SOUTH HANGAY PROVINCE, Mongolia –

Severe summer drought followed by an unusually harsh winter has resulted in the loss of roughly 17% of Mongolia’s livestock with an expectation of 500,000 more deaths in coming weeks. With carcasses left where they’ve fallen, the impact will be devastating to Mongolia’s economy.

The United Nations expect an surge of herders into cities, an exodus that will put additional pressure on already flagging resources. Most of Mongolia’s nomads have no other skills so once they leave their traditional way of life, their prospects aren’t very good.

While the animal shortage would cause one to think that prices would increase in a normal suppy and demand effect, the nervous herders selling off what remains of their herds have dumped enough meat into the market that prices are dropping. The lower sales prices are not brining in enough income for nomadic people to meet their needs.

There are also questions of how climate change will affect continued pastoral living and the ecological effects.

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