ABSTRACT
In 1778, a hundred years before Yellowstone National Park was established in the United States, the Emperor of Manchur passed the necessary resolutions to protect the sacred values of Bogd Khan mountain in Mongolia. This sacred natural site has, along with the other 15 sacred mountains in the country, been protected and revered for centuries. Ruins of the old Manzushiry monastery, dating from around 1750 and destroyed in the 1930s, are found in the south side of the protected area and monks have now rebuilt part of it to enable the spiritual traditions of the place to continue. Offerings to the mountain take place twice yearly. The Bogd Khan Uul ‘strictly protected area’ was established in 1995 and, in recognition of its ecological importance, it became a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1997. These recent international conservation designations only continue an age-old tradition to protect the sacred elements of the landscape. Although this sacred natural site predates the first ‘modern’ protected area by a century, there are examples of other such sites receiving formal protection well before this. The sacred sites (haraam) around Mecca and Medina were formally established by the Prophet Muhammad during the 7th century with clear protection rules for all plants and animals included in them (O'Brien and Palmer, 2007).
