Decision 31 COM 7B.31

Lake Baikal (Russian Federation)

The World Heritage Committee,

1.       Having examined Document WHC-07/31.COM/7B,

2.       Recalling Decision 30 COM 7B.18, adopted at its 30th session (Vilnius, 2006),

3.       Welcomes the decision to establish the boundaries of the Central Ecological Zone to coincide with the boundaries of the World Heritage property, as well as the establishment of a clear timeline to convert the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill to a closed water cycle;

4.       Urges the State Party to strengthen its efforts on implementing the other recommendations of the 2005 joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission, in particular to:

a)      diminish and control other sources of pollution affecting the property, and

b)      cooperate with the State Party of Mongolia, to include other chemical elements in the 1995 agreement on the water quality of the Selenga river;

5.       Requests the State Party to provide detailed information and expert legal advice to clarify potential conflicts associated with the new amendments to the Federal Law "On Environmental Impact Assessment", as well as those related to the implementation of the Federal Law "On Special Economic Zones in the Russian Federation" and the special Federal Law "On Protection of Lake Baikal", which might lead to reducing the protective status of Lake Baikal;

6.       Further requests the State Party to clarify measures available and being put in place to control the sale of land within the World Heritage property;

7.       Urges the State Party to set up a legal and administrative framework to manage recreation and tourism within the property to ensure adequate funding of the monitoring of the property, including water pollution, and to further develop the current monitoring effort into a comprehensive monitoring system to support the implementation of the management plan;

8.       Also urges the State Party to complete, as soon as possible, the re-establishment of the Baikal Commission and to finalise the implementation of the re-conversion plan for the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill within the proposed timeframe;