Mongolian herders whose future has been threatened by the country’s brutal winter can claim money from the United Nations for clearing the corpses of their animals, the UN has announced.

Over 2.7 million livestock animals died in Mongolia after very heavy snows in the winter – a ‘dzud’ in local parlance – followed a long dry summer which prevented herders from stockpiling enough feed to tide them over. Another 3 million may succumb before the cold spell ends.

As a result the United Nations Development Programme is bringing in what it admits is an “unusual” cash-for-work programme. This should see around 60,000 herders paid to clean and bury the carcasses of those animals killed by the dzud (press release 1).

“While immediate needs of food, shelter, heating and health care must be met, this approach would prevent the spread of diseases and also help herders to feed their families during the dzud,” says Akbar Usmani, the acting UN Development Programme representative in Mongolia (press release).

“Livestock is the cornerstone of existence for so many Mongolians and many people have lost all their direct income and food source,” he added.

The UN says it will cost around $4 million to remove the animal carcasses.

Image: yaks in Mongolia last year / photo by chenyingphoto via Flickr under Creative Commons.