Tag: Mongolia

Drought followed by harsh winter spells disaster

By Karen Percy in Ulan Bator, Mongolia

Updated Wed May 26, 2010 4:07pm AEST

Disaster zone … A herder on the way to the local burial ground in the Zuunbayan-Ulaan district of Mongolia. (ABC News: Karen Percy)

It is an awe-inspiring sight: the vast plains of Mongolia where animals roam free. Local men and women are wearing the traditional deel, or robe, as they go about their work. It is a timeless image – romantic and rustic.

But as we get closer to the scene, upon a gentle slope there is a mass grave. The herders of the Uvurkhangai province in central Mongolia are burying the carcasses of hundreds upon hundreds of goats. There is a cloud of melancholy over the group. The stench is overwhelming.

Mongolia is counting the cost of one of the harshest winters on record. Across the country an estimated 8.5 million goats, sheep, horses, camels, yaks and cows have died of hunger or succumbed to the freezing conditions. That’s one in five of the entire national herd.

They’re the victims of what the Mongolians call a zhud – a condition where a summer drought is followed by a very cold and snowy winter. There were poor grass yields in the summer of 2009 in central Mongolia. Then winter hit early and with a vengeance.

“In the wintertime we had the situation here where it was -40 to -45 degrees celsius. So we made the decision to declare a disaster zone. It was a situation no one could deal with,” says Togtokhsuren Dulamorj, governor of Uvurkhangai province, which is one of the worst affected areas.

Freak snowstorms were also reported, claiming the lives of 16 people. The National Emergency Management Agency’s small provincial team saved more than 80 others who had been trapped or lost in the snow.

Frozen to death

In the Uyanga district, 450 kilometres south-west of the capital Ulan Bator, 45 per cent of the flock is dead because of the zhud.

Byambatseren Dondov, 51, shows us the rustic wooden shelter which should be buzzing with the sound of shearing. She lost her entire herd of about 30 sheep and goats, and ten cows. Only her neighbour’s animals remain.

“The livestock were frozen on the pasture. They froze while they were being carried back to the shelter. We had taken precautions but just couldn’t cope with the conditions,” she says.

Across the district she and her fellow herders are cleaning up under a cash-for-work project being overseen by the United Nations Development Program. They will earn from $60-90 for removing and burying the carcasses. It’s much needed money at a time when debts are due and food and other supplies are running low.

The spring conditions have been unpredictable and the work has sometimes been disrupted by snow storms, or extreme winds.

“It makes it difficult to reach the affected families. And then when the snow melts it is very slippery therefore it’s not possible to continue using vehicles and we have to stop for a while,” says Gunsen Bayarsakhan the UNDP’s office overseeing the project in Uvurkhangai province.

The clean-up is expected to be completed by the end of May.

Then the really hard work begins – trying to rebuild the industry and people’s lives.

The government has declared disaster zones in 15 of 21 provinces and through the United Nations is seeking $21m to assist in the immediate clean up of the dead animals. Australia has contributed $1m so far.

The money will also be used to rebuild the lives of the 800,000 herders who have been affected.

“People are taking it very hard. They are very depressed. Some have gone a bit crazy because of it,” says Zagar Buyumbadrakh, district governor of Zuunbayan-Ulaan, where two thirds of the livestock were wiped out.

Changing practices

This zhud has exposed huge problems in the way the livestock industry is run in Mongolia. Until 1995 it was controlled by government collectives and regulations. These days there is little thought to land and water management and last year there were 44-million animals roaming the land – well above the carrying capacity of the pastures. This has led to tensions among the herders.

The privatisation of the business also led many young, inexperienced herders to buy animals. When prices for cashmere wool hit $40 a kilogram three years ago, herders took on more goats – voracious eaters which tread heavily. Once goats made up 20 percent of the national herd. Now they account for 80 per cent.

As a result of these developments, and the effects of climate change over the same time period, the land is now suffering from degradation and desertification in some parts. Water supplies are being affected as well.

So part of the UNDP’s ongoing work will be to introduce better herding practices – with a focus on fewer, better-quality beasts, and keeping them inside during the worst parts of the winter.

Families are being offered land to establish vegetable plots, and communities are exploring small-scale businesses such as dairies or wool processing.

These might seem like simple aims, but they would have a big impact on the nomadic nature of Mongolia. The UNDP’s country director, Akbar Usmani, says it’s time for change.

