Basin Properties

Geographical properties:

Located in the Eastern Europe ; Longitude is 57^o 51’ – 59^o01’ (N),

Longitude: 27^o30’ – 27^o 56’ (E)

Narva River basin, including Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe basin has an area of 56,200 square kilometers. The main part of the catchment consists of Lake Peipsi catchment whereas own catchment of only Narva River is 877 square kilometers or only 15% of the total area.

The catchment area is generally a gently undulating glaciolacustrine or till-covered plain, the drainage line with other river catchments is not well defined, and on the lowlands it crosses moss bogs and wetlands

Geologically the basin is formed by sedimentary rocks belonging to Cambrian, Silurian and Devon systems.

Lake Peipsi is located in the zone with moderate continental climate, rather wet, softened by a comparative closeness of the Atlantic Ocean, the average annual amount of precipitation near Narva river is around 700-750 mm, 35 % of precipitation falls during cold period and around 65 % during warm months.

The largest inlets to the lake are the Velikaya (catchment area 25,600 km²), the Emajõgi (9,745 km²), the Võhandu (1,423 km²), and the Zhelcha (1,220 km²). The length of the Velikaya river is 430 km, three rivers have the length more than 100 km and 25 – more than 10 km. All the rest (88%) are small rivers and spring having the length less than 10 km. The only outlet is Narva River that is the second largest river coming into the Finnish Gulf (after the Neva river) and the forth in the Baltic Sea; its mean annual water discharge into the Gulf of Finland is 12.6 km³ (approximately 50% of the average volume of Lake Peipsi).

The water budget of the lake is 12.5 km³ annually. Water-level changes are characterised by a spring flood, which lasts for 1.5 months or even longer, and is followed by a long-term (4-5 months) low water level in summer and autumn-winter periods. A short-term rise occurs in autumn.

Demographic properties:

• General location of the basin – Eastern Estonia – North-West Russia
• Total Population in basin - approximately 1 million inhabitants
• Population of principal cities or towns - two bigger towns in the basin:
• Pskov in Russia, with 204,000 inhabitants and Tartu in Estonia, with 98,000 inhabitants
• Average per capita income – differs in Estonia (around 265 USD/month in 2002) and Russia 65 USD/month)
• Population Below Poverty Line – in some districts in Russia is around 40%.
• Water Poverty Index parameters - Medium Low (WPI 62-67.9)
• Local situation regarding sustainable livelihoods ( www.livelihoods.org ) - http://www.livelihoods.org/lessons/docs/russia.pdf 
• The severest problem is ageing of the population, and younger generation leaving for bigger towns.

 Land uses:

• No any mountains and deserts
• Forest – 40% 
• Wetlands – 6%
• Agricultural lands – 42%

Water resources and uses in the basin:

• Volume of the lake - 25.07 cubic km
• Surface water quality regarded as moderate in general
• Water used for energy production, fishery and recreation, drinking water supply, transport needs and to support the wild-life in the catchment.
• One of the main problems with water protection is the eutrophication of surface waters caused by the increased load of nutrients of anthropogenic origin. Water pollution also contribute to the lower water quality - only 65% of all waste waters in the Russian part are somehow treated whereas the rest is going directly into water bodies without any cleaning measures. One of the additional problems – thermal pollution caused by two large thermal power stations (Baltic and Estonian), which use Narva reservoir for cooling of steam machines.

Environmental Properties:

The Lake Peipsi watershed is rich in wetland areas: Emajõe Suursoo (Estonia) and Rembdovsky (Russia) being Ramsar sites. Bogs and marshes occupy about 15% of the lake basin, wet areas in general are spread on the 35% of the territory. As far as the lake itself has remarkable characteristics and wetlands around it also belong to the Ramsar sites, the lake basin could be regarded as a huge natural complex having its own unique conditions.

Policy and legislative properties:

Both countries are the signatories to the Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Water Courses and International Lakes (Helsinki, 1992) and the Protocol on Issues of Water and Health of this convention (London, 1999), Convention on Protection of the Baltic Sea Marine Environment (Helsinki,1992), Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context, and Convention on Non-Navigable Use of Transboundary Water Courses (New York, 1997).

