herders, who depend on cattle, goats and horses, were under threat, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 2,000 families have lost over 70 percent of their livestock, the organization added, calling for assistance. Snow has also buried more than 1,000 homes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Mongolian government elevated its disaster preparedness level to \u201chigh alert\u201d in February, and delivered hay, fodder, food, gas and medical supplies to herders. But aid organizations said more was needed. The United Nations said about <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unocha.org\/publications\/report\/mongolia\/mongolia-2024-dzud-early-action-response-plan-dec-2023-may-2024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">$6.3 million<\/a> was required for the response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kouassi-Komlan, the UNICEF official, said the snow had isolated families, including children who had missed weeks of school. For herders, it might take between five and 10 years to restore their livestock, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is a big disaster for these families,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An unusually brutal winter in Mongolia has left much of the country\u2019s grazing land frozen and snow-covered, starving or freezing millions of animals and upending thousands of lives in a country where a third of the population depends on herding and agriculture to make a living. This year has brought the most snow in 49 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/29\/multimedia\/29xp-mongolia-bzgp\/29xp-mongolia-bzgp-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[169,1574,5872,18448,6330,18447,2802],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13013,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13011\/revisions\/13013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}