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Shepherds in Mongolia face difficult decisions as the climate crisis threatens their way of life.
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Shepherds make up about a third of Mongolia’s population.
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As of 2021, 77% of Mongolia’s land is degraded due to overgrazing and climate change.
Herders in Mongolia have had to deal with unpredictable weather, but as the climate becomes more erratic, they are forced to travel further and further to keep it under control.
Nomadic herders make up a third of Mongolia’s three million people. But their numbers are likely to decline as the weather worsens and the land becomes more difficult for their animals to graze.
Temperatures in Mongolia have risen by 2.2 degrees Celsius since 1940 and 90% of Mongolia’s grasslands have been affected by desertification due to poor management and climate change.
Herders are also losing their livestock at an alarming rate; According to the United Nations Development Program website, they have reported losing more than 500,000 animals nationwide as of March 2023. These losses are devastating for families who receive 80% of their income from the sale of animals and animal products.
Shepherds in Mongolia are nomadic and move from place to place in search of the best lands for their animals.
While traveling they live in a tent called a ‘ger’ which is insulated with sheepskin and has a hole in the ceiling to clear the smoke from their oven.
The ger can be easily set up and taken down and can follow the families wherever they travel.
As climate change reduces the availability of arable land, herders must travel further to obtain food for their flocks.
In 2020, Agvaantagtokh, a herder in Mongolia, and his family traveled 750 miles to find better land after losing most of their animals to a particularly harsh winter.
More desertification means more dust storms, which also increases the risk of animal loss.
Rivers and streams dry up, prompting herders to make a six-mile trek to the nearest source.
Typically, streams are shared by all surrounding communities and their animals. Normally there are 10 to 15 communities in a given area and a collective of 4,000 to 5,000 animals.
The United Nations Development Program has invested in the protection and fencing of resources.
The UNDP project reduces congestion of streams by animals and allows dried-up streams to recover.
In one case, a spring blocked by a large herd of animals was restored after it was fenced off and even formed two small lakes along its length, the UNDP said.
Mongolia is also subject to severe winter storms known as dzuds.
Temperatures can drop below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind rushes across the large fields with no trees or tall vegetation to block their path.
Dzuds are the deterioration of winter weather conditions that result in the mass death of livestock.
Dzuds come from the unique landscape of Mongolia. The landlocked, semi-arid country is subject to temperature fluctuations, and the heavy snowfall and harsh cold block pastures or completely kill animals.
The dzud from 2009 to 2010 killed 22% of Mongolia’s livestock.
Dzuds are becoming more common, making it harder for herders to keep their livestock alive.
Dzuds used to occur once or twice a decade, but since 2019 they have occurred annually.
Normally, communities would gather their horses during the winter to protect them from the storms. The meeting was not only strategically feasible, but was also a coming-of-age tradition for the young men of the community.
As winters worsen and droughts intensify, there is not enough grass to sustainably feed all the horses. Al Jazeera reported that the winter herd of horses has not taken place since 2018.
Younger generations still want to grow up to do what their parents do, but parents are increasingly trying to ensure they have other options.
“I am happy that he wants to continue our herding tradition,” Narangerel, a shepherd in Mongolia, said of his son to the UNDP. “However, I want to ensure that he gets a secondary education before he chooses to become a shepherd and a wrestler.”
Shepherds are still finding ways to adapt to the changing environment.
Motorcycles help herders track lost horses and sheep more quickly during dust storms.
Horses are never fenced in these communities, so every now and then they can wander off. Motorcycles make it easier for herders to find their horses and tell others where they graze.
Shepherds also use solar panels and satellite dishes to improve communication networks.
Mongolia depends on China and Russia for most of its imports. In 2021, 36% of their imports came from China and 29% from Russia.
Solar panels allow them to be energetically independent and provide energy to charge their phones, which they use to exchange information with community members, the Associated Press reported.
Thanks to the energy provided by the solar panels, they can run the freezers and keep their meat longer.
The United Nations is also trying to find economic alternatives for herders.
The UNDP has launched the ‘ger and nature’ initiative, which aims to ‘promote community-based eco- and cultural tourism’ by turning to herders as guides.
Read the original article on Business Insider