ABSTRACT
In 2007, Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, a young Mongolian herder turned environmental activist, was awarded the prestigious and fi nancially lucrative international Goldman Environmental Prize. 1 The Goldman website lauds its award recipients as nothing less than ‘grassroots environmental heroes . . . [engaged in] sustained and signifi cant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk’. Munkhbayer’s ‘Green Nobel’ was conferred for his work in resistance to mining-induced environmental degradation, promotion of citizen engagement and facilitation of state accountability, initially through the Onggi River Movement (ORM) and subsequently through the Mongolian Nature Protection Coalition (MNPC).
