The harsh winter is over, but the devastation continues throughout Mongolia. People and animals are starving and exhausted. More than 8 million livestock have perished nationwide, and their rotting carcasses litter the countryside.

The situation for Mr Buyanbat in Zuunbayan-Ulaan soum in Uvurkhangai aimag mirrors that of many herders throughout the country. Mr Buyanbat moved his livestock from Uyanga soum in search of better pasture. He lives with his pregnant wife, and his four children attend school in the aimag centre. At the end of 2009 he had about 1000 sheep and goats and 300 cattle and horses. However, the dzud decimated his herd, and he has been left with just 100 sheep and goats. From September, he struggled to endure seven months of extreme cold. “The temperature was an unprecedented low this year,” he said. “We lost everything that I worked for in 15 years of herding.”   However, he is determined to overcome the loss. “I am still young and I will work again to build up my herd.”

The dzud has hit Mongolian herders hard. More than 8.5 million head of livestock, or almost 20 percent of the nation’s livestock, perished, making this dzud the worst since 1987. For herders like Mr Buyanbat, the resulting problems are twofold. Firstly, the dzud has cost them their main source of income and their primary source of food. Secondly, they are now at risk of disease from the animal carcasses that have been left to rot in the open, particularly those close to settlements and water sources. With the onset of spring, the snow has begun to melt and decomposition now threatens to pollute water and soil. Herders have an enormous task ahead of them in disposing of the millions of bodies scattered throughout the countryside.  In response to the crisis, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has launched a programme to remove the animal carcasses. UNDP is contributing to this initiative with a Cash-for-Work Programme in which herders receive financial remuneration for carcass removal. This provides herders with much-needed short-term income and reduces the attendant health and environmental risks.

The programme is under way in three of the most severely affected aimags - Uvurkhangai, Dundgobi and Khovd. UNDP, in conjunction with with NEMA and local authorities, is currently reaching 20,000 herders, or 60 percent of all herder households in the three aimags. Priority is given to herders with fewer than 200 head of livestock, female-headed households and other vulnerable groups that fall below the poverty line. “Once again, UNDP is taking the lead in addressing our needs in the midst of a crisis,” said NEMA Deputy Head Mr Namsrai. With guidance from local NEMA offices, herders have been tasked with disposing of up to 2 million carcasses, which account for about 25 percent of all the livestock that had perished up until May. Herders who take part in the programme receive about USD $70 for their efforts, which is enough to buy three months’ flour and rice for an average household. UNDP has allocated USD $1.8 million for the Cash-for-Work Programme and is working to secure further resources to assist the herders in the longer term and to support other early recovery and rehabilitation activities. “We want to help small herders and women who are most dramatically affected by dzud in the short term by providing immediate work opportunities, but we also want to work with them in the longer term to find alternative means of livelihoods,” said UNDP Mongolia Resident Representative a.i Akbar Usmani.

UNDP places importance on transparency and equal participation in the Cash-for-Work Programme. To this end, soum governments announce programme participants at the outset and post lists of beneficiaries on completion on information boards in governors’ offices and in Khan Bank branches. Herders in remote areas also receive announcements and information via a programme broadcast on national radio.

At present, about 80 percent of the clean-up work has been completed.