Satellite-based system to monitor droughts/dzuds handed over to Mongolia

Oyundelger 2018-10-03 07:10

Agriculture

“DroughtWatch-Mongolia” has been officially handed over to Mongolia by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth.

A monitoring system known as “DroughtWatch-Mongolia” has been officially handed over to Mongolia by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dzud is an unseen and brutal natural disaster unique to Mongolia where a summer drought combines with a harsh winter and vast numbers of livestock die from either starvation or cold. DroughtWatch-Mongolia is a system based on satellite data which aims to provide real-time drought monitoring for disaster prevention and mitigation departments in Mongolia. As result, the DroughtWatch system, which utilizes satellite data, was installed and operationalized in the country with drought indicators tailored to Mongolia’s unique climate and landscape. Thus, Mongolia’s capacity to monitor and predict droughts and its unique natural disaster, dzud, has been enhanced. As explained by a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific official, “Signs of drought can be observed from space long before they are visible to the human eye. Advances in space technology allow us to monitor the condition of crops or the availability of water, from satellite images, and sharing this information through regional cooperation will save lives and protect livelihoods.” Following a request by Mongolia to United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific to pilot its Regional Drought Mechanism, a project entitled, “Strengthening Mongolia's capacity to monitor and warn drought/dzud” was initiated in 2013. The 2010 dzud killed more than 7.5 million animals, over 17 percent of the total livestock.