ABSTRACT
Over a million of Mongolia’s roughly 2.7 million inhabitants live in rural areas, most herding livestock for their livelihood. More than three quarters of the country’s land area is used for grazing livestock, making pasture by far the largest category of land use. Herding on the open pastures of Mongolia is very risky, however. The climate is one of harsh extremes such as summer drought, severe winter conditions called zud, spring and autumn frost, dust storms, blizzards, heavy snowfall and cold rain. These and other climate hazards negatively impact herders’ livelihoods by reducing access to forage, fodder and water, weakening livestock and limiting their weight gain, and even killing large numbers of animals.
