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.