Climate Change Could Threaten Mongolia’s Ability to Feed Itself

Climate Change Could Threaten Mongolia’s Ability to Feed Itself
A herder rests near a pile of dead livestock in the Zuunbayan-Ulaan soum in Mongolia, May 12, 2010 (AP photo by Ng Han Guan).

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on food security around the world.

The impacts of a drastically warming climate are already being felt in Mongolia, where air temperatures have risen at three times the global rate since the 1940s. Average precipitation is declining and extreme weather disasters are more frequent, posing challenges for the country’s agriculture sector, which accounts for one-tenth of GDP and employs one-third of the labor force. In an interview with WPR, Tungalag Ulambayar, the research director of Saruul Khuduu Environmental Research & Consulting in Ulaanbaatar, discusses the threat that climate change poses to Mongolia’s food security and explains how Mongolian farmers and herders are adapting.

World Politics Review: In what ways is climate change affecting Mongolia’s agriculture, particularly the economically and culturally significant livestock sector?

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