Mongolia's zud
蒙古今冬的雪灾
Bitter toll
苦涩
As millions of animals die by famine, some herders long for the bad old days
数百万牲畜因饥饿而死亡，一些牧民向往苏维埃时代
Mar 31st 2010 | BEIJING | From The Economist print edition
A long, cold, lonely winter
一个漫长、寒冷而孤寂的冬天
IN A country where livestock outnumber people by an order of 16 to one, animal welfare is no all matter. In Mongolia this year the animals are not faring well at all, and the 2.8m human inhabitants are feeling their pain. Hundreds of thousands of Mongolians depend directly upon animals for their own livelihood.
在一个人畜比为1：16的国度，牲畜的生活条件如何绝不是件小事。今年，蒙古国的牲畜们过的很不好，280万蒙古人与牲畜们感同身受，同样备受煎熬。成千上万的蒙古人以这些牲畜为唯一生活来源。
The immediate cause of everyone’s distress is an untoward sequence of weather events. A bone-dry summer last year was followed by a winter of unusually high wind, low temperatures and heavy snow cover. This combination has meant the country’s yaks, cattle, horses, camels, goats and sheep have gone long months without grazing adequately. The dreaded zud, as Mongolians call this phenomenon, is nothing new. In recent memory it struck three years in a row, starting in 2000—but the damage from this year’s zud is proving to be the worst in decades.
给所有人都带来痛苦的直接原因是一系列恼人的气候现象。去年夏天极度干旱后紧跟着的是一个狂风施虐、温度极低和大雪覆盖的冬季。这种气象条件就意味着该国的牛、马、骆驼、牦牛、山羊和绵羊在冬季漫长的几个月内都在忍饥挨饿。蒙古人称这种可怕的自然现象为zud（雪灾），它并非今冬独有。留在人们记忆中最近的印象是从2000年开始连续出现了3年的雪灾，但今年大雪造成的灾害是近几十年来最严重的一次。
Experts warn that the next four to six weeks will see more cold weather and devastated herds, as ever greater numbers of frozen, emaciated animal carcasses dot the vast Mongolian countryside. The United Nations reckons that this year’s zud has robbed 120,000 Mongolian herders of at least half their livestock and that as many as 500,000 herders have been affected. UN agencies have allocated $3.7m in emergency assistance to help remove animal carcasses, replace herders’ lost income and bring them health services.
瘦骨嶙峋的牲畜尸体被弃于冰雪之中的景象在辽阔的蒙古乡野随处可见，数量之多前所未有。而专家们警告说，未来4至6星期内将会出现温度更低的天气，这将对畜牧业造成致命的打击。据联合国估计，今冬的雪灾使12万蒙古牧民损失了至少一半的牲畜，有多达50万的牧民受到灾害的影响。联合国的相关机构已拨出370万美元的紧急救援款，以帮助清除牲畜尸体，对牧民提供救济，提供医疗服务。
According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 19 of Mongolia’s 21 provinces have been afflicted and 4.5m animals—about one-tenth of the total livestock population—have perished in the past three months. The IFRC has launched an emergency appeal to provide food and other supplies, including medical treatment for conditions from frostbite to depression.
据国际红十字会与红新月会（IFRC）的统计，在过去3个月内蒙古21个省中19个省受了灾，死亡的牲畜达450万头，约占牲畜总数的十分之一。国际红十字会与红新月会紧急呼吁提供食物和其它救灾用品的援助，包括提供治疗冻伤和抑郁症的医疗手段。
The disaster is also descending on the nation’s cities and towns, which already suffer from poverty, poor services and high rates of unemployment. Now it seems they must accommodate an influx of tens of thousands of rural migrants who have lost their herds.
灾难同样也降临到该国的大小城镇，这里的人们已经饱受贫穷、市政设施破败和高失业率的折磨。现在，他们还必须接纳新涌入的数以万计失去了牲畜的牧民。
Drought, cold and snow are the proximate causes of this season’s widespread misery. But weather alone is not to blame for its severity. In the 20 years since Communist rule in Mongolia ended, herding practices have changed drastically. Privatisation meant the diantling of large collectives, and herders now find themselves missing some of the underappreciated benefits of scale—not to mention, in many cases, access to technical and management expertise of the kind that helped sustain operations through harsh winters.
干旱、寒冷和大雪是造成目前普遍感受苦难的最直接原因。但造成目前如此严重的灾难性局面的原因并非仅仅是天气。自共产党在蒙古的统治结束后20年来，畜牧业的经营方式有了巨大的变化。私有化也就意味着拆散集体所有的大规模畜群，牧民们现在发现由此失去了规模经营所带来的一些优越性，人们过去对这些优越性不以为然。失去的还有过去经常可以得到的专业性技术指导和管理知识，在严酷的冬季到来时，这些技术和管理知识有助于维持畜群的生存。
According to Save the Children, another relief agency active in Mongolia, many distressed herders are advocating a return to the Soviet-style system. But even that would not set things right. The old system depended heavily on the Soviet army’s role as a reliable buyer of Mongolian animal products—as well as on direct subsidies ordered by the Politburo. Whatever the zud may bring in years to come, those days are gone for good.
“救助儿童会”是活跃在蒙古的另外一家救援机构，据该会称，许多哀伤的牧民都主张重新建立苏维埃式的畜牧业体制。但即使这样，问题依然无法解决。旧的体制在很大程度上依赖于苏联军队作为蒙古畜产品的可靠买主，以及共产党政治局下令发放的直接补贴。无论今冬的这场雪灾可能给未来几年带来什么样的变化，那些日子已经一去不复返了。