“The key issue is how do we get some of these best practices out there? And doing some advocacy work in trying to change this way of thinking, to change this way of lifestyle. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be a big challenge,” he says.

Some families have already left the countryside for the bigger centres in the hopes of finding other work. Those who remain are hoping to qualify for a government-run restocking program. And several local governors across Uvurkhangai province say there is interest in the alternative programs being offered.

While the herders have fiercely defended their way of life for thousands of years, there is now a sense that they are ready to try something different. They’re already using modern day tools such as motorbikes, satellite dishes and solar power. What are needed now are updated practices that will preserve the best traditions and ensure Mongolia’s nomadic herders last long into the future.

Karen Percy was given rare access to the situation earlier this month during a UN-backed media trip to the hardest hit areas of Central Mongolia.

First posted Wed May 26, 2010 4:00pm AEST

Herders contribute to conservation in the Altai Mountains in Mongolia

20 May 2010

By Onno van den Heuvel, Environment and Energy Programme Officer

The Altai Mountains are home to a variety of endangered species such as the snow leopard and the world’s largest wild sheep altai argali. Inhabited mainly by nomads, these mountains – stretching from the Gobi Desert in the south to the Siberian Tundra in the north, and forming a border between Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China – hold several biodiversity hotspots mostly located in remote areas with limited access.

In the Mongolian part of the Altai Mountains, herders still live a traditional nomadic lifestyle. They live in harsh conditions, with temperatures commonly below the freezing point for most of the year and basic services often not available within a 100km distance. Up to 1990, these herders depended on centralised planning system for their grazing patterns and steady income. In the 1990’s, a wave of liberalisation led to the removal of strict regulations which resulted in land degradation, unrestricted hunting and habitat loss.

To protect the biodiversity in the region, the Mongolian Ministry of Environment with the support of UNDP launched, in 2009, the Altai Sayan Ecoregion Project, which involves herders in conservation of the mountains.

Under the project, herders form community groups of 10 to 15 members. These groups develop community plans for emergencies and seek funds from grants. This better prepares the herders to respond to natural disasters, tackle bitter cold winters and improve their income.

The participating herders are, also, trained to identify and collect data on the endangered animals and plants in their area. Such monitoring has generated new information about the habitat areas and the population numbers of important species.

Having up to date information about herds of animals is important not only for the sake of their conservation, but also for the planning of hunting, which is a significant source of revenue in Mongolia.

The project also empowers the community groups by allowing them to register as the sole users of natural resources in their area. In return, the groups are expected to protect these resources and manage them according to the set rules and regulations. For instance, the groups ensure that hunting is only carried out in the permitted seasons so as not to deplete the animal stock.

Today, more than 45 communities, covering an area larger than 376,000 hectares, have registered as sole users of natural resources under the Altai Sayan Ecoregion Project. To guarantee that the system is not misused, state environmental inspectors are tasked to monitor all the registered community groups.

Lately, some communities have ventured into tourism, setting up gers – Mongolian nomadic house, and offering camel rides. Others have decided to focus on producing small handicraft products. The Project stands ready to support other interested communities, if they choose, to set up their own tourism services.

http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/2010/may/los-pastores-contribuyen-a-la-conservacin-en-el-macizo-de-altai-.en;jsessionid=aCPyVVUabRa8?categoryID=349436&lang=en

China arrests two Mongolians for smuggling snow leopard skins

Beijing 27 April 2010 – Chinese police arrested two Mongolian citizens after finding two snow leopard skins and a snow leopard skull hidden inside their jeep at a border checkpoint, state media said Tuesday.

Police in the remote Alxa League of north China’s Inner Mongolia region spent 10 hours searching the vehicle that had more than 40 hidden compartments, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The smuggled skins and skull had an estimated value of more than 200,000 yuan (29,000 dollars) on the black market, the agency quoted Zhao Jun, an anti-smuggling officer from the regional capital, as saying.

Experts say snow leopard skins from Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan are often smuggled across the borders to be sold in China or abroad.

Only about 6,000 snow leopards are believed to remain in the wild in 12 central and southern Asian nations, according to international wildlife protection groups.

Last month, a court in China’s far western region of Xinjiang – which borders Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan – sentenced two herdsmen to long prison terms after they were convicted of trapping and killing a snow leopard.

