Lake Baikal

• Gas and oil pipeline project across the World Heritage property in 2006 (issue resolved)
• Management Systems/Management Plan (lack of adequate management system)
• Legal framework (uncertain legal protection)
• Pollution from paper mill and domestic and industrial wastewater
• Land use and use of natural resources (timber harvesting, construction on the lake shore, sale of land)
• Impacts of tourism/visitor/recreation (large scale tourism development)
• Fire and impacts of climate change (wildfires in the Baikal region in 2015)
• Planned and existing dam infrastructure in the Russian Federation and Mongolia affecting Lake Baikal water regime

N/A

On 31 January 2024, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/754/documents/ and summarized below, responding to Committee Decision 45 COM 7B.24:

• A three-stage scientific study of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of changes in the water level of Lake Baikal was completed in December 2023, with the aim of informing the permanent regulation of the Irkutsk hydropower dam, which is yet to be determined. This would replace the temporary regulation in place since 2016, which increased the water level variation to 2.3 m compared to the 1 m range established in 2001;
• Measures have been taken to ensure the legality of the tourism and other capital construction facilities in the property, under the responsibility of the General Prosecutor's Office and in coordination with the regional authorities;
• The management of the property consists of two main directions: the legislative framework for State environmental monitoring of the Lake Baikal ecosystem and the implementation of this monitoring, which has been strengthened;
• 29 resident companies are operating in the two special economic zones (SEZ) of tourist-recreational type within the property, ‘Baikal Harbour’ and ’Baikal Gateway’, where more than 48 infrastructure facilities have been built or commissioned with government funds;
• Works to eliminate accumulated environmental damage caused by the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM) have continued, with Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) approved for two of the three industrial waste storing sites, while further research is needed to determine solutions for the third site;
• Forest areas affected by fires have decreased since 2015, and fire protection measures have improved;
• The status of wildlife and activities in the specially protected areas located within the property are presented, with the population status of the Baikal omul remaining significantly worse than the long-term average;
• The federal project ‘Preservation of Lake Baikal’ continues to provide significant funding for priority actions to protect the property and to reduce anthropogenic pressure, including through the improvement of wastewater treatment facilities;
• A review of the legal and regulatory framework for the protection of Lake Baikal and the Baikal Natural Area, as well as a table of proposed amendments to the Federal Law ‘On the Protection of Lake Baikal’ (Baikal Law) are annexed to the report.

In a letter from the Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia to the World Heritage Centre dated 30 January 2024, the State Party of Mongolia confirms that it has abandoned the Shuren and Orkhon river hydropower dam projects and intends to proceed only with the Egiin Gol hydropower plant, which will be subject to an EIA developed in accordance with international standards.

The joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property took place from 12 to 16 December 2023 and its report will be available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/754/documents/.

Based on the findings of the 2023 Reactive Monitoring mission, the World Heritage Centre and IUCN conclude that the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property faces significant ascertained and potential threats. The environmental condition of the property is deteriorating, notably due to the long-term degradation of the water quality of Lake Baikal, illustrated by the development of unprecedented algal blooms and bacterial pollution, the presence of polluting chemical substances in the water and increasing plastic pollution, and the decline of certain endemic species that are bio-indicators of the health of the lake. The mission also noted risks to the integrity of the terrestrial part of the property due to fires and forest management practices. The mission concluded that the anthropogenic pressures persist and are increasing due to pollution, land-use pressures and a weakening regulatory regime on lake water levels, posing an increasing threat to the property’s OUV. Climate change could further exacerbate the effects of these threats. Moreover, plans for SEZs and growth in the tourism sector are accelerating without sufficient coordination, assessment of their cumulative impacts on the property’s OUV, and planning for environmental management.

The uncertain and weakened legal protection of the property is a major additional risk, which the Committee has identified as a serious concern that may warrant the inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger (Decision 45 COM 7B.24). New changes, as currently proposed, to the Federal Law ‘On the Protection of Lake Baikal’ do not provide sufficient guarantees for the preservation of the property’s OUV and are therefore not compatible with its protection requirements. The study of legislative changes submitted by the State Party is incomplete, as it does not include details of all legal amendments adopted to date and an assessment of their impact on the property’s OUV, and should therefore be completed. The State Party should not adopt the proposed legal changes to modify the Baikal Law, but should assess their impacts on the property and its OUV prior to approval and their review by the Committee.   

At the same time, the mission observed that the State Party is taking important remedial actions to reverse the environmental deterioration of the property. These positive measures include the endorsement of strategic priorities for the preservation of Lake Baikal and its environmental rehabilitation, for which significant federal and regional funding has been allocated, including to improve monitoring of the property and to strengthen wastewater treatment infrastructure. Work has also commenced to eliminate the accumulated environmental damage of the BPPM, a major undertaking considering the large amount of hazardous industrial waste stored on the lake shore. The mission also reported progress in completing the scientific assessment to study the environmental and socio-economic impacts of changes in the water level of Lake Baikal, which should eventually lead to an updated legal framework for regulating the water level of the lake that is fully compatible with the protection of the property’s OUV. 

The mission therefore recommended to the Committee not to inscribe the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger at its 46th session. However, serious efforts are needed to intensify the remedial actions to halt and reverse the current deteriorating trend of the property’s state of conservation. It is therefore recommended that the Committee endorse the recommendations of the 2023 mission, which provide further guidance on the actions needed, and reiterate the Committee’s previous requests for the development of an Integrated Management Plan for the property, among other outstanding requests. It is recommended that a new joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission be invited to the property in 2026 to assess whether the threats affecting its state of conservation have been sufficiently addressed, whether the degradation of the OUV of the property has been reversed, and whether the property meets the conditions for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger, in accordance with Paragraph 180 of the Operational Guidelines. The mission should be organised in the summer to be able to assess key issues related to tourism development, pollution, land use pressures and management, including forest management.

The mission also observed that the procedures for adopting the Retrospective Statement of OUV for the property and its Retrospective Inventory of boundaries are still pending, and recommended that these outstanding activities be addressed.

The confirmation by the State Party of Mongolia that it has abandoned two of the three hydropower projects located on the Selenge River and its tributaries is noted with satisfaction. It is positive that the State Party of Mongolia commits to develop an updated EIA of the Egiin Gol project in accordance with international standards and the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, which should include an assessment of the potential impacts of the project on the Selenga catchment area and therefore its delta, which is located within the property and is recognised as being a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. While this means that it is no longer necessary to assess the cumulative impacts of the three projects originally planned on the territory of Mongolia, the States Parties of the Russian Federation and Mongolia should continue to cooperate on the sustainable management of the shared Lake Baikal watershed, the majority of which is located in Mongolia.