Two news about Lake Baikal were published almost simultaneously. First, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, following the 44th session, called on the authorities of the Russian Federation to stop the weakening of the lake protection regime and postponed to February 2022 the issue of adding Lake Baikal to the list of World Heritage Sites under threat. And almost immediately it became known that VEB.RF plans to create a tourist cluster in the city of Baikalsk with more than 479 thousand square meters. m of resort real estate, in which at least 60 billion rubles will be invested.
The initiative is ambitious and quite logical. A giant ancient reservoir, included in the list of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites, is consistently present in the top 3 most recognizable tourist brands of Russia both inside and outside its borders, it is a visiting card of the state.
There are not so many industries in our country in which continuous growth is observed, and the economy of Baikal tourism is one of them. The flow of tourists to Lake Baikal has been constantly increasing over the past decades, and if, for example, in 2019 the number of tourists exceeded 1.7 million people, then according to the plan for 2024 there should be 3 million people.
This tourist tsunami, which has washed over the unique lake, threatens with serious consequences for its ancient and extremely sensitive ecosystem. It is the activity of tourist clusters, chaotically formed over the years of uncontrolled growth of the tourist industry on Lake Baikal, that is largely responsible for the processes of eutrophication of coastal zones that are currently observed, accompanied by water bloom with the massive development of filamentous algae and cyanobacteria. The more tourists come to unprepared sites, the more such “blooming regions” appear on Lake Baikal.
The problem of uncontrolled development of the Baikal coast, causing a manifold increase in anthropogenic pressure on the coastal communities of the lake, is one of the key claims from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. However, the more persistently UNESCO presses, the more and more it annoys many representatives of the tourist industry and local residents. At the same time, a fairly significant number of actors, one way or another participating in the discussion on the tourist development of the Baikal natural territory, very vaguely understand what the status of a “UNESCO World Heritage Site” is itself, how it is obtained and what it gives to Baikal. More and more often we hear this interpretation: foreign officials came and imposed restrictions on us on the use of our own (sovereign) lake and now they do not allow us to live and earn money on its shores. Evil bureaucrats from UNESCO.
The reality is somewhat different.
States themselves nominate their objects, and then lobby in international organizations and expert groups for their right to obtain such a status. To obtain the status of a World Heritage Site, you need to go through a whole series of considerations, prove that the object meets strict criteria of value and global significance, and wait several years in the so-called preliminary list. The state must propose a plan of measures for the protection and preservation of the object nominated by it, assume international obligations, and only after that the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (UN structure) can recognize or not recognize the object as worthy of inclusion in the coveted list.
World Heritage Site status is like the gold medal of the Olympics. They don’t give it to anyone just like that. This status is achieved in a tough competitive and sometimes not very public struggle. At the same time, unfortunately, Russia is already quite modestly represented in the list of World Heritage Sites. Currently, there are only 1,154 such objects, of which only 31 (about 2.5%) are in Russia.
If you look at the map of the location of World Heritage sites, you can see a gaping void in the territory of our country. Alas, they are humiliatingly few for a state with almost a thousand-year history, which occupies 1/7 of the world’s land mass. Not so generous are the evil officials bureaucrats from UNESCO in relation to us.
So what is the value, what exactly does the possession of a natural world heritage site give? Yes, everything is simple, status is international respect and, of course, money … big money through the sale of the brand, the development of tourism (!) And related services based on the status of the world natural heritage.
Status is a tool that, in the right hands, can bring many bonuses to whoever owns it. As well as the same status of the Olympic champion. Medals can be put in a closet and forgotten, they can be drunk, driven into a pawnshop or sold at an auction, or you can rely on respect and honor all your life, make a career as a politician, organize ice shows (or other projects) and make good money on this.
Whoever can.
And just like the Olympic gold medal, the status of a World Heritage Site can subsequently be lost. The one who accepts the status is honored and world-wide respect, the one who has lost is censure and world shame.
So, why do we need this and what impact does the status of a “UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site” have on the development of the tourist attraction of Baikal? So this status is a universal brand of Baikal in the world perception.
Unfortunately, it looks as if the structures responsible for the development of ambitious Baikal projects do not take into account the fact that it is the status of Baikal that is its main commercial brand. A brand that can now very well be taken away from us.
Loss of status is a global reputation disaster.
Today, threatened natural World Heritage sites are mainly located in Third World countries, in territories cursed by gods and people, torn apart by war and poverty. The new “World Heritage Site in Danger” status is as much a global anti-brand as an Olympian caught doping. No resorts and luxury hotels can be, by definition, in the territories “under threat”. There will be no tourists, no jobs for local residents, nothing on which the entire Baikal industry today rests. Everything is directly connected.
And if someone has the illusion that this will never happen, we can advise you to remember under which flag at the Tokyo Olympics athletes of one once greatest sports power just played.
It is very easy to lose status, respect, a huge tourism industry and investments in the amount of 60 billion rubles. Well, given the fighting spirit of the “bureaucrats from UNESCO”, all this may well happen to us as early as February 2022.
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