Decision 45 COM 7B.24

Lake Baikal (Russian Federation) (N 754)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7B.97 and 44 COM 7B.107 adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) sessions respectively,
3. Urges again the State Party to refrain from renewing legislative amendments which allow extending the water level variation beyond one metre due to potential negative impact on the property and its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), until the impacts of all existing water use and management regulations on the OUV are fully assessed and the requirements for its protection are set, and reiterates its request to the State Party to submit the ongoing impact study, which should be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN;
4. Notes with utmost concern the numerous proposed and approved legal amendments, including those that would weaken the requirements for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and standards for allowable impacts on the Lake Baikal ecosystem along with levels of pollutants, and which would relax permissible activities, and recalls that it considers that the scale of the weakening of the regulatory provisions, at a time when the property’s ecological conditions continue to deteriorate, is such that, if all the proposed changes proceed, the property would face potential danger in line with Paragraph 180(b) i) and iv) of the Operational Guidelines;
5. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, no later than end of 2023, the overdue study to analyse and review the impact of legislative changes on the property, and use the findings of the study to strengthen the Law on the Protection of Lake Baikal, and again urges the State Party not to approve any changes that weaken the protection regime of the property;
6. Welcomes the reported significant federal funding for research, conservation and sustainable development of the property as well as the measures to identify and demolish illegal buildings, prevent further illegal construction and improve waste and tourism management, and encourages the State Party to continue these efforts to strengthen the protection of the property;
7. Also reiterates its request to the State Party to develop an Integrated Management Plan involving all Government entities and other stakeholders involved in the property, with a detailed land-use plan for the property, including management objectives, an implementation strategy and a monitoring plan with clear performance and environmental indicators;
8. Also requests the State Party to provide a complete list and details of all existing and planned development projects within Special Economic Zones (SEZs), within the property and its wider setting, and to ensure they are subject to rigorous EIAs in accordance with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, and to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the potential cumulative impacts of such multiple projects on the OUV of the property, including within the SEZs;
9. Urges the State Party to submit the EIA for the remediation of the former Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill (BPPM), along with the Master Plan for Baikalsk Municipality and the concept for the development of the former territory of BPPM to the World Heritage Centre, suspending implementation until the mission has provided recommendations to the State Party with regards to the project;
10. Also welcomes the reported improvements over the past five years in fire management and encourages the State Party to increase the efficacy and efficiency of such measures, accounting for the future impacts of climate change, and furthermore to expedite the proposed assessments of the impact of fires on forest and lake ecosystems;
11. Requests furthermore the State Party of Mongolia to clarify the status of the Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) process and to undertake this assessment as a matter of priority and requests moreover the States Parties of Mongolia and the Russian Federation to jointly develop, based on the findings of the REA, an assessment of the cumulative impacts of all existing and planned hydropower and water management projects on the OUV of the property, prior to approving any further individual projects and to guide the subsequent elaboration of EIAs for all such projects;
12. Takes note of the State Party’s proposal to organize the postponed joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property after 25 November 2023, with the objective of reviewing the threat posed to the property by various legislative changes, the existing and proposed developments in the SEZs and the property, and the remediation plans for the former BPPM, as well as assessing the conditions of the property which may warrant its inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger, and requests the State Party to ensure that the mission programme includes an opportunity for meetings with the States Parties of the Russian Federation and Mongolia to allow the mission team to assess the full range of transboundary issues potentially affecting the hydrological and ecological conditions of the property;
13. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2024, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session, considering that the urgent conservation needs of this property require a broad mobilization to preserve its Outstanding Universal Value, including the possible inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.