Each country has its own legislation dealing with water management, but in order to provide sustainable use of the whole lake water basin taking into account basin approach, several bilateral agreements were signed between governments of Estonia and Russian Federation.

There are three bilateral agreements concerning water use and water protection in the region:

1. Treaty between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on the conservation and use of fishing stocks in Lake Peipsi, Lake Lämmijärv and Lake Pihkva. 4 May 1994, Moscow.
2. Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Co-operation in the field of Environment. 11 January 1996, Pihkva.
3. Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Estonia and the Government of the Russian Federation on Co-operation in the field of Protection and Sustainable Use of Transboundary Watercourses. 20 August 1997, Moscow.

According to these legislative acts, two joint Commissions were established - the Estonian-Russian Transboundary Water Commission on the transboundary waters ( in 1997) and Intergovernmental Estonian-Russian Commission on the Fishery (in 1995).

In Estonia the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is integrated into the legislation. However, WFD does not have mandatory character for Russia as far as EU WFD is compulsory only for the members of the EU and recommended for accession-countries.

Baseline information availability:

• Each country has its own observation networks which are coordinated through joint dates of sampling, expeditions, intercalibration etc.
• There are several digital maps of the region as well as other solutions such as modelling tools (System of any river basin for the North-West of Russia, testing of POLFLOW and MESAW models), emergency tools (Automatized Working Place in Emergency Hydrological Situations) and Decision-Support System. Last GIS database covering the Lake Peipsi/Narva River catchment was created within the MANTRA-East research project. GIS database containing more than 20 data layers arranged according to seven themes: Hydrology – Basic; Hydrology – Analytic; Land Cover; Pedology, hydrogeology and topography; Administration; Nature conservation areas; and Infrastructure was developed along with descriptive metadata and documentation were created. The database is disseminated via CD-ROM and already available via the MANTRA-East homepage.
• Data archives are not completely coherent as far as before the disintegration of the USSR all data of state monitoring were stored only in Estonia and after the break up two countries started their own monitoring programmes and data bases. However, several attempts are already been made in order to harmonize data processing, storage etc. to facilitate the data exchange.
• Research centers exists in both countries – Vortsjarv limnological station, Pskov branch of GOSNIORKH, Universities in Tartu and Pskov etc.

Organisations and institutions responsible for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the basin: I

Intergovernmental Estonian-Russian Joint Commission on Transboundary Waters – the only state body to govern the whole catchment in transboundary context. This Commission in functioning on the base of bilateral agreement and aimed at sustainable water management in the Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe and Narva River basin.

In Estonia water management is co-ordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and its 15 country Environmental Departments. Estonian part of the Lake Peipsi catchment belongs to Peipsi sub-basin, where Tartu Environmental Department is responsible for implementation of water policy at regional/sub-basin level.

In Russia all water management functions are under the jurisdictions of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation on the federal level. Neva-Ladoga Water Basin Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation is dealing with water management issues in the Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe basin on the Russian side.

Regional authorities in Russia (Leningrad and Pskov regions) and counties in Estonia (Tartu, Ida-Viru etc.) are dealing with water protection programs and financing of such measures on the regional level as well.

Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation is an international non-profit organization, which works to promote sustainable development and cross border cooperation in the Lake Peipsi international water basin. Main fields of activities – public involvement into water management issues and NGO support in the region.

Statement of Issues, Purpose and Outputs

Hydrological and Water Management issues:

• Over abstraction of groundwater is the issue in the north part of the basin where drinking water supplies for both countries is done through using the same aquifer so at present there some concerns about eh fair use of limited groundwater resources.
• Water resource assessment is problematic at present because each country uses own indicators and methodologies that make the joint assessment rather complicated although recently the joint base for the assessment was agreed at the first glance. 

The problems associated with water management itself could be named as following:

• the absence of the complex program of the rational water use and protection so nowadays such programe is to be developed under the UNDP/GEF Project,
• interrelations between Estonian and Russian stakeholders are not so strong and efficient so additional efforts are needed to strengthen the ties between countries and different institutions aimed at fruitful cooperation and coordination of the activities ,
• interstate co-ordination in the lake basin is not enough especially in the environmental monitoring, 
• NGO’s potential is not used in full force,
• complicated border issues impede effective collaboration.

