An international workshop on the study and conservation of the transboundary snow leopard population will be held in august

The Interregional Association will sponsor a conference of conservationists from neighboring countries—Russia and Mongolia—to exchange experiences and formulate collaborative strategies for the conservation of the irbis, a species that exhibits transboundary movements across the Russian and Mongolian borders.The participants of the field workshop in Mongolia will include employees of the Tunkinsky National Park (Russia), as well as the Khubsugul National Park and the Ulaan Taiga Nature Reserve (Mongolia).

The event will also feature the participation of experts from the public organization "Siberia" (Irkutsk), who have dedicated years of research to the study of irbis in the Eastern Sayan. They will serve as subject matter experts, contributing to the event’s success.

In the preceding year, Tunkinsky and Khubsugul National Parks reached an accord to collaborate and convened to deliberate on strategies for the joint documentation of irbis. Presently, it is imperative for the personnel of the conservation organization of Buryatia to acquire knowledge regarding the behaviors of irbis in Mongolia, to master the utilization of camera traps in the border region, and to disseminate their expertise to their counterparts in the neighboring nation.

The grouping of irbis at the junction of Russia and Mongolia in the Buryatia region is particularly noteworthy. In other groupings of the species in our country, it is Mongolian irbises that enrich the gene pool of snow leopards. In contrast, in Buryatia, snow leopards of Russia strengthen the grouping of Mongolian irbises.

The Interregional Association "Irbis" has repeatedly underscored the imperative for experts from both Russia and Mongolia to collaborate in their respective countries, where rare snow leopards inhabit. This collaborative effort is crucial for preserving the spotted predators that do not respect national borders and migrate freely between countries, reproducing without the need for visas or passports. The implementation of common strategies, the exchange of data, and the observation of the same individuals will facilitate the efficient allocation of resources and the strengthening of species protection measures.