Liliya Levaya, 22, of Minsk, Belarus is one of the 89 candidates of Miss Earth 2022. It is the 22nd edition of the international beauty pageant that advocates for environmental awareness, conservation and social responsibility.

Miss Earth 2022

Representing the Philippines, Baguio City’s Roxanne Baeyens, 25, is Miss Earth-Water 2020. She was second runner-up to Miss Earth 2020 Lindsey Coffey, 30, of the United States, who was crowned in a virtual ceremony on November 29, 2020.

On November 21, 2021, Coffey’s successor Miss Earth 2021 Destiny Wagner, 26, of Belize was also crowned virtually. On November 29, 2022, Wagner will crown her successor at the Okada Manila in Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines.

The theme of Miss Earth 2022 is ME Loves Fauna. The 89 candidates are asked to choose an animal native to their respective countries, which will be part of their journey to the crown.

Liliya Levaya

Levaya is an international model and a resin art expert visual artist currently based in Qatar. Representing Belarus, she won the gold star at the Global Fest Eurasia Stars 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey.

If Levaya makes it to the Top 4 of Miss Earth 2022, she will be the international beauty pageant’s second winner from Belarus. The European country’s Alisa Manenok is Miss Earth-Fire 2019.

In Qatar, Levaya opened her own art studio while modeling. She chose to represent the Arabian oryx at Miss Earth 2022.

Arabian oryx

Also called the white oryx, the Arabian oryx is  native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. This medium-sized antelope was classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List in 1986.

The endangered species in Qatar include the Arabian oryx. In 2011, it became the first animal to revert to vulnerable status after previously being listed as extinct in the wild.