Scientific Support for Policy Making to Protect Lake Baikal and Develop Baikal’s Natural Territory

Abstract

In Russia, along with many other countries, the state and international institutions have established regions of outstanding universal value, which are World Heritage Sites. They are regulated based on the World Heritage Convention, e.g., Lake Baikal, the Volcanoes of Kamchatka, and the Golden Mountains of Altai. These special regions require long-term legal, institutional, and economic instruments to achieve their purpose. Among the most complex objectives is to improve the functioning of the instruments for the protection and conservation of unique natural complexes as a core life-sustaining condition of the country and the world. In December 1996 Lake Baikal was recognized as a World Heritage Site as approved at the session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Since then, the Russian Federation bears a legal, economic, and moral obligation in front of the world community to preserve the value of the lake. The existing Federal Law On Protecting Lake Baikal is the only Russian Federal law adopted with respect to a specific natural site.