U.N. To Pay Mongolian Nomads To Dispose Of Dead Herds

David Stanway, PlanetArk 26 Feb 10;

BEIJING - The United Nations Development Program will pay cash to struggling Mongolian herders to clean up the remains of millions of livestock killed during the country's worst winter in decades, it said on Thursday.

Mongolia's bitter winter, known as the zud, has blanketed much of the country in deep snow and killed at least 2.7 million heads of livestock, posing health risks once the snow melts, the UNDP said.

"Most of these areas don't have running water or access to sanitation anyway and these carcasses need to be cleaned up as quickly as possible so we have less disease," Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Ulan Bator, said earlier this month.

She said many starving herders had also been selling the dead animals on local meat markets, causing further hygiene problems.

The UNDP said the scheme would focus on small herders in remote regions who have been hit particularly badly by the winter.

Another three million animals are expected to die before the cold season ends in June, and the government has already requested $4 million in UN aid in order to dispose of the carcasses.

Mongolia's pastures represent only 20 percent of the country's GDP but support over 40 percent of its population, and the crippling weather has left large numbers of nomads stranded without fuel or food, aid workers have said.

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)