The effects of climate change are particularly devastating to Mongolia's centuries-old nomadic herding culture. As the country's population increasingly concentrates in its one major city, those who remain on the steppe face dire winters and an uncertain future.
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00:00On the Mongolian steppe, livestock herder Zandan Kramsoran tends to what's left of his flock.
00:06A year ago, he had over 700 animals, including horses, cows, goats and sheep.
00:12Then winter came.
00:30He estimates 60 to 70 percent of his animals died.
00:34None of the horses or cows survived.
00:37The long, harsh winter buried in snow the grass his animals feed on.
00:42They starved and then froze.
00:45Zandan Kramsoran's livestock weren't the only ones.
00:49Over seven million animals are thought to have died in last winter's dzud,
00:54one of the worst in recorded history.
01:00I lost three sheep.
01:03I lost a calf.
01:06I lost a calf.
01:09I lost a calf.
01:13Mongolians have lived off the land for centuries.
01:16Nomadic herding, once Mongolia's predominant occupation,
01:20is still practiced by roughly a third of the country's three and a half million people.
01:25But that is rapidly changing.
01:28Nearly half of Mongolians now live in its one major city, capital Ulaanbaatar.
01:35Every year, more arrive, seeking opportunities of modern life
01:39and refuge from an increasingly difficult pastoral existence.
01:44And as the climate continues to change, the trend of urbanization is certain to continue.
01:50Compared to other countries, Mongolia is considered very, very vulnerable to climate change effects.
01:56Over the last eight years, Mongolia's average temperature has increased by 2.5 degrees Celsius,
02:06which is at least three times than the global average.
02:12The overall warming trend has brought hotter, drier summers and desertification
02:17and longer, snowier winters of mass animal starvation.
02:21Past generations of Mongolians relied on a stable climate cycle to survive and prosper.
02:27Today, the absence of that stability is upending traditional life for many.
02:40How much longer Mongolia's nomadic herders can continue their traditional way of life is anyone's guess.
02:46But it is certain that these people will be forced to adapt to survive on a changing planet.
02:53Chris Ma and Jonathan Kaplan for Taiwan Plus.