In a major case in 2007 in Gansu province, between Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, police seized a record 27 snow leopard skins when they investigated a report of illegal trading in endangered animal parts.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320814,china-arrests-two-mongoli
ans-for-smuggling-snow-leopard-skins.html

Mongolia winter kills herds, devastating the poorest

28 Mar 2010 21:00:18 GMT

By Tyra Dempster

BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) – A severe winter has left 4.5 million dead animals in stockyards across the Mongolian steppes, and many poor herders face the loss of all their property just before the important breeding season.

About a tenth of Mongolia’s livestock may have perished, as deep snows cut off access to grazing and fodder.

The damage to the rural economy could increase demands on Mongolia’s already-stretched national budget, which relies on mining revenues to meet spending commitments.

The Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for 1 million Swiss francs to assist Mongolian herders, after it estimated that 4.5 million livestock have died in the country since December.

“The numbers of livestock that have perished have gone up very, very quickly and dramatically now to about 4 million which is roughly a tenth of the whole livestock population,” Francis Markus, communications director for the Red Cross’ East Asia delegation, said in Beijing after returning from Mongolia.

“This means that thousands of families, mostly coming from the poorest and most vulnerable layers of the herder population, have lost their entire flocks of animals and have been left in a very, very distraught and very, very desperate state.”

Roughly one-quarter of Mongolia’s 3 million people are nomads, while others also raise livestock in fixed settlements. Many go deeply in debt to buy and raise their herds, in hopes of making the money back by selling wool, meat and skins.

A similar combination of a summer drought, followed by heavy snow and low winter temperatures, which is known in Mongolian as a ‘zud’, caused widespread hardship in Mongolia a decade ago.

As a result, impoverished herder families flocked to the slums outside the capital, Ulan Bator, straining the city’s ability to provide basic services.

“The herding community’s situation is very hard now. The best off are those who still have around 40 percent of their livestock left and in the worst 50 cases are those who have lost absolutely everything,” said Zevgee, speaker of the county parliament in Bayangol, southwest of the capital.

This zud was the worst for several years, with temperatures dropping to 40 degrees Celsius below zero or colder in 19 of Mongolia’s 21 provinces, according to a World Bank report.

Around 63 percent of Mongolia’s rural residents’ assets are their livestock, it said, and at least 35 percent of the population earn a living from their animals.

Herder Tsendjav said that she had no option but to rely on the government and aid to survive the weather.

“I have seen many zuds that have caused the loss of numerous animals but I have never seen a zud as bad as this one,” she said at a Red Cross aid dispensary.

(Writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-83Z33V?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=CW-2010-000010-MNG

The first snow leopard was successfully photographed in Tuva, Russia

RIA Novosti, translated by Heda Jindrak
March 12, 2010

permanent link: http://en.tuvaonline.ru/2010/03/12/5400_snowleopard.html

The participants in the first Russian-Mongolian expedition for the study of groupings of irbis (snow leopard), which took place from February 20 to March 7 on the Tsagan-Shibetu ridge (western Tuva), made the first photos of this rare predator in the republic, as announced by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of Russia.

During the field research the members of the expedition, which included specialists from the “Uvsu-Nur depression” nature reserve (Russia), from the administration of especially protected natural territories of the Ubsu-Nuur lake basin (Mongolia), and from the Institute of Biology of Mongolian Academy of Sciences, searched practically the entire Russian part of the Tsagan-Shibetu ridge, discovered 14 tracks of snow leopard and collected fecal specimens of irbis for clarification of their numbers by DNA analysis.

The scientists successfully tracked some irbises and discovered areas of active range of the predators. The members of the expedition also discovered a family group of three irbises, apparently a female with two older kittens; they also were successful in photographing the animals for the first time in Tuva.

“In the future, it is planned to set up photo-traps in these locations, to study the spatial structure of the groupings of this species on Tsagan-Shibetu,” the report notes. After preliminary evaluation of these new data, the population of snow leopard on the Russian part of the ridge is estimated at 8-9 individuals. The scientists hope to get a more accurate picture of the numbers of sex-age composition of the population after DNA analysis of the predators’ fecal samples at the IPEE RAN laboratory.