Environmental issues:

Water pollution is a problem in the basin due to serious nutrient load to the lake. Eutrophication is accompanied by industrial and households pollution representing the threat to water quality.

The lake itself has remarkable characteristics and wetlands around it also belong to the Ramsar sites, the lake basin could be regarded as a huge natural complex having its own unique conditions. Hence these ecosystems are precious in their undisturbed state and the lost of any component will mean the change of the whole system.

Peipsi is one of the best lakes in Europe for commercial fishing. Due to the economic difficulties in the area and high unemployment, there is a high pressure to the lake fish resources.

Livelihoods issues:

• Inadequate rural water supply and waster water treatment schemes which causes low quality of dirking water and high level of pollution coming from waste waters
• Eutrophication causes the changes in the commercial species and their availability so local fishermen loose their income through catching less valuable fish
• Over-fishing also causes the problem for local people using the fish for food. The number of professional fishermen is too high, and therefore there is an urgent need in diversifying economic activities in the region
• Low incomes of the population provides the base for water-related health problems
• Monofunctional economy makes the region very dependent on the local environmental conditions and problems.

Policy and legislation issues:

• Lake Peipsi is a relatively new transboundary water basin, so the procedures of international coordination of water management have to be elaborated. This is especially a challenge in the situation when Estonia will enter the European Union and is adopting EU standards and norms that are different form norms of standards in Russia. At present there are several bilateral agreements and two working Intergovernmental Commissions, nevertheless, a lot of problems are still in place. 
• Poor coordination between water agencies and countries sometimes causes duplication of the activities or the absence of needed attention to the acute problems.
• Different legislation for IWRM in both countries creates certain difficulties in the development and implementation of the joint programmes or measures and activities in the region.
• Inadequate enforcement of existing legislation is especially takes place in Russia where state norms are very often too rigid to follow them so enterprises prefer illegal ways of complying with requirements such as bribes and inadequate monitoring.

How do the issues fit with the Five HELP Policy Issues ?

Water and food:

Lake itself is very high-productive in terms of commercial and non-commercial fishing so the fish from the lake is used for food. In addition, a lot of local hunters use numerous birds and small animals, living at Ramsar sites and other lowlands for getting incomes or just feeding their families.

Water quality and human health:

It is already proved the eutrophicated waters causes serious health problems for both wild life and human being. In addition, lake and river waters are polluted by heavy metals, oil products, iron etc. So, water quality in the region raises the concern for health authorities due to numerous polluting substances.

Water and the environment:

Ecosystems in the lake region are unique and their status is recognised (included in the list of Ramsar sites) so water quality and quantity causes serious threats to ecosystems and wild life in the region. Fish kills due to eutrophication prove the danger of treats to biodiversity and wild life due to bad water conditions.

Water and climate:

Climatic conditions in the region are responsible for water level fluctuations which, in turn, calls forth eutrophication and fish kills caused by high level of nutrients and low N/P ratio due to low water level.

Water and conflict:

Several conflicts are already being solved in the region (Narva-Ivangorod conflict on drinking water supply and waster water treatment, border and fish conflicts etc.) so the region aims to use joint water resources without the conflict or, at least, to resolved them through political or economical measures.

Institutional change and capacity building issues:

Institutional changes and numerous organisational re-structuring were cause by the disintegration of the Soviet Union and emerging of the new borders turning former national water bodies into transnational with all corresponding changes and problems. In addition, Russian policy of rapid changes in the environmental bodies structure and responsibilities provided the base for uncertainty and the absence of concrete plans and programs and their implementation. Estonia also had several institutional changes caused by the need to adjust existing administrative and legal structures to the EU requirements.

Integrated management development was hampered by the lack of cooperation at the first years after the disintegration, but nowadays the situation is going better due to the will of both countries, supported by the EU, to cooperate in this international basin. Additionally, integration of different pats of water sector into IWRM is going on now on the base of basin approach underlined both in the Russian Water Code and the EU Water Framework Directive.

