Industry News
While many areas across the globe have seen milder winters this season, Mongolia has been suffering from one of the coldest winters on record. The Mongolian Agriculture Minister Gantulga Batsaikhan has confirmed that more than 2 million animals have perished during this year’s ‘dzud’. This winter, Mongolia has been experiencing the heaviest snowfall since 1975. With cold winds coming from Siberia, temperatures this year have dropped to below -50°C (-58°F).
Dzud is the Mongolian term for severe winter conditions and refers to a cold-season disaster in which heavy snow and severe cold reduce the accessibility and/or availability of foilage and pastures for the country’s livestock. Animals freeze or starve because they can’t graze, resulting in high livestock mortality from December to March.
According to a report by the United Nations (‘UN’), the frequency of dzuds in Mongolia has been increasing in the recent past due to climate change. In the last 10 years, the country has experienced six dzuds.
Last year during the 22/23 winter, an estimated 4.4 million animals perished from December to March. This season’s dzud is particularly bad because it is coming after a summer drought, which left many animals undernourished going into the colder months. An estimated 70% of the country is experiencing dzud or near dzud conditions at the moment and 90% of the country could be at risk. This compares to 17% of Mongolia at the same time in 2023, and a peak of 70% of the nation in dzud.
The deadliest dzud on record was the winter of 2010/11 when almost a quarter of the nation’s livestock — or more than 10 million animals — perished.
The UN has launched the ‘Dzud Early Action and Response Plan’ to support the Mongolian Government and people during the 2023/24 winter. The UN program complements the government’s ‘Dzud Anticipatory Action and Response Plan’, which sees animal feed distributed to herders in need. The U.S. government has also provided $200,000 in aid through USAID to alleviate Mongolia’s dzud. The U.S. government has been helping vulnerable Mongolian communities since 2010 with almost $8 million in aid.
