Extreme Winter Condition in Mongolia and social impact

http://www.ub-mongolia.mn/photos-mongolia/albums/wpw-20041127/mongolia-winter-collection1-33.JPG

Fabio Y. Leeleeperfy@uwec.eduGeography 308 (Russia and Eastern Europe)Professor Zoltan GrossmanUniversity of Wisconsin-Eau ClaireSpring 2005

Geography & People

• Area: 1,564,116 k ㎡ • Population: 2,791,272

(July 2005) • Ethnic: Mongol 94.9%,

Turkic 5%, others (including Chinese and Russian) 0.1%

• Religion: Lamaist Buddhism 50%, none 40%, Christian 6%, Muslim 4%

Climate• Landlock country with no sea that

moderates the climate

• Intense sunshine & low humidity

• Cold evening even in summer

• Extreme daily and seasonal temperature ranges– When the wind blows from the north, temperature

drops, but when the wind drops, the weather warms up again.

– The temperature range in typical summer could be 30 ℃ to -40℃

http://www.southtravels.com/asia/mongolia/weather.html

Land Uses

Land use category K ㎡ Percentage of total land area

Total land area of country 1,564,116 100%

Permanent crops 0 0%

Arable land (potential cropland) 12043.6932 0.77%

Other land (includes forest & grazing)

1552072.307 99.23%

Labor force by occupation

• Herding/agriculture 46%

• Manufacturing 6%

• Trade 10.3%

• Public sector 4.7%

• Other/unemployed 33%

• Mongolia’s 1/3 of the 2.7 million population make their living as nomadic herders.

• Livestock animals (goat, cattle, sheep, camels, and horses) which are dependent on meat, cheese, milk, and as well as for trade and transportation.

• Mongolian population’s life fully depends on nomadic people’s livestock for everything

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/images/biosphere/vegetation/midlatitude_steppe_J_Y_Piel_FAO_17947.jpg

• 1999 - 2000, Winter Zud following summer drought killed nearly 3million head of livestock.

• 2000 - 2001, summer drought and winter zud have again killed another 3million head of livestock. Damaged nomadic way of life and Mongolia’s live stock products.

1999 & 2000 winter zud, summer drought

http://www.the-human-race.com/images/environment/drought.jpg

Zud 1999-2000 & 2000-2001

• Temperature drop as low as -46 ℃ (-53°F) • According to AFO, nearly 6 million livestock death• western provinces 90% covered with snow

Zud “Slow White death”

http://imagesrvr.epnet.com/embimages/rdk/MJO/01JAN01/57n1.jpghttp://imagesrvr.epnet.com/embimages/rdk/MJO/01JAN01/58n1.jpg

Gochoogiin said. "It has been hard, very hard," "The cold that came from the river basin caused a lot of deaths. Even live animals were lying on the ground, and their ears were completely frozen." "I really miss the animals I lost." http://vlad.tribnet.com/2000/iss212/focus.html

•Gochoogiin’s 12cows, 60 sheep and goats, and 28 horses killed by the Winter Zud

• 300,000 nomads have suffered losses, and lost all of their flocks

http://vlad.tribnet.com/2000/iss212/focus.html

http://www.ub-mongolia.mn/photos-mongolia/albums/wpw-20041127/mongolia-winter-collection1-33.JPG

• Wheat production fallen by more than half

• Fallen to 300,000 tons from 700,000 tons anualy.

http://www.bluepeak.net/mongolia/assets/photos-old/field-winter.jpg

• 3 to 4 million loss of livestock animals in 1999- 2000. Another 3 million on 2000 - 2001

• Represents 20-30% of national herders• Death of livestock still rising • Suffering among people

– Shortage of food

– Inflation of livestock product price

– Famine

• More than 10,000 households along with 4.4 million head of livestock forced to migrate to warmer areas.

• Shortage of food (meat, milk, cheese, and other products from the nomads) caused inflation.

http://www.ub-mongolia.mn/photos-mongolia/displayimage.php?album=17&pos=22

Impact on human health• 450,000 Mongolians suffer from famine

• Pneumonia and flu.

• Foot-and-mouth disease

• Shortage of food and inflation has also caused famine

• $ 1 million from the U.S Government aid to help purchase emergency supplies, and ease inflation

• $10 million from Japan to alleviate the difficulties of displaced herders

http://www.maitreyacharity.org/mongolia/the_gobi/Food%20Distribution2%2010-01.jpg

January 15th, UN helicopter crashed just after a blizzard, while visiting vulnerable area. Killed nine 9 and 14 injured UN officials

www.samolet.co.uk/ mi-8.jpg

MI-8, A Russian made UN helicopter crashed in Mongolia after an extreme blizzard

“Mongolian herders are among the most rugged and resourceful people on earth. Their toughness and ingenuity are what allowed a relatively small army of their 13th century forebears to capture a land empire that stretched from Beijing to Baghdad. But as the snows began early again last September, even these descendants of Genghis Khan found themselves humbled by natural and economic forces that threatened to wipe out their traditional way of life.”

Webster, Donovan.Mother Jones. Jan/Feb. 2001. vol. 26. issue 1. p 54

Conclusion

• Mongolians, economy and their diet are fully dependent on nomadic herders.

• The Summer drought and the following winter Zud in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 was a major natural disaster and as well a major loss to the economy and endangered the people of Mongolia.

• The summer drought and Zud are still a major concern for Mongolia’s livelihood and economy.

• According to a Mongolian student in UWEC, in 2004 there was a major summer drought and there was few million of livestock death reported. This Winter, the numbers of livestock deaths still rising.

Site sources

• Drought, bitter winter devastates Mongolia http://vlad.tribnet.com/2000/iss212/focus.html

• MONGOLIA TRAVEL PICTURES http://www.ub-mongolia.mn

• MONGOLIAN CULTUREhttp://www.mongolianculture.com

• The World Fact Bookhttp://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

• Webster, Donovan. Mother Jones. Jan/Feb. 2001. vol. 26. issue 1. p 54