Traditional Altaians create their own mountain parks to rein in tourism and protect sacred sites. Outside their parks, they resist new threats from an oil pipeline. If built, it will pass through pristine World Heritage Sites.

Altai, Republic of Russia

Traditional Altaians create their own mountain parks to rein in tourism and protect sacred sites. Outside their parks, they resist new threats from an oil pipeline. If built, it will pass through pristine World Heritage Sites.

"Sacred lands should be constantly interacting with humans," explains Danil Mamyev, founder of Altai’s first nature parks.

"We shouldn’t think the earth hears and understands us everywhere. She only hears us through sacred lands."

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In the face of great challenges, these organizations are working hard to make a difference.

Altai, Republic of Russia

The Altai Project protects nature in Altai by assisting their partners’ efforts to strengthen conservation measures, manage tourism effectively and create strategies for ongoing protection of sensitive areas.

The Foundation for Sustainable Development of Altai focuses on environmental and cultural preservation and sustainable socioeconomic development in the Altai region.

The Fund for 21st Century Altai is a nongovernmental organization whose many years of work involve a wide spectrum of ecological, social, cultural and scientific issues. Their work focuses on Greater Altai (including territory in Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China), but with attention to its close interconnectedness with national and global problems.

Pacific Environment protects the living environment of the Pacific Rim. It has partnered with local and indigenous communities in Russia, China, California and the Alaskan Arctic for more than two decades. Its staff believes that long-term environmental and social progress originates from strengthening local communities and grassroots movements, complemented with sophisticated policy advocacy at international finance and governance institutions.

Panthera's mission is to ensure the future of wild cats through scientific leadership and global conservation action.

The Siberian Environmental Center studies and works to protect wildlife and the environment in the Novosibirsk region, the Altaisk region and the Republic of Altai and other areas of Southern Siberia and Eastern Kazakhstan.

The Snow Leopard Conservancy advances community-based stewardship of these endangered big cats through grassroots conservation initiatives, range-country environmental education, training of herders in wildlife monitoring and collaborative research blending traditional knowledge and modern science.

The Snow Leopard Network is a worldwide organization dedicated to facilitating the exchange of information between individuals around the world for the purpose of snow leopard conservation. Our membership includes leading snow leopard experts in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

The Worldwide Indigenous Science Network revitalizes and explores the growth and exchange of traditional wisdom of Earth-honoring peoples to transform consciousness and potentiate a world vibrant with renewal.

Stretching across Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China, the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion is one of the last remaining untouched areas of the world. The Protected Areas for a Living Planet project (PA4LP) is making sure that it stays this way.