Exploring Mongolia with Snow Leopard Champion Bayarjargal Agvaantseren www.goldmanprize.org

This is a guest blog by Program Officer Lindsey Freedman, who shares series of photos from her visit to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, to meet 2019 Prize winner Bayarjargal Agvaantseren. Agvaantseren helped create the 1.8 million-acre Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve in the South Gobi Desert—a critical habitat for the vulnerable snow leopard—then succeeded in persuading the Mongolian government to cancel all mining licenses within the reserve.

As a native Californian, my idea of cold is anything below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. So, when I stepped off the plane on a cold January night in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, I had to check to make sure my eyeballs hadn’t frozen in their sockets. It was minus 34 degrees. It felt like I was inhaling icy daggers instead of oxygen. I’d been obsessively checking the weather before I left on my trip to meet 2019 Prize winner Bayara Agvaantseren, but had ultimately given up trying to anticipate temperature swings and just packed all of my warm gear. All of it. Which meant that I ended up looking like the Michelin man and abandoned any dreams of making it into the pages of fashion magazines.

Despite the cold, being able to finally meet Bayara and spend time with this amazing activist was one of the highlights of my career. I knew from my research that her steely determination had earned her the nickname “The Iron Lady.” Soft-spoken and polite, at first I didn’t quite understand where the nickname had come from. But after visiting the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation’s office and listening to Bayara explain, in incredible detail, their work and the grave threats that Mongolia’s snow leopards are facing, it became immediately clear to me how she earned such a powerful moniker. I was lucky enough to see camera trap footage of snow leopards and was impressed by how the staff of SLCF could identify individual cats based on their spots (they all looked pretty similar to me!). I also learned that a large mural of a snow leopard painted on the wall outside of the office was not commissioned by Bayara, but instead had just…appeared one day.

Getting to the 1.8 million-acre Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve—which Bayara created specifically for snow leopards—in the South Gobi Desert is an arduous, several-day journey by car that unfortunately was impossible to make, due both to weather and time constraints. However, Bayara was an excellent host while I was in Ulaanbaatar, and we had a great time visiting the Genghis Khan museum on the outskirts of the capital. We also rode Bactrian camels, which were surprisingly smooth and not unlike riding atop a big, hairy sofa.

Mongolia is an immense country replete with natural resources, but those same resources are the primary drivers of devastating environmental degradation that directly threatens the snow leopard and its habitat. Bayara’s work to protect the world’s second largest population of snow leopards from extinction is all the more impressive given the challenges she’s facing. It was an honor to spend time with Bayara, and I will definitely return to Mongolia to help SLCF staff set camera traps in the mountains—but, next time, I’m going in the spring.

Mongolia sends samples of processed fuel abroad after six people die www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has sent samples of the processed fuel abroad for further laboratory tests after a total of six people died and dozens of people have been hospitalized here since last week due to allegedly burning processed coal to keep warm, local officials said.

India offers $ 236 mn additional credit to Mongolia for building oil refinery: Pradhan www.thehindubusinessline.com

India has offered an additional $ 236 million credit to Mongolia for setting up a 1.5 million tonne per annum oil refinery in that country.

France to grant loan of EUR 57.9 million www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. In the course of its session, the Budget standing committee discussed a financial agreement draft of the Government of France.

China tightens grip on Ivanhoe’s massive congo copper project www.mining.com

Zijin, one of China’s largest mining groups, is increasing its stake in Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) to 13.88% from 9.8% by acquiring 35.7 million shares from CITIC Metal and 12.9 million shares from founder Robert Friedland for about C$194 million ($146m).

US imposes China visa restrictions over Uighur issue www.bbc.com

The US has said it will impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials accused of involvement in repression of Muslim populations.

It follows the decision on Monday to blacklist 28 Chinese organisations linked by the US to allegations of abuse in the Xinjiang region.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Chinese government had instituted "a highly repressive campaign".

