Report.

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Lake Baikal was included in the world heritage list by a UNESCO resolution in 1996. Thereby Russia and Mongolia together with the world community pledged to protect the lake. The lake and the adjacent area inhabited by more than 3 million people have all the necessary resources for the people in the region to be spiritually and materially wealthy. Therefore, a modern high-tech economy needs to be build that would support a high standard of living and environmentally sustainable development of the unique region. Among other measures aimed at achieving that, the local citizens and guests should be provided with reliable and objective information about the state of the environment, economy and social sphere in the region. The present report was written to serve the purpose.

An effective policy in the field of environmental protection and rational use of natural resources within the transboundary basin of Lake Baikal can be securely implemented only if a common information space is established over the two countries. The present report is the first attempt to combine information resources of the Russian Federation and Mongolia for creating a complete socio-natural picture of the great lake’s geosystem.

The report was created upon request and with the assistance from the United Nations Development Programme and Global Environment Facility aimed at facilitating the integrated management of natural resources within Lake Baikal basin for achieving ecosystem resilience and improving water quality within the wider context of sustainable development. With the purpose of creating the report, a Russian-Mongolian team was formed consisting of highly qualified researchers and government officials dealing with the issues of sustainable development of the transboundary area.

The content of the report is based on the Russian and Mongolian official documents published in 2012-2014 – state reports on the state of the environment, strategic reports - as well as fundamental and applied research conducted in the frameworks of the UNDP project «Integrated management of natural resources of the transboundary ecosystem of Lake Baikal»