Professional and technical training is needed in order to facilitate joint efforts in integrated transboundary water management and inform about new trends and developments in this sphere. Eutrophication trainings are important as a part of preventive measures against the pollution load. Trainings are to be arranged not only for professionals but also for other stakeholders which influence water management and water protection measures a lot.

Principal Purposes:

• To support the development and implementation of the Management Programme through integration of the scientific results into practical actions ;
• Promote innovative scientific research projects aimed to solve main questions in the region such as the assessment of the lake status and defining the nutrient load and measure to decrease it etc. 
• Provide support to multi-stakeholders dialog and forum in the basin aimed at participatory water management
• Establish close contacts with other HELP projects and programmes in order to ensure the transfer of new ideas and approaches to the region and feedback for the regional initiatives and measures.

Principal Outputs:

• Improved participative research and management methods and tools that engender trust and understanding in the regional communities that would be impacted by such changes.
• Management Programme for the catchment area is developed and its implementation is started.
• Economical sustainability of the Management Programme is discussed and agreed among major stakeholders
• Peipsi Council as a multi-stakeholders body to govern the waters is established
• Scientific information is communicated to general public in more convenient way
• New water balance for the whole system is calculated for management purposes.

Statement of Proposed Activities

Outline of the HELP programme design and plan:

A number of multi-agency/stakeholder HELP related activities have been identified in the basin. These activities are to be undertaken based on community involvement and public participation principles and widely discussed in order to get the feedback from the interested parties.

These activities are grouped according the HELP areas below.

Hydrology

Development of a framework to assess:

• water balance of the system (in order get new data after recalculation because this kind of data is very old and need the update)
• water level fluctuations in order to connect them with fish kills and eutrophication (there’s already the evidence of such interrelations)
• prove modeling performed before and adjust existing models to the local conditions.

Environment

• Development of ecological quality objectives as a part of TDA
• Assessment of the possibility of including ecological monitoring into the joint monitoring programme for better understanding of the environmental processes in the region 
• Environmental Assessment of the Lake Peipsi /Chudskoe basin.

Livelihood

• Historical and anthropological perspectives, political and social analysis related to IWRM in the basin 
• Capacity building for local municipalities and NGOs in order to increase awareness about the environmental issues and introduce environmentally-safe techniques of eco-farming etc. 
• Ecotourism development for the diversification of the economy in the lake-bordering areas.

Policy

• Support to the Management Programme to be finalized by the end of 2005
• Identification of the instruments and sources for providing the sustainability of the Management Programme in the countries in transitions such as Estonia and Russia
• Public Participation Plan will be updated according to the new approaches used by HELP projects and other relevant international basins.

Measurement and reporting of baseline conditions in the basin:

A lot of studies in the basin were conducted in last years aimed to define the nutrient load to the lake, state of the environment, status of the lake, compile the scenarios of the future development etc. Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis is to be completed in 2004 by the UNDP/GEF Project. All the results will be available for HELP project.

Stakeholder analysis, participation and consultation:

Stakeholder analysis in the basin was already done within other international projects, so HELP project will use available data and results for its own interrelations with the stakeholders. At present, Peipsi Council is to be formed in order to ensure involvements of all relevant stakeholders and public into water management and decision-making process. HELP project in this regard could provide an expertise form other HELP initiatives in order to support the creation of such body.

Public Participation Plan (PPP) was completed under the MANTRA-East and UNDP/GEF projects implemented in the region, so HELP project will update this plan and use main findings for own stakeholders involvement policy and activities. Good examples from other HELP project will be incorporated into the updated PPP as well. PPP will be available through web-site for comments and revisions.

Selected stakeholders will be also involved through the Steering Committees of the project and other corresponding expert groups.

Capacity building, training and education:

There is a need to build institutional and local capacity in IWRM in the region. So national and international trainings should be conducted in order to strengthen the capacity of environmental authorities and relevant stakeholders.

Special trainings should be organized aimed to solve “hot” issues and directed to strengthen the capacity of environmental authorities and cooperation ties among different stakeholders. Special environmental education program is already underway in the region. In general such programs will be dealing with major issues – eutrophication – at the moment, but later on other topics could be discussed and addressed.

