During its ongoing 28th session in
Suzhou, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) will decide whether
to place Lake Baikal on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Netherlands, Russia, Japan and China jointly contributed
production of a photo exhibition entitled "Beauty and the Beasts,"
which opened Friday in connection with the session. According to
leading photographer Takeshi Mizukoshi from Japan, who took most of
the photos during three excursions to the Lake Baikal region, the
cooperation of the four countries is a good sign, indicating the
entry into an era of international cooperation in environmental
protection.
Mizukoshi says that he took photos because of the serious threat to
the natural environment in the Lake Baikal area. When Greenpeace
headquarters in Amsterdam began preparing the project, the
photographer jumped in, eager to record Baikal as it is now.
Mizukoshi's work focuses on the overwhelming beauty of Lake Baikal
and the spectacular flora and fauna around the lake.
Through his images, Mizukoshi hopes to convey that the planet
still has places of beauty and peace, still unspoiled, where people
can commune with the Nature.
Roman Vazhenkov of the Greenpeace Russia Baikal Campaign says
that Greenpeace wants to display both the beauty of Lake Baikal and
the threats to the environment that persist there. The organization
is appealing to the states that take part in environmentally
hazardous projects on Lake Baikal to drop their plans and do their
outmost to preserve the lake, thus delivering on their promises to
preserve the world's natural heritage.
Greenpeace representatives at the 28th WHC Session are
disseminating some new information about the state of conservation
of Lake Baikal. Ivan Blokov, Greenpeace Russia's campaign director,
says that they are not requesting that Baikal be placed on the List
of the World Heritage in Danger. But they do want to send a strong
signal to the States Parties involved in oil, gas, timber and pulp
import-export operations in the Baikal region: Article 8 of the
World Heritage Convention declares that they should avoid doing
either direct or indirect damage to world heritage sites, even when
sites are located in the territory of another country.
Lake Baikal, located in eastern Siberia, is famed for its depth,
1,637 meters, and age, about 25 million years, as well as for its
beauty and diverse flora and fauna. About 80 percent of the 2, 630
plant and animal species and subspecies in the lake area exist
nowhere else on Earth.
In 1996, the lake was inscribed on UNESCO's List of World
Natural Heritage, but since that time pollution worsened
drastically. The planned pipeline transfer oil from Russia to China
will run along the lake, says photographer Mizukoshi, which will
have a serious impact on the environment.
The numerous paper mills that now surround the lake mostly
produce paper fibers, a process that utilizes a great deal of water
and results in the discharge of huge amounts of wastewater.
Mizukoshi says that industrial and domestic wastewater is dumped
into the lake untreated. Already the surrounding forest, as well as
the water, is showing signs of deterioration, particularly in the
southern area.
Mizukoshi points out that Lake Baikal is only one example of the
threats that human encroachment pose to every corner of the planet.
Desertification and acid rain have reached the crisis stage, he
says. One country acting alone cannot solve these problems:
preserving the environment for the generations to come requires the
concerted effort of all nations together.
The photo exhibition will continue throughout the WHC
session, then travel Japan, India, Germany and Russia.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Li Jinhui, July 3, 2004)
