Mongolia: From the Steppe to the Slum
As mass livestock deaths threaten Mongolia’s nomadic culture, we meet the herders trying to survive and those who’ve abandoned their traditional ways.
Weather conditions on Mongolia’s steppes are notoriously extreme, with temperatures ranging from minus 40 degrees Celsius in the northern hemisphere winter to 35 degrees Celsius in summer.
But climate change is bringing on more severe weather patterns and with average temperatures rising at three times the global rate, the soil is becoming less fertile, leading to significant livestock death events known as “dzuds”.
Experts predict a new dzud could affect 60 percent of the country. This is an existential threat to Mongolia’s traditional nomadic herders.
101 East meets the families fighting to survive on the steppes and those who have been forced to abandon the nomadic life.