CONFERENCE RUNS ON PROTECTION OF GOBI BEAR

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia /MONTSAME/ The Conference on Gobi Bear (Ursus arctos gobiensis) is running in the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism. The Ursus arctos gobiensis populates the Gobi desert of Mongolia. At present they are listed as "very rare" in the Mongolian Red Book, and may represent a threatened subspecies, as the small population of Gobi bears makes them vulnerable to outside threats. The 15-20 Gobi Bear live in 3-4 families in national parks such as Tsagaan bogd, the Atas Inges and the Hill of Shar khuls of the Gobi desert in 2.1 million square kilometers. The issue of protection of Gobi Bear, also called the Mazaalai, is on the focus of the policies of nature protection. International organizations and researchers have been participating in researching and protecting the Gobi bear, for example, related organizations have run two international conferences on protection of Gobi bear and been working on implementing their recommendation since 2000. At present, the Office of the President, the Biological institute of Mongolia's Academy of Sciences, the “Gobi Bear” foundation and “Gobi's bear" NGO have been working to protect the Gobi Bear. Ch.Enkhtuya