2010 in Russia may become the year of Baikal

The Public Chamber of Irkutsk Region and the regional committee of the Russian Youth Union propose declaring 2010 in Russia the Year of Baikal. They believe this will draw attention to the lake's problems, raise environmental awareness, and unite residents around its preservation.

The Commission on Youth Affairs, Sports, and Patriotic Education of the Public Chamber of the Irkutsk Region, together with the Irkutsk Regional Committee of the Russian Union of Youth, is advocating for the declaration of 2010 in Russia as the Year of Baikal. With a request to support this initiative, the Public Chamber will appeal to the Government of the Irkutsk Region and the region’s Legislative Assembly.
“Events held as part of the Year of Baikal will help draw the attention of government bodies and the public to solving the problems of this unique lake, and will also serve to raise the level of environmental culture among the population. The latter is especially important at present, when the preservation of the lake and the well-being of the people living on its shores are on the scales,” says commission chairman Alexander Popov.
“The regional government,” he says, “has taken a serious step toward improving the environmental situation on Lake Baikal, and a principled decision has been made to close the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill. However, this has created a number of social problems. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to raising the level of environmental culture among the population, without sufficient development of which it is impossible to solve the remaining problems. We assume that in the conditions of the economic crisis, our initiative may seem irrelevant to some. And yet, with economic measures alone, it is impossible to get through the crisis phenomena. Preserving Lake Baikal may well become the very idea for the region that will help unite the population of the region.”
In its letters to the regional government and the Legislative Assembly, the Public Chamber of the Angara Region will appeal to the regional authorities to support the initiative and voice it at the federal level.