Resource information
This study reports on in-depth case
studies of dzud (extreme cold weather during winter,
subsequent to a very dry summer) impacts and responses.
Focus groups, key informant interviews, a household survey,
and photovoice, were used to document individual and
community experiences with dzud, and identify the factors
that make some households and communities more vulnerable,
and some less vulnerable, to the impacts of dzud, and the
strategies that were most effective in responding to dzud.
It was found that dzud is a complex, social-ecological
phenomenon, and vulnerability to dzud is a function of
interacting physical, biological, socio-economic, and
institutional factors. Vulnerability is affected by both
local and cross-scale factors. Actions that are adaptive
and reduce vulnerability for one group at one spatial or
temporal scale, may be mal-adaptive and increase
vulnerability for another group, or at a different scale.
Communities that are well prepared for dzud at the household
level may suffer disproportionate losses if exposure is
increased by in-migrating livestock from other areas. The
lessons of dzud for actors at all levels of social
organization, point to the need for increased responsibility
and leadership by individual actors, be they households,
herder groups, or local governments, as well as the critical
importance to all actors (including donor and aid
organizations) of reaching out, communicating and
cooperating with others within and across sectors and scales.
