Buryatia and Irkutsk Region, Russia

March 2007

Start of the project "Integration of Youths into a Sustainable Development and Conservation of the Heritage in the Barguzin River Valley in the Baikal Region"

Lake Baikal is located in the south of Siberia, near the Russian- Mongolian border.

The species diversity in Lake Baikal is the highest among all the world's lakes. About 2,500 different species of animals and 1,000 plants are recorded. In the Siberian taiga, in the pinewoods and lark woods you can find bears, wolves, lynxes and elks. The Baikal seal is a unique kind of seal living exclusively in fresh water. There are also other endemic species - an example is the Golomyanka, a scaleless transparent fish possessing no swim bladder.

Our partner is the nature protection association "Firn" and the Baikal Information Center GRAN in Ulan-Ude. Water pollution is the most urgent problem our partners are dealing with. The wastewater from a paper plant built in Baikalsk on the south shore of the lake in the 1960s is considered the major source to pollution in the lake. Another major contributor to pollution is untreated industrial wastewater carried to the lake.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to economic crisis and the people living near Lake Baikal, in their struggle of life, understandingly (but unsustainably) put aside the protection of nature and environment in favour of creating jobs. Over-fishing and uncontrolled hunting (e.g. hunting of seals) threaten the unique fauna of the region as well.

Other problems, our partners are focusing on, are the dissemination of ecological information and environmental education in the Baikal region.