As a result of DNA analysis of biomaterials collected on the Mongolian part of the ridge Tsagan-Shibetu in 2009, the numbers of the population of this species on this territory is estimated at 9 individuals. In this way, the total numbers of the trans-border population in this center of distribution is no fewer than 17-20 individuals. In April 2010, the work on the study of trans-border groupings of irbis on Tsagan-Shibetu will be continued on Mongolian territory. The obtained data will allow not just to estimate the condition of this group, but also to offer soundly-based suggestions for its protection. The development of eco-tourism in the irbis ranges based on reports by local people in Western Tuva with support of WWF should have a positive impact on the protection and development of the population of this predator. The action is planned to start already in May of this year.

The snow leopard, or irbis, lives in the mountainous heights of the Himalayas, Hindukush, Pamir, Tian-Shan, Altai and Western Sayans, Greater Caucasus and adjacent mountains. In the summer the animals prefer not to descent below the border where trees begin to grow, and live in the high rocky regions and mountain meadows, ascending all the way to six thousand meters. In winter the snow leopard find shelter in the forests located at the elevation of two thousand meters above sea level.

Illegal but lucrative hunting for snow leopard furs has substantially reduced the population. A snow leopard skin can bring in about sixty thousand dollars on the black markets of Asia. Snow leopard is under government protection in all the countries of its range, but poaching threatens its numbers just like before. Lately the number of the snow leopard has increased somewhat, and currently there are about six thousand individuals in existence.

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Forget Apple, Here’s the Real Snow Leopard

From Wired.com and By Brandon Keim September 8, 2009 | Even as Apple’s newest operating system puts snow leopards on desktops around the world, the real animal fights for survival in the mountain wilderness of Central Asia. Declared endangered in 1972, between 3,500 and 7,000 cats remain in the wild. Their numbers are thought to be dwindling, though exact figures are hard to come by. Snow leopards are solitary, elusive and perfectly suited to their harsh homelands; researchers who study them can go for years without seeing one. In 2008, a consortium of scientists and conservation groups launched the first long-term snow leopard study. Using camera traps and GPS-enabled collars, they hope to gather basic information about the animals’ range and behavior, and use this information to better protect them. Wired.com talked to Tom McCarthy, program director for Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust, about their work. Camera traps set beside known snow leopard trails, and triggered when an infrared beam is crossed, have captured thousands of images. Individual animals are then identified by their coloration patterns. Unlike older camera traps, the latest are digital and shoot every half-second or so, providing movies like the one above. GPS collars were first used in the early 1990s, but had to be abandoned. Their relatively short-range signals required researchers carrying hand-held receivers to follow the cats on foot. A difficult proposition in the best of circumstances, it was made even harder by signals dropping when cats ducked into a valley or around a mountain. The latest GPS collars are more powerful and reliable, and transmit location coordinates via embedded satellite links. “It’s essentially calling us three times a day to let us know where it’s at,” said McCarthy. “It’s giving us data that we couldn’t get any other way.” Movement records provided by the collars are providing important ecological information about the species. “We still have huge blank spots in terms understanding basic ecology and land use, how the cats relate to each other, how much distance they keep between each other, how they interact with humans how close they come to livestock,” said McCarthy. Another useful trick involves taking gene readings from their poop. “We can take genetic fingerprints of their feces, and identify individual animals,” said McCarthy. “But it’s still relatively expensive because of the cost of gene testing.” Along with technology, conservation strategies are also improving. In some regions, the Snow Leopard Trust has worked with villagers to sell their handicrafts to western markets in exchange for not killing the cats, which can threaten livestock. They’ve traded livestock vaccinations for leopard protection, and insured farm animals against attacks. The programs seem to be working, but data from the cameras and collars should give researchers a better idea of where to concentrate their efforts. Other threats to snow leopards include poaching, habitat loss and loss of prey. Even if people leave the cats alone, they can still disrupt the web of life on which the leopards rely. If snow leopards ever go extinct in the wild, they could be bred in zoos. But it’s not likely that zoo-raised animals will ever be able to survive in their ancestral homes. “Cubs stay with their mother for two years to learn the land,” said McCarthy. “It’s a real question whether you could put them in the wild. Asked how it felt to see snow leopards as part of a marketing strategy, McCarthy said that it was unusual. “It’s amazing to be able to be able to see these cats in person,” he said. “I spent seven years between studies, much of it in snow leopard habitat, and never even saw one. But as Peter Matthiesen wrote years ago, just knowing they’re out there is enough.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/snowleopard/

Decades of Thriving Wildlife Trade Have Decimated Populations

Written by B.Bulgamaa Tuesday, April 21, 2009. The number of animals which can be legally hunted for a special payment in 2010 was approved during cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Over the next year 50 male wild sheep, 200 male wild rocky mountain goats, 50 antelopes, 80 gazelle, 60 gray wolves, 200 birds and 240 saker falcon can legally be hunted or captured.

