Lake Baikal Experience and Lessons Learned Brief Anthony J. Brunello*, Tahoe-Baikal Institute, South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA,
[email protected] Valery C. Molotov, Ministry of Natural Resources, Committee for the Protection of Baikal, Ulan Ude, Buryatia, Russian Federation Batbayar Dugherkhuu, Federal Baikal Committee, Mongolia Charles Goldman, University of California, Davis, CA, USA Erjen Khamaganova, Ministry of Natural Resources, Committee for the Protection of Baikal, Ulan Ude, Buryatia, Russian Federation Tatiana Strijhova, Baikal Foundation, Irkutsk, Russian Federation Rachel Sigman, Tahoe-Baikal Institute, South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA * Corresponding author The Lake Baikal watershed (Figure 1), a critical watershed for France. The length of the lake is 636 km and width ranges from both the Russian Federation (Russia) and Mongolia, faces 80 to 27 km. Lake Baikal is home to over 1,500 endemic animal enormous management challenges, many not uncommon and plant species, a characteristic that is closely connected in post-Soviet economies. In particular, issues such as with its age and unique natural development. inadequate coordination among federal and state resource management agencies, increasing pressure for economic Over three hundred and sixty rivers and streams fl ow into Lake development in the region, and declining levels of domestic Baikal with only one river fl owing out, the Angara River, located and international funding for resource management programs, on Baikal’s northwest shore. Clarity within the lake reaches 40- are