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June 30, 2010. Paris.
Greenpeace and WWF call on UNESCO to help protect Lake
Baikal.
At the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris Coalition of Russian NGOs
"For Baikal!" has handed in an Appeal singed by over 125,000 people
from all over the world to protect Lake Baikal in Siberia.
LAKE BAIKAL IS NO SMALL CHANGE TO THROW AWAY
The Russian Government maintaining its close ties with oligarchs
is again treating the unique lake of Baikal like some small change.
Putin's decision to re-start the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill
obstructs the environment-safe economic development of the town of
Baikalsk and the whole Baikal region. The governmental decree,
Prime Minister Putin signed on 13 January 2010, permitted the mill
to discharge its wastewater into the cleanest lake on the face of
the Earth, which is a violation of both Russian laws and an
indicator of Russia's unwillingness to deliver on its international
obligations to keep intact Lake Baikal - a priceless heritage of
the whole humankind protected by UNESCO. This international body
must address the Russian Government with a demand to stop pollution
of Lake Baikal. In the past, our joint efforts with lots of people
and organizations around the globe helped prevent construction of
an oil pipeline on the shores of Lake Baikal. After a public
campaign against the pipeline Vladimir Putin said: "If there is
even a minor share of possibility that Lake Baikal may be
contaminated, it is a must for us to not just minimize, but to
totally eradicate such a threat".
To: Mrs. Irina Bokova
Director General
UNESCO
Dear Mrs. Bokova!
We hereby want to express our deepest
concern regarding the Russian Government's Decree No.1 of 13
January 2010 "On introduction of amendments into the List of
activities prohibited in the Central Ecological Zone of the Baikal
Natural Area". This Decree has officially permitted the Baikalsk
Pulp and Paper Mill and other industrial enterprises to dump toxic
wastewaters into Lake Baikal with no legally enforced restrictions,
as well as store, process, dispose of and incinerate all kinds of
waste including most hazardous.
Lake Baikal is a truly unique natural
phenomenon on our planet from the point of view of biological
diversity and the world's biggest stock of freshwater.
In 1996 the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee gave Lake Baikal the status of World Heritage property
based on all four natural uniqueness criteria applied to such
nominations.
The decision to re-start the Baikalsk
Pulp and Paper Mill is a serious threat and may cause irreversible
damage to the greatest lake of the world. It has sparked broad
public protests both within Russia and outside the country.
Dear Mrs. Bokova, I am writing this
to appeal to you as a head of a very respected international
organization to make everything possible to save this unique
natural site that enjoys the World Heritage status.
I am deeply convinced that there are
possibilities to cancel the above mentioned Decree of the Russian
Government, as well as opportunities to create favorable conditions
for development of environmentally safe alternative industries and
tourism in the Baikalsk area.
In the past, only thanks to a
proactive position of UNESCO, such unique cultural sites as the
Giza Pyramids and Archeological Site of Delphi were saved for
future generations. Today Lake Baikal urgently needs UNESCO's help!
Natural heritage is no less valuable for humankind than cultural
and if today we fail to stop this ecologically, socially and
strategically unreasonable process, tomorrow we shall lose one of
the pearls of the World Nature.
Very truly yours,