China has dismissed the allegations as groundless.

In a statement, Mr Pompeo accused the Chinese government of a string of abuses against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz Muslims and other minority Muslim groups.

These included "mass detentions in internment camps; pervasive, high-tech surveillance; draconian controls on expressions of cultural and religious identities; and coercion of individuals to return from abroad to an often perilous fate in China".

China has rebuffed the US moves.

"There is no such thing as these so-called 'human rights issues' as claimed by the United States," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday.

"These accusations are nothing more than an excuse for the United States to deliberately interfere in China's internal affairs."

Visa restrictions are to be imposed on Chinese government and Communist Party officials, as well as their family members.

"The United States calls on the People's Republic of China to immediately end its campaign of repression in Xinjiang, release all those arbitrarily detained, and cease efforts to coerce members of Chinese Muslim minority groups residing abroad to return to China to face an uncertain fate," the US statement said.

The US and China are currently embroiled in a trade war, and have sent delegations to Washington for a meeting about the tensions later this week.

China has been carrying out a massive security operation in Xinjiang, in its far west, in recent years.

Human rights groups and the UN say China has rounded up and detained more than a million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in vast detention camps, where they are forced to renounce Islam, speak only in Mandarin Chinese and learn obedience to the communist government.

But China says they are attending "vocational training centres" which are giving them jobs and helping them integrate into Chinese society, in the name of preventing terrorism.

There have been increasingly vocal denunciations from the US and other countries about China's actions in Xinjiang.

Last week, Mr Pompeo alleged that China "demands its citizens worship government, not God" in a press conference in the Vatican.

And in July more than 20 countries at the UN Human Rights Council signed a joint letter criticising China's treatment of the Uighurs and other Muslims.

Who are the Uighurs?
Uighurs are ethnically Turkic Muslims. They make up about 45% of the Xinjiang region's population; 40% are Han Chinese.

China re-established control in 1949 after crushing short-lived state of East Turkestan.

Why is there tension between China and the Uighurs?
Since then, there has been large-scale immigration of Han Chinese and Uighurs fear erosion of their culture.

Xinjiang is officially designated an autonomous region within China, like Tibet to its south.

Chinese tourists spend $128bn overseas, splashing more cash in Belt & Road countries www.rt.com

A new report by the China State Administration of Foreign Exchange shows that the country’s tourists spent $127.5 billion overseas in the first half of 2019. China has held the top position in the global tourism market since 2012.
According to the report, the lion’s share of Chinese tourists’ money was spent in Asia, with 54 percent of the total. The Americas ranked second, accounting for 24 percent, followed by Europe with 13 percent.

Dharmendra Pradhan on three-day visit to Mongolia www.newsonair.com

Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will pay a three-day visit to Mongolia beginning today. The Minister will participate in the opening ceremony of infrastructure that Mongolia has already constructed for the Indian funded, Mongol Refinery project. The Mongol Refinery project is being developed under a line of credit of 1.236 billion US dollars extended by India during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Mongolia in 2015 and subsequently enhanced during the State visit of the President of Mongolia to India last month.

Launching of the Fact-Finding Mission Report on the Impacts of Mining on Human Rights Defenders, Environment and Local Communities in Khentii and Dornod Provinces, Mongolia www.forum-asia.org

Since mid-2000s, the mining sector has been driving Mongolia’s exports, leading the country to be one of the fastest growing economies over the past decade. However, while in recent years the economic growth is also slowing down, the increased number of mining operations profoundly affects Mongolia’s economic policies, social dynamics and environment.

Coal ban: ‘Safe’ briquettes kill four in UB www.news.mn

Four people have died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar and 35 have been hospitalized after burning the smokeless briquettes which have been introduced as the official alternative to coal. The deaths occurred between 3 and 5 October. According to Health Ministry, 16 people were discharged from the hospital; six people are getting better but one is still in intensive care.