Some of the other activities to be undertaken through cross-organization projects such as public and community involvement in water management through the appropriate tool such as roundtables, education programs, mass-media etc. will be arranged as well.

Schedule of proposed activities:

Year-1:

• Baseline data and reports on the assessment of the lake state (December 2004)
• Proposed Environmental Quality Objectives (December 2004)
• Establishment of the Peipsi Council as a multi-stakeholders body to support participatory and integrated water management in the Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe and Narva River basins (end of 2004 )
• Public Participation Plan is approved by the Joint Commission
• Ecotourism development in the region – eco-routes and feasibility studies (by the end of 2004).

Year-2:

• Support to the drafting Management Programme through integration of the scientific results into the practical actions ( by December 2005)
• Improved participative research and management methods and tools (June 2005) ; Economical instruments to provide the sustainability of the Management Programme are agreed and operational (Autumn 2005 )
• Calculation of the water balance and water level fluctuations to prove the interrelations with eutrophication problem
• Work with modeling n order to reach the agreed estimations and figures.

Year-3 and onwards:

• Capacity building to support the implementation of the Management Programme (Ongoing activity)
• Transfer of knowledge and expertise to Central Asia, NIS and other regions through cooperative contacts with relevant authorities and stakeholders. (Ongoing activity)
• Update of the Public Participation Plan and Management Programme according to the needs of the region
• New proposals for HELP project and other scientific and practical projects to be implemented in the region.

Monitoring and evaluation:

The monitoring and evaluation of the project will be carried out through the related funding bodies (international donor agencies, national authorities and auditing companies) in the form of relevant/corresponding reports. Yearly progress reports (or covering other time-periods depending on the needs) will be written for the HELP initiative according to the HELP requirements.

The Steering Committee of stakeholders will act as a body for the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of HELP activities in the basin as well as coordination of the activities with other relevant programs/projects. Depending on the available funds, a HELP conference will be organized during 2005 in t he basin for the evaluation of HELP related activities by experts from other basins and to promote cross-basin HELP perspectives.

After monitoring and evaluation procedures, relevant changes or additions will be incorporated in the updated work plans and programs. Each year all plans and programs will be reviewed also on the base of available funds and current activities in the region covered by other projects.

The HELP project will make available the related papers and reports to other basins through its web site located on Peipsi portal as well as distribute relevant documents and publications during main events. Project Newsletter will be prepared on the need basic.

Statement of Commitment

rogramme or project team members:

• Ms. Gulnara Roll, Director, Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation
• Mr. Per Stalnake, Coordinator of MANTRA-East project, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)
• Ms. Natalia Alexeeva, UNDP/GEF Project Manager, Center for Transboundary Cooperation, St.Petersburg
• Mr. Enn Loigu, Tallinn Technical University
• Ms. Alla Sedova, Acting Head of the Department, Neva-Ladoga Water Basin Administration
• Ms. Galina Voropaeva, PhD, Associated Professor, St.Petersburg State University.

Supporting partners and stakeholders:

Supporting partners:

• municipalities and regional administrations bordering Lake Peipsi 
• research and educational institutions in the region
• local NGOs

Intended beneficiaries:

• Local communities dependent on natural resources of the basin such as fishermen, local population earning income from tourists, local hunters and farmers
• Population of the region in general perceiving the lake as natural value.

Provision of resources:

Main financial support to the region is coming from international donor agencies (such as UNDP/GEF, EU LIFE and TACIS etc.), however, limited national support coming mostly from the Ministries through water management programs and bordering regional administrations will be available too.

In-kind contribution includes the results (data, maps, GIS, reports etc.) from already implemented projects (such as MANTRA-East etc.) and draft results of the ongoing projects (UNDP/GEF, TACIS, LIFE etc.) , web-portal to be used for HELP project web-site, work time of the state servants to be involved through Steering Committee and taking part into other activities.

Contribution to promoting HELP values

Lake Peipsi-Chudskoe and Narva River basins could contribute to the following HELP values:

Local and national awareness of issues – through close communication and interaction with different groups of stakeholders involved in numerous international and national projects and actions. 

