Last year, the Federal Law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal” turned 25 years old. Any law that has existed for so long remains alive only as long as it is amended, evolving in response to the rapidly changing spectrum of public relations it regulates. Recently, discussions to amend the Federal Law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal” have intensified. Sometimes, completely opposing views on the content of the proposed changes are put forward.

In the years 2018-2019, a team of authors from Irkutsk State University (ISU Research Institute for Legal Protection of Lake Baikal, ISU Law Institute) carried out an expert and analytical study on the topic: “Legal support for the public policy on the conservation of the lake Baikal ecosystem. Development of a scientifically grounded concept for modernizing the Federal Law «On the Protection of Lake Baikal»”. The result of the study was a concept for modernizing the Federal Law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal”: ten main directions of such modernization and a number of specific proposals were developed. Most of these proposals have not yet been implemented and remain relevant.

Dmitry Shornikov, Director of ISU Research Institute for Legal Protection of Lake Baikal, Associate Professor of ISU Law Institute, spoke about the initiative to introduce amendments into the legislation concerning the protection of Lake Baikal:

Over the past five years, new ideas have been formulated in the scientific community of Irkutsk State University, however, I would not like to dwell on the proposed specific novelties of law and law enforcement in this commentary (those interested can easily find them in our publications).

I am confident, however, that any development of legislation concerning lake Baikal should be based on the harmony of preserving the great lake and the sustainable development of the Baikal natural territory.

I believe that, in fact, there is no fundamental contradiction here, and sustainable socio-economic development of the Baikal region is possible only on the basis of preserving the unique ecological system of Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. The conservation of Baikal is the unconditional criterion, the benchmark, from which we must proceed, properly weighing and assessing the possible environmental risks of any newly proposed legal innovations. The future generations will not forgive us for any other approach.