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Herders and hazards: covariate dzud risk and the cost of risk management strategies in a Mongolian subdistrict

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  • Ariell Ahearn

    (Oxford University)

Abstract

Studies of mobile pastoralist livelihoods have shown that a variety of socio-technical practices have been developed to achieve reliable outputs from livestock in variable arid and semi-arid environments. This paper builds upon the concept of pastoralists as high-reliability seekers rather than risk-averse and makes a case for understanding Mongolian herders as well adapted to livestock production in highly variable climatic conditions within a certain threshold of risk and uncertainty. This system fails, however, during instances of high uncertainty and covariate risk such as in cases of the natural hazard dzud, which requires individual households to make significant cash investments in risk management. It forwards the idea that investing in local government—soum and bag level—administrative capacity and infrastructure is needed to build system resilience to covariate risk. Based on ethnographic research in rural Bayankhongor, this paper interrogates how dzud interfaces with socio-economic factors amongst pastoralists in central west Mongolia.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariell Ahearn, 2018. "Herders and hazards: covariate dzud risk and the cost of risk management strategies in a Mongolian subdistrict," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 92(1), pages 165-181, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:92:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s11069-017-3128-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-017-3128-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fernández-Giménez, María E. & Batkhishig, Baival & Batbuyan, Batjav & Ulambayar, Tungalag, 2015. "Lessons from the Dzud: Community-Based Rangeland Management Increases the Adaptive Capacity of Mongolian Herders to Winter Disasters," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 48-65.
    2. Charlotte Benson, 2011. "Dzud Disaster Financing and Response in Mongolia," World Bank Publications - Reports 13065, The World Bank Group.
    3. Nixson, Frederick & Walters, Bernard, 2006. "Privatization, Income Distribution, and Poverty: The Mongolian Experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1557-1579, September.
    4. David Sneath, 2003. "Land use, the environment and development in post-socialist Mongolia," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 441-459.
    5. Saverio Kr&aauml;tli & Nikolaus Schareika, 2010. "Living Off Uncertainty: The Intelligent Animal Production of Dryland Pastoralists," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 22(5), pages 605-622, December.
    6. Mahul, Olivier & Skees, Jerry, 2007. "Managing agricultural risk at the country level : the case of index-based livestock insurance in Mongolia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4325, The World Bank.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Andrew R. Tilman & Elisabeth H. Krueger & Lisa C. McManus & James R. Watson, 2023. "Maintaining human wellbeing as socio-environmental systems undergo regime shifts," Papers 2309.04578, arXiv.org.
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    5. Narmandakh, Davaatseren & Sakurai, Takeshi, 2022. "Impact of Rangeland Degradation on Farm Performance and Household Welfare in the Case of Mongolia," Japanese Journal of Agricultural Economics (formerly Japanese Journal of Rural Economics), Agricultural Economics Society of Japan (AESJ), vol. 24.

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