Good publicity material – by informing about HELP activities in different leaflets, brochures, publications, press-releases etc. to be prepared in order to disseminate good practices and lessons learned.

Good website – Peipsi portal (http://www.peipsi.org ), which incorporate a lot of information collected during implementation of different project and actions both scientific and popular, could provide the base for HELP-related information adopted to the local needs and demands as well as translated into local languages. 

Experience in promoting IWRM – at present the main challenge in the region is to create the joint Basin Management Programme/Plan for the transboundary catchments so IWRM plays a crucial role as the base for this ambitious work and this concept is to be used during the process of drafting and implementing the Management Programme.

Academic support for water related work in the basin – one of the 5th EU Framework projects, MANTRA-East (Integrated Strategies for the Management of Transboundary Waters on the Eastern European Fringe- The Pilot Study of Lake Peipsi and its Drainage Basin – http://www.mantraeast.org ), highly evaluated by numerous professionals and based on previous research projects networks as NWRP, provides the outstanding base for practical work in the basin and future research in the water basin.

What inputs from other HELP basins are required through technology-transfer and training to achieve the desired project objectives? What inputs could you provide to other HELP basins through technology-transfer and training?

HELP projects have numerous activities that could contribute to the proposed project on Lake Peipsi-Chudskoe and Narva River. However, the most important issues to be addressed during the project (multi-stakeholders communication and public involvement into water management issues, economical sustainability of the RBMP (River Basin Management Plan) in the basin shared by countries in transition, communication of the scientific information to public etc.) require definite input from more advanced HELP basins in terms of capacity building actions and information exchange and communication among the HELP projects dealing with the same issues.

Other HELP basins could benefit through getting the expertise in Public Participation in water management, the knowledge on modeling of nutrients and creation of scenarios, lessons learned during the preparation of the Management Programme.

Key contacts for this project:

Ms. Natalia Alexeeva

UNDP/GEF Project Manager

Center for Transboundary Cooperation, St.Petersburg

Kozhevennaya line, 34 office 415, V.O.

St.Petersburg

Russia

E-mail: Natasha@lake-peipus.net

Links:

• Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation: http://www.ctc.ee 
• UNDP: http://www.undp.org/ 
• GEF: http://www.gefweb.org/
• Intergovernmental Estonian-Russian Joint Commission on Transboundary Waters: http://www.envir.ee/jc
• Ministry of the Environment, Estonia: http://www.envir.ee/eng/index.html
• Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia: http://www.mnr.gov.ru/
• Neva-Ladoga Water Basin Administration: http://www.joensuu.fi/ktl/saimaa/tacis/nlbwa.htm
• Regional authority of Leningrad: http://eng.lenobl.ru/
• English - Regional authority of Pskov: http://www.pskov.ru
• Russian - County of Tartu: http://www.tartumaa.ee/?setlang=eng&PHPSESSID=96cd95b816a41ced6309a0d49d5adc0e
• County of Ida-Viru: http://ivmv.ee/
• RAMSAR: http://www.ramsar.org/
• Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Water Courses and International Lakes (Helsinki, 1992): http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l28059.htm
• Protocol on Issues of Water and Health of this convention (London, 1999): http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=en&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2001&nu_doc=483
• Convention on Protection of the Baltic Sea Marine Environment (Helsinki,1992): http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l28089.htm
• Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context: http://www.unece.org/env/eia/
• MANTRA-East research project: http://www.mantraeast.org
• Vortsjarv limnological station: http://www.zbi.ee/limno/index.htm
• University of Tartu: http://www.ut.ee/index.aw/set_lang_id=2
• Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA): http://www.niva.no
• Tallinn Technical University: http://www.ttu.ee/index_eng.html
• St.Petersburg State University: http://www.spbu.ru/e/
• EU LIFE: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/life/home.htm
• EU TACIS: http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/ceeca/tacis/
• Peipsi portal: http://www.peipsi.org
• World Water Assessment Programme: http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/
• Peipsi/Chudskoe case study: http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/case_studies/peipsi_lake/index.shtml