Those animals will be hunted exclusively by foreign hunters next year who will pay a fee to the government. The price, which is regulated by law, depends on the type of animal hunted.

Hunters from Arabian countries tend to have more interest in taking saker falcon alive and bringing them back to the Middle East. The price for one of these birds is set at US$ 12,000.

According to the census of the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, Mongolia has 12,000-15,000 female wild sheep, 25,000-30,000 female wild goats, one million white gazelle, 50,000 antelopes, 30,000 gray wolves and 6,500 saker falcons.

Four percent of them could be used for hunting, based on management to protect nature and the environment, explained the representatives from the ministry.
2005-2008 state hunting revenues were Tg 13.8 billion, according to information from the ministry.

From 1926-1985 Mongolia was delivering 119 million furs, 13 million kilograms of game meat, 1.5 million tons of elk antlers and trading as many as 3.5 million animals to Russia in a single year.

Since 1990 the border with China has been open and this has caused the wild animal change its roots.
According to the World Bank report named “Silent Steppe”, which was completed in 2004, the population of Mongolia’s subspecies of saiga antelope catastrophically declined from over 5,000 to less than 800, an 85 percent drop, from 2000-2005.

The driving force behind this collapse is the lucrative Chinese medicinal market for saiga horn. Red deer have also declined catastrophically across Mongolia. According to a 1986 government assessment, the population size at that time was approximately 130,000 deer inhabiting 115,000 square km. The most recent population assessment in 2004 showed that only about 8,000 to 10,000 red deer now inhabit Mongolia’s 15 aimags. This is a 92 percent decline in only 18 years. Government figures estimated 50,000 argali in Mongolia in 1975, but only 13,000 to 15,000 in 2001 (Amgalanbaatar et al. 2002). This is a 75 percent decline in just 16 years.

Marmot once numbered more than 40 million, dropping to around 20 million by 1990 and were last tallied in 2002 at around 5 million; a decline of 75 percent in only 12 years (Batbold 2002). Finally, saker falcons have started a similarly precipitous decline, dropping from an estimated 3,000 breeding pairs in 1999 to 2,200 pairs, losing 30 percent of the population in just 5 years (Shagdarsuren 2001).

Trade in medicinal products has increased both on the domestic and international market. The primary trading partner is China, but several interviewees reported selling large volumes to Koreans as well.

International buyers are looking primarily for brown bear gall bladder, saiga antelope horns, wolf parts of all types (including tongue, spleen, ankle bones, and teeth), musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) glands, red deer shed and blood antlers, genitals, tails, and fetuses, and snow leopard bones. The domestic medicinal market includes marmot, wolf, corsac fox, badger, sable, brown bear, muskrat, roe deer, musk deer, snow leopard, Pallas’ cat, Daurian hedgehog, Daurian partridge, Altai snowcock, and northern raven. Trade in game meat, other than fish, appears to be limited to the domestic market for the moment. Mongolian gazelle meat was once traded to China, but that trade has apparently stopped with the recent banning of commercial harvests in Mongolia and the closure of game processing plants in China.

Mongolia also supplied large quantities of fish to markets in Russia in the early 1990s, but a change in supply routes and higher prices paid in China have caused trade to shift primarily to China, although trade continues to some degree with Russia.

Even though international game meat trade has slowed or even stopped, the domestic market is thriving and by itself represents a significant and continuing threat to wildlife populations. The domestic market therefore deserves serious management and regulatory attention.
Since 2006 Mongolia’s government has prohibited the hunting of marmots, a ban which continues. The lack of a marmot census has made it impossible to tell, however, whether it has had an effect.

Before prohibiting the hunting of marmot, game meat was available in local markets. Siberian and Altai marmot, Mongolian gazelle, roe deer, moose, Altai snowcock, several species of fish, and, in some areas, Asiatic wild ass were all on offer.

