Nutsgee and Ulziikhishig, Khovd Province, 2018
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KHOVD PROVINCE, MONGOLIA, June 12, 2018. Ulziikhishig and her daughter Nutsgee clean meat on the steppe. A younger child stands behind them. Livestock rearing accounts for roughly 80 percent of Mongolia's agricultural output and 10 percent of its GDP. For herding families in the western provinces, the animal is the economy. It is currency, calories, and craft material. Nearly a third of Mongolia's population still depends directly on it. The land beneath them has warmed more than two degrees Celsius since 1940. Seventy-seven percent of Mongolia's pastureland is now degraded. Sources: UNDP Mongolia; World Bank; National Statistical Office of Mongolia.