Sixty-four communities in the Altai Republic hosted Land of the Snow Leopard festival, with over 50 events and workshops taking place.

The festival aims to raise public awareness of the need to preserve rare snow leopard subspecies. “The Altai Republic is, indeed the land of the snow leopard, and it is home to Russia’s largest snow leopard species. It is the responsibility of the state agencies, nature conservation organisations and local population to preserve it for the future. The children of our republic have performed a great deal in this respect,” said Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Property Relations Alexander Alisov.

This year’s festival involved over 100 children who submitted their work to the contest in the following five categories: Best Drawing, Best Souvenir, Greetings Card, Fairy Tale and Environmental Code of Planet Earth’s Inhabitants. Over 50 participants in three age categories received certificates.

The Kosh-Agach District once again scored most points among local municipal entities and received the festival’s challenge cup.

Land of the Snow Leopard is a joint project of Saylyugem National Park, together with the Altaisky and and Katunsky reserves.