Bayarjargal Agvaantseren

Bayarjargal (Bayara) Agvaantseren (born 1969) is a Mongolian conservationist who has campaigned to save the habitat of the snow leopard 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[1] and to have the authorities cancel 37 mining licences, in 2019 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize.

[2][3][4] Born on 11 January 1969 in Rashaant, Khövsgöl Province, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren worked from the early 1990s as a language teacher and translator, specializing in English and Russian.

[5] 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.

[5] 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.