almost 5 million animals died

Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/AFP/Getty Images

Mongolia is experiencing the harshest winter in half a century: more than 4.7 million animals have already died in extreme conditions, low temperatures also threaten the nutrition of thousands of people.

Such data made public International Committee of the Red Cross, writes CNN.

Harsh conditions in Mongolia are called dzudom. It occurs when the summer drought is replaced by heavy snowfalls and extreme frosts. The air temperature can drop to -30°C or even lower.

A high snow cover and a thick layer of ice cover pastures, depriving livestock of access to food.

In Mongolia, about 300,000 people are traditional nomadic herders: their activities depend on cattle, goats and horses. Herding families travel across the vast grasslands of the country to find new pastures for grazing their cattle. In the summer months, they grow fodder for the animals for the winter.

Dzuds occur more and more often in Mongolia, so pastures do not have time to recover between extreme weather conditions, and shepherds do not have time to stock up.

“People who are completely dependent on their livestock have become destitute in just a few months. Some of them are now unable to feed themselves or heat their homes,” – says Oleksandr Mateu, regional director of the ICRC in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to the ICRC, since November 2023, at least 2,250 pastoralist families have lost more than 70% of their livestock. More than 7,000 families currently do not have sufficient access to food.

Dzud has affected three-quarters of the country, but conditions are expected to worsen.

“It’s spring now, but the winter in Mongolia is dragging on, there’s still snow on the ground, and cattle are still dying.” – says Mateu.

Last month, the Mongolian government declared a state of heightened alert that will last until May 15.

“Even the high level of preparedness that Mongolia has had this year and in previous years is not enough to deal with extreme conditions. We have made a lot of preparations and the scale still caught us by surprise.” – explains the regional director of the ICRC.

According to data According to the World Health Organization, this year’s level of snow cover was the highest in 49 years and covered 90% of the country’s territory.

“These dzuds are cyclical and they are happening more and more often. There have been six of them in the last 10 years. This one is definitely the worst.” – said Mateu.

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Mongolia is one of the countries most affected by the climate crisis. The average air temperature there has increased by 2.1°C over the past 70 years.