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time to lose in moving their livestock to the northern regions for more natural shelter and better grazing, but the accursed year of 2020 wasn't about to make things easy. Herders found their movements constrained as the nation went into a lockdown in November after officials recorded the first domestic transmissions of the coronavirus.
However, December brought a little good fortune: the virus was from that month seen as contained within the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, and relatively free movement across other parts of the country became permissible.
Each year, the Mongolian Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environmen- tal Research compiles land and satellite data on droughts, dzuds and pastures. It then develops and issues a dzud risk map.
According to the map as of January 10, more than 20% of the country faced a very high dzud risk, while almost 60% was classified as at high risk and 15% as at moderate risk.
About 11.7mn heads of livestock herded by 26,600 households were forced to
on to the winter migration, Monstame reported on December 29. Some herders had to migrate more than 700 kilometres to find better winter grazing lands, known as otor. Those who travelled the furthest actually left their home region as early
as May; as a result, they could not allow their animals the usual mating period.
Mongolia: Dzud risk map
Amid the bitter cold, it is not unusual
to hear of dedicated herder families keeping some of their animals inside their tents. Many livestock that have been unable to put on enough weight to survive the winter months are victims of rapid desertification caused by over- grazing and global warming that has over time degraded Mongolia’s land. Herders have as a consequence become more territorial. Some herders block other herders that want to let animals
they must return to their own land by April 1. This is a problem as livestock will in the coming weeks start to calve. If there is no vegetation, animals will be too weak to travel. But the government is aware of the issue and might adjust matters in response to the situation. Lawmaker Chinzorig Sodnom, who toured three provinces hit hard by
the dzud in January, told local news outlet Zuunii Medee: “The herders voiced their concerns about high winter
“Nomadic herders can only despair as piles of dead, frozen sheep and goats stack up across the steppes”
graze on their territory during the winter. The altercations this provokes have steadily gotten worse. In 2019, there were reports of herders killing one another over winter grazing disputes. Such reports are becoming commonplace in Mongolia.
Order not to expel
To help resolve the situation and to assist herders during the pandemic, the Mongolian State Emergency Commission and government advised provincial governors not to expel herders during the winter, but to provide moral support and cooperation. However, the herders have been informed that by government order
migration costs and rising fodder prices and on how they might not be able to travel back in April. Therefore, it is necessary to extend the implementation deadline of this law and provide more opportunities for these herders.”
Addressing the severity of this year’s dzud, with the help of the World Bank, the government since February 1 has provided Mongolian tugrik (MNT) 300,000 ($88) worth of fodder to
each of the more than 45,000 herder households across the five provinces that have experienced the severest winter.
Heading to Ulaanbaatar
Suffering a lack of livestock,
a substantial number of poverty-trapped nomadic herders – who rely on their animals for so much, from meat and milk, to the burning of their waste to heat their homes to selling their skins to buy food and pay children's education fees – have in recent times headed for Ulaanbaatar in search of economic prospects, but their lack of other job skills count against them.
The herders have generally settled in suburban areas of the capital known as "ger districts", which are largely slums with almost no public amenities and infrastructure, especially heating. During the winter months, the ger districts (a ger is a traditional yurt, or roundhouse) rely on coal for warmth.
Source: Information and research institute of Metereology, Hidrology and environment (IRIMHE)
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