The UN Environment Program (UNEP) warns that the livelihood of Mongolia's reindeer herders faces threats from human activities, water pollution and climate change.

The agency has called for urgent action to protect the livelihood of the nearly 200 herders, who live in the mountainous areas of Mongolia's northernmost Khovsgol province and have no access to treatment for reindeer diseases.

A report released by the agency said many herders, or Dukha, have abandoned pastures because of deforestation, forest fires, chemical contamination and poisoning of water sources caused by unregulated, small-scale mining of gold and jade.

Achim Sterner, executive director of the UNEP, said the taiga of northern Mongolia, a wilderness of mountains, forest and rock and ice, is a region with rich biodiversity and abundant natural resources.

He warned it is also one of the regions of Mongolia that could suffer the greatest impact from climate change over the coming decades.

Disease and inbreeding have reduced the reindeer population from more than 2,000 in the 1970s to some 1,000 now.

Reindeer has been raised in Mongolia for more than 3,000 years. The animal has become a special cultural heritage of the country.

 

Source:english.sepa.gov