ULAN BATOR, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change announced Thursday that it has banned the harvesting of cedar nuts through the end of the year.
The move followed multiple reports of brown bears entering residential areas after a poor crop left them short of food. At least 17 bear sightings have been reported in residential areas of eastern Mongolia's Khentii province since the beginning of August.
"Cedar nuts are not only a valuable forest resource but also an important source of food for wildlife, including bears and squirrels," the ministry said in a statement, noting that the decision has been made "in light of food shortages among wild animals and the findings of a study on the 2026 cedar nut crop."
Under Mongolian law, illegally harvesting cedar nuts is punishable by a fine ranging from 5.4 million to 27 million Mongolian tugriks (about 1,500 to 7,504 U.S. dollars), or imprisonment for one to five years.
Experts said encounters between bears and livestock, as well as bear sightings in residential areas, have increased in recent years, citing factors including climate change, food shortages in bears' natural habitats, overexploitation of natural resources, and forest fires. ■