Decision : 28 COM 15B.22
Lake Baikal (Russian Federation)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Recalling the recommendation of the report of the monitoring mission in 2001 to include the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger,

2. Welcomes the collaboration between the Russian authorities, IUCN and the World Heritage Centre in addressing co-operation and communication issues;

3. Notes the results of the high-level mission and the detailed report provided by the Russian authorities on 10 March 2004 and acknowledges the efforts of the State Party in enhancing the conservation of this property;

4. Requests, while noting the complex environmental and socio-economic issues associated to the conservation and development of Lake Baikal, that:
a) the State Party provide further clarification on the level of implementation of the ecological zoning for Lake Baikal and its adoption under the Federal Law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal”,
b) the State Party continue providing to each session of the Committee reports on the state of conservation of the property, on progress achieved on the different programmes implemented in the property, particularly on the reprofiling of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill, and the results of the ecological monitoring programme and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project that is under implementation in the area,
c) the States Parties of the Russian Federation and Mongolia enhance their cooperation in designing and implementing a plan to reduce the sources of pollution occurring in the Selenga River Basin; the two States Parties may wish to submit a request for International Assistance from the World Heritage Fund to support the planning phase of this co-operation,
d) the State Party implement previous recommendations of the Committee to provide training to hunters to avoid unnecessary deaths of animals that are wounded during hunting,
e) the State Party, working with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN, develop a long-term project proposal oriented towards obtaining additional financial resources for the conservation and sustainable development of Lake Baikal; such a proposal may include a component to support the joint efforts of the States Parties of the Russian Federation and Mongolia to address the pollution of the Selenga River.

5. Notes that the outcome of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed transportation routes which was reported to the Mission was negative and requests that any future proposal avoids the World Heritage property and that no route is selected through the watershed of Lake Baikal without first undertaking a comprehensive Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) to international standards;

6. Further notes the concerns regarding the potential impact of oil and gas pipelines on the outstanding universal value of the property and considers that any such proposal should undergo a comprehensive Environment Impact Assessment to international standards;

7. Requests the State Party to take measures to minimize and, preferably eliminate all direct and indirect threats to the World Heritage property;

8. Further requests the State Party to provide in co-operation with the IUCN an upto- date report to the World Heritage Centre including on any decisions or proposed alternative to the oil and gas transportation route and the issues noted under paragraph 4 above by 1 February 2005, for examination by the Committee at its 29th session in 2005.