The National Forum on Snow Leopard Conservation convened in Ulaanbaatar on September 5, 2025, serving as a critical platform for inter-organizational and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Co-organized by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Mongolia Program, and the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation (SLCF), this forum highlighted the Ministry’s approval of the Rare Species Protection National Action Plan, which includes snow leopards, in May 2025 and brought partners together to discuss how to collaborate on its implementation.
Participants of the National Snow Leopard Forum, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on September 5, 2025.
The forum brought together over 130 stakeholders, including government representatives, scientists, conservationists, and local community members. Snow leopard experts from ten other range countries joined the discussions — meaning 11 of the 12 snow leopard range countries were represented — creating a valuable opportunity for international exchange and for visiting experts to learn from Mongolia’s progress. The forum's theme, "Addressing Emerging Threats and Opportunities," underscored a shared vision for the future of these big cats.
A Critical Moment for Mongolia's Snow Leopards
Mongolia is a global stronghold for the snow leopard, supporting an estimated 806 to 1,127 adult individuals (2021), hosting the world's second-largest population, after China. They range from the Gobi Desert to the Altai Mountains, including peripheral habitats that form critical corridors connecting populations in Russia and China. This makes the country's conservation efforts critically important for the species' long-term survival. The forum provided an essential platform to review the status of the species and discuss strategies for integrating these findings into key national and international strategies.
MECC officials Uranchimeg, Ts. and Baljinnyam, T. speaking at the Forum.
Presenters shared encouraging findings from Mongolia’s 2021 published nationwide population assessment, which revealed that the population appears largely connected across its range. However, they warned that this connectivity is at risk. Expanding infrastructure (roads, railways, mining and changing land use) could fragment habitats and isolate populations, a particularly urgent concern given the species’ naturally low genetic diversity.
Speakers also reflected that while Mongolia’s protected area network is vital, it covers only part of the snow leopard’s range. Many individuals live outside these areas (with estimated 80 percent of its home range situated outside of protected areas), underscoring the need to work closely with pastoralists, community groups, and local governments to keep habitats linked and secure corridors.
WCS Big Cat Director Dr. Luke Hunter speaking at the Forum.
International experts, including WCS’s Global Big Cat Director Luke Hunter, emphasized during his presentation that recovering big cat populations after major declines (as seen with tigers) requires enormous investment. Mongolia now has the opportunity to act early, stabilizing snow leopard populations and maintaining connectivity before declines become more severe, a far more cost-effective approach than large-scale recovery efforts later.
Collaboration and Innovation: The Path Forward
The forum featured breakout sessions where participants worked together to find solutions to three pressing challenges: improving coordination of national monitoring and research, managing unregulated tourism while supporting local livelihoods, and mitigating the impacts of roads and railways on wildlife corridors.
International experts share views during Breakout Group discussion on National Coordination of Snow Leopard Research and Conservation.
These group discussions produced concrete recommendations, from strengthening a unified national monitoring system to identifying priority corridors for protection and developing practical measures to reduce tourism-related disturbance. The outcomes will feed directly into the next annual review of Mongolia’s Snow Leopard Action Plan, ensuring that new threats are addressed with science-based and collaborative solutions.
Building a National Conservation Network
The forum concluded with a major achievement: an agreement to establish a National Snow Leopard Network in Mongolia. Supported by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, this network will serve as a central hub for collating and coordinating conservation activities and research, working towards ensuring that future conservation actions and policy development are based on the best available scientific information.
WCS Mongolia Senior Scientist Dr. Buuveibaatar, B. speaking about setting up a Snow Leopard Network in Mongolia to coordinate research and conservation at the national level.
Participating NGOs formally expressed their endorsement to support this initiative, and WCS together with SLCF agreed to follow up and begin outlining the network’s bylaws and structure to make it a reality. Mongolia has not previously had a formalized network for snow leopard conservation. While collaboration between organizations has been growing, the number of stakeholders involved is increasing, and the threats to snow leopards are becoming more complex and intensifying. Establishing a coordinated network will help align efforts, share data, and respond more effectively to emerging challenges. Hands went up across the room, a visible sign of collective commitment to launch Mongolia’s first national snow leopard network.
SLCF Conservation Director Dr. Tserennadmid, M. shares with participants the results of the Forum and the next steps.
“With climate change adding new and unpredictable pressures, a national network will be critical to help Mongolia respond quickly and effectively to protect snow leopards into the future.” emphasized WCS Mongolia Senior Scientist Dr. Buuveibaatar Bayarbaatar.
Expanding the Global and Regional Impact
Following the Forum, WCS Mongolia hosted two major scientific workshops at Khustai National Park: the updated IUCN Red List assessment and the first IUCN Green Status of Species assessment for snow leopards. Over two days, experts from 11 range countries worked with the IUCN Cat Specialist Group to reassess the species’ extinction risk at the global level, using the latest population, threat, and distribution data.
A snow leopard photo captured on a camera trap set up by WCS Mongolia in Southern Gobi to monitor their population.
The Green Status assessment—developed to measure recovery progress and conservation impact—evaluated how far snow leopard populations are from full recovery, the contribution of past conservation efforts, and the potential benefits of future actions. This ongoing work will provide a benchmark for snow leopard conservation globally, with updated results expected in 2026.
Thank you to all our national and international partners for their continued support of our snow leopard work. We are especially grateful to the Trust for Mutual Understanding (TMU), Cartier for Nature, and SLCF for supporting these important events, and to our other donors whose contributions make this work possible.
Stay tuned for more updates on our snow leopard monitoring and conservation work in Mongolia here.