The Ministry of Nature and Environment actively promotes trophy hunting and has set special rates ranging from US$100 for red fox to as much as US$25,000 for Altai argali, according to the report which was made 2004. Reinvesting a percentage of these fees in the conservation of the resource (required by the Law on Reinvestment of Natural Resource Use Fees) has the potential to provide significant funding for wildlife management. However, government finance regulations and a lack of community benefit from trophy hunting prevent this market from achieving the desired outcome of supporting hunting management and local economies. As a result, trophy hunting represents yet another competing use of a dwindling resource.

Although exact amounts are difficult to verify, all indications are that volumes of wildlife passing through these markets have been high. One trader at the Tsaiz market reported total sales in 2004 of 500,000 to 600,000 marmot skins, 50,000 wolf skins, and 50,000 each for red and corsac fox skins.

http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2840

Mongolian Wildlife to be Recorded on Film

Written by Kirril Shields
Friday, October 17, 2008
MONGOLIAN wildlife will soon be captured, on camera that is. A Wildlife Picture Index programme is set to begin in January of 2009, aiming to ‘camera trap’ Mongolian mammal and bird species. The program intends to help scientists gain an understanding of population figures and biodiversity across an array of environments, from desert, to steppe, to the rugged and snow-capped mountains of the taiga.

While the WPI was trialled on a small scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sapo National Park, Liberia, and to a lesser degree in other locations around the world, it will be used for the first time on a large scale to record Mongolian wildlife. “This is a great step for Mongolia,” says Eleanor Monks of the Zoological Society of London. “It gives us the opportunity to monitor data deficient species which are rarely seen by the public eye.”
In addition to catching a glimpse of rare and elusive animals such as the Gobi bear, the snow leopard, or the long-eared jerboa, zoologists and scientists are hoping to discover new species of mammals and birds.
The WPI program will also provide insight into a species’ habits -including nocturnal activity- build an understanding of how these animals live, and reveal the impact mining and deforestation have on species’ populations.

According to the team establishing Mongolia’s WPI program, the use of photographic imagery is an effective way of enthusing and educating the public about wildlife by producing vivid colour pictures of rare or, as yet, undiscovered animals.

The camera trapping will be implemented by the Zoological Society of London (through the Steppe Forward Programme), the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Mongolian Academy of Science.

According to Cambridge University, the benefits of camera trapping are that it “offers a non-obtrusive, low cost, verifiable, simple and effective means of meeting objectives across disparate sites.” The objectives, they continue, include “monitoring trends in the diversity, abundance, and distribution of a broad range of terrestrial mammals and birds, including nocturnal, rare and elusive animals.”

The majority of funds for the project’s first year have been supplied by the World Bank. The program will employ roughly six foreign scientists, including two project leaders, four young Mongolian scientists, two Mongolian student interns, and as many as sixty herdsmen from the aimags where the cameras will be placed.
Led by Dr. Jonathan Baillie from ZSL (based at London’s Regent Park Zoo), Monks and Dr. Amanda Fine from the Mongolian office of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the program will monitor six sites around the country: three in central and southern Mongolia, three others far to the west of Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia, according to the report Silent Steppe: The Illegal Wildlife Trade Crisis in Mongolia, has a “flourishing illegal and wildlife trade, now estimated to be worth more than US$ 100 million annually.” Add to this the depletion of forests and the impact mining companies can have on the environment, and the future of Mongolia’s rare and depleted species may be grim. In 2006, for example, the population of red deer in Mongolia was said to have declined by 92 percent over the last 18 years.

In 2006, Baille enumerated some of the environmental problems Mongolia currently faces. “Mongolia was once a refuge for Central Asia’s mammals, but the Mongolian steppe is now being silently cleared of its wildlife. Even the marmot, a large rodent, is estimated to have declined 75 percent over the past 12 years, due to hunting.”
Others seem to agree. “Mongolia’s growing population and changing lifestyles are intensifying pressures on the country’s fragile ecosystems,” a World Bank report states. “Overgrazing is degrading significant areas and displacing wildlife from its habitat. Pollution from industrial and urban growth is negatively affecting environmental quality. Moreover, hampering progress in the management of and protection of the environment is a conspicuous lack of human and financial resources.”

The Wildlife Picture Index hopes to reverse some of these trends. Implementing the program, according to ZSL, means that “robust monitoring will take place so that the scope and severity of the problem can be defined, communicated and defended.” The society hopes this project will in turn lead to public and government awareness initiatives, launched both by Mongolia and the world at large.

http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2333