Mongolia faces the harshest winters in half a century, resulting in more than 4.7 million animals, and threatens food to thousands of people in extreme weather conditions. These data were published by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Strict conditions in Mongolia, which are known as dud, occur after summer drought, when heavy snowfall and extreme frosts occur. The temperatures can be lowered to -30 ° C or below.
High snow cover and thick ice cover pastures, depriving cattle access to food. In Mongolia, about 300,000 people lead a nomadic lifestyle, depending on cattle, goats and horses. Families of shepherds travel vast territories of the country to find new pastures for grazing. In the summer, they grow animal feed for the winter.
Duds in Mongolia are becoming more frequent, which prevents the restoration of pastures between extreme weather conditions and delays the harvesting of the necessary stocks for shepherds.
"People who depend entirely on their cattle have been in poverty in a few months. Some of them cannot even feed themselves or heat their homes," Alexander Mateu, a regional director of the ICRC in the Asia-Pacific, notes.
According to the ICRC, at least 2,250 shepherds have lost more than 70% of their cattle since November 2023, and more than 7,000 families have not had enough access to food.
The dud has spread to three -quarters of the country, and it is expected that the conditions will be deteriorating.
"Now spring, but winter in Mongolia is still ongoing, there is still snow on the earth, and cattle continues to die," Mateu notes.
Last month, the Mongol government declared a state of increased readiness, which will last until May 15.
"Even the high level of readiness that was in Mongolia this year and in previous years is insufficient to cope with extreme conditions. We have carried out considerable training, but the scale of the problem is still striking," - explains the ICCH regional director.
According to the UN Development Program (UNDP), Mongolia has become one of the countries that suffered the most affected by the climatic crisis. The average air temperature over the last 70 years has increased by 2.1 ° C.
