The Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for 1 million Swiss francs to assist Mongolian herders as thousands of families, mostly coming from the poorest and most vulnerable layers of the herder population, have lost their entire flocks of animals and have been left in a state of distraught and desperation.

“The herding community’s situation is very hard now. The best off are those who still have around 40% of their livestock left and in the worst 50 cases are those who have lost absolutely everything,” said Zevgee, speaker of the county parliament in Bayangol, southwest of UB.

Roughly one-quarter of Mongolia’s 3 million people are nomads, while others also raise livestock in fixed settlements and many go deeply in debt to buy and raise their herds, with the hopes of making the money back by selling wool, meat and skins.

Around 63% of Mongolia’s rural residents’ assets are their livestock and at least 35% of the population earn a living from their animals.

The loss of their livelihood results in the impoverishment of herder families who flock to the slums outside Ulaanbaatar, straining further the city’s ability to provide basic services.

This zud has been described as the worst for several years, with temperatures dropping to 40 degrees Celsius below zero or colder in 19 of Mongolia’s 21 provinces, according to a World Bank report, and many herders have no option but to rely on the Government and aid to survive. A similar combination of a summer drought, followed by heavy snow and low winter temperatures had caused widespread hardship in Mongolia a decade ago.

As the weather is getting warmer, the carcasses in the countryside will start decomposing, risking triggering infectious diseases and experts from the General Emergency Authority are in the provinces to study the situation. So far, the Labour Ministry has distributed MNT241.6 million as payment to some 20 thousand herders who have joined in the carcass removal program while the Ministry of Agriculture has budgeted MNT290 million to meet sterilization and other expenses. The work is expected to be over by May 15.  

Though criticized, the Government has decided to allocate MNT 5.5 billion to remove the carcasses. UNDP (United National Development Program) has given USUSD1.8 million for the program in the Uvurkhanga, Dundgobi and Khovd provinces where herders will be given instructions and information through radio.