Bayarjargal (Bayara) Agvaantseren (born 1969) is a Mongolian conservationist who has campaigned to save the habitat of the

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

in an area of the South Gobi Desert which has become a major mining hub. Thanks to her successful efforts to create the 8163-km² Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve and to have the authorities cancel 37 mining licences, in 2019 she was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists. History Awardees are named from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, an ...

Biography

Born on 11 January 1969 in Rashaant,

Khövsgöl Province Khövsgöl () is the northernmost of the 21 Aimags of Mongolia, aimags (provinces) of Mongolia. The name is derived from Lake Khövsgöl. Geography and history The round-topped Tarvagatai (Khangai), Tarvagatai, Bulnain and Erchim sub-ranges of th ...

, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren worked from the early 1990s as a language teacher and translator, specializing in English and Russian. In 1997, interested in the local environment, she spent the summer translating a research study for the Snow Leopard Trust. From 1997, she devoted her career to saving snow leopards and helping to sustain rural families. In 1997, she was appointed a programme manager for Snow Leopard Enterprises, a post she held until 2007 when she joined the Snow Leopard Trust as Mongolia Programme Director. Aware of the difficulties faced by local herdsmen and their families, that year she founded the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation, a NGO designed to help rural women create and sell their valuable handicrafts while creating awareness of the need for

conservation. In 2009, realizing that her efforts towards conservation in the Tost region were threatened by mining interests, she began to focus her attention on political initiatives, mobilizing the local community to campaign for the protection of the landscape and its snow leopards. Her efforts continued year after year, finally leading the Mongolian parliament to designate the Tost Mountains a State Protected Area in 2016, as 80% of its deputies voting in favour of the proposal. Now known as the Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve, all the mining licences in the area have since been cancelled. Thanks to her efforts to protect the Tost habitat of the snow leopard and the lives of the local families, in April 2019 she was one of six environmentalists from around the world who received the Goldman Environmental Prize. Her recent work focuses on slow leopard depredation. “We wanted to work with the herders, to bring them around by addressing the economic losses they suffered from the leopards,” said Agvaantseren in
2019 interview

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Agvaantseren, Bayara 1969 births Living people People from Khövsgöl Province Mongolian conservationists Mongolian women business executives Mongolian translators Mongolian women environmentalists Goldman Environmental Prize awardees