ULAANBAATAR —The number of musk deer in Mongolia has plummeted by some 83 percent since the 1970s, landing them on the country’s red list of critically endangered species.

A UN-supported biodiversity initiative is helping to stop the deer from disappearing altogether.

The Ensuring Sustainability and Resilience (ENSURE) of Green Landscapes in Mongolia project, integrates biodiversity conservation and sustainable land and forest management, and covers the full range of Mongolia’s diverse ecological zones, from dry deserts, to steppe, boreal forests, and alpine mountain ranges.

This involves sharing best practice measures for the protection and management of globally threatened and iconic fauna, such as the musk deer, including community-based mobile anti-poaching units, and the implementation of stiff penalties for poaching. — UN News