The demand to protect unique Lake Baikal and prevent the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill from re-starting with discharges into the lake received support from people from 52 countries of the world. They all believe that this decision of the Russian authorities will cause significant damage to the Baikal while at the same time both failing to cope with the existing social and economic issues of the region and creating new ones.
Along with the Appeal, the representatives of Greenpeace, WWF and Bellona handed over a whole number of documents proving that the decision to re-start the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill lacks justification and will damage Lake Baikal as a World Heritage site. Particularly interesting was the analysis done recently by the leading experts on Lake Baikal from the Siberian Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The decision the scientists make is unambiguous: the pulp and paper mill should disappear from the Baikal shore.
There is also a whole lot of quite realistic and efficient scenarios of development for the town of Baikalsk where the notorious mill is located. However, the Russian Government, apparently dancing to the music of the mill owners, chose the most dubious and dangerous of them, which along with obvious social and environmental challenges will require additional budget allocations to keep the bankrupt mill afloat. Expert calculations indicate that in the foreseeable future the mill will produce losses amounting to billions of rubles.
At the same time the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper mill will dump millions of cubic meters of industrial wastewaters into Lake Baikal. This will certainly increase the negative impact on the lake: the contaminated area on the bottom of the southern Baikal that has developed since the mill was put into operation, has reached 130 square kilometers and will certainly keep growing if the mill is re-launched.
It is still possible to resolve the issue of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill in a civilized manner as both the Russian President and the Prime Minister would say. This fact became a focus of the conversation between the Russian environmentalists and Francesco Bandarin, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center.
The "For Baikal!" Coalition is convinced that UNESCO may and should try to urge the Russian Government to revise their position on the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill because the re-launch of the mill undermines universally accepted environmental principles violating the International Convention for protection of World Natural and Cultural Heritage and threatening the unique lake protected by UNESCO.
As Ivan Blokov, Campaign Director for Greenpeace Russia, stated at the meeting with Francesco Bandarin, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center: "We urge UNESCO to do everything within it's power to protect Lake Baikal from the catastrophic consequences that would inevitably results from the re-opening of the Pulp and Paper Mill on it's shores. The 125000 signatures on the petition presented to UNESCO today testimony the concern of people the world over about this unique site".
Evgeny Shvarts from WWF said: "We believe, that honest and even execution of UNESCO Convention on Natural and Cultural Heritage by all parties of Convention should be secured. Leaders of Russia should discover, why obligations, voluntary taken by Russian Federation were not executed".
After the meeting Mr. Bandarin said, "We have had in the past proof of commitment of the Russian Government in the conservation of the World Heritage sites in cases of Lake Baikal, Sochi Olympic Constructions and Saint Petersburg. We are confident that the Russian Government will understand that the value of Lake Baikal requires decisions that will effectively protect its conservation. The World Heritage Committee will discuss Baikal issue at it's coming session in Brasilia and will offer recommendations and support to Russia to define the most appropriate solutions.".
This is just a preliminary statement but it gives hope, too. In 25 days the session of the World Heritage Committee will discuss with due diligence environmental issues of Lake Baikal. The Russian authorities still have time to define the main direction, which this discussion will follow.
Additional information:
A legal analysis of Resolution No.1 - http://savebaikal.ru/en/decision.php
An analysis of environmental consequences of the BPPM re-launch - http://savebaikal.ru/en/risks.php
Alternative scenarios of development - http://savebaikal.ru/en/alternatives.php
Coalition "For Baikal!" web site: http://savebaikal.ru/en/