Mission and Objectives

The mission of Lake Baikal Foundation is to preserve Lake Baikal by creating conditions for sustainable water resources management at the national and international levels.

We strive to ensure that Lake Baikal and the Baikal Natural Territory become a sustainable ecosystem, the development of which takes place in compliance with the balance of environmental, social and economic interests. The Foundation helps to ensure that decisions on the management of Lake Baikal at all levels are made taking into account scientifically based long-term forecasts.

Since its inception, Lake Baikal has remained a source of life, and today it is not only a majestic natural monument, but also a world supply of the purest water. And Baikal is also an inexhaustible source for applied scientific research that helps to understand new processes in many fields of knowledge. This is one of the few places that allow a person to look into the distant past and into the distant future of the Earth. The Foundation strives to support scientists and ecologists who work with the unique ecosystem of Lake Baikal, develop scientific research and use new technologies to reduce the burden on the environment, save resources and distribute resources fairly among all residents of the Baikal region.

Everyone who comes into contact with Lake Baikal in the course of life and activity should understand how to preserve the lake and its fragile ecosystem. We strive to make Baikal a real value, a point of growth of the ecological consciousness of the inhabitants of Russia, to provide them with access to reliable environmental information. We see local residents as ambassadors of knowledge and rules of responsible behavior on the shores of the lake, who realize the right to receive income from ecosystem services to ensure social well-being that is inextricably linked with environmental well-being.

Baikal is too large-scale for one person to take on the tasks of preserving and exploring the lake, whether it is the government or international organizations. Only by combining the efforts of all those who come into contact with Lake Baikal, we will be able to preserve the lake for future generations and unlock its potential for contemporaries. The Foundation sees its goal in promoting these necessary changes.

As part of its activities, the Foundation implements global goals in the field of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted by the United Nations Organizations:

To ensure that all students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to promote sustainable development, including through education on sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, citizenship of the world and awareness of the value of cultural diversity and the contribution of culture to sustainable development.

Projects: «With a Backpack on the Trail», educational block of the project «The Baikal Seal Year».

To protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.

Projects: «Point No1»; Development of Implantable Fluorescent Biosensors for In Vivo Monitoring of Heavy Metals in Tissues of Endemic Amphipods of Lake Baikal; Sanitary-Microbiological Assessment of Water Quality in Lake Baikal; Assessment of Symbiotic Relationship of Antibiotic Producing Actinobacteria with Endemic Amphipods of Lake Baikal.

To reduce waste by taking measures to prevent its generation, recycling and reuse; to ensure that people around the world have information on sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature; to develop and implement tools to monitor the impact of sustainable tourism on sustainable development.

Projects: «Trash Free National Parks», Manual for Sustainable Waste Management and Responsible Tourism in Protected Areas (joint project with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives).

Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries; integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.

Projects: «Preservation of forests in the Baikal region», «The Baikal: Protecting and Preserving».

To ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems; to take measures to curb the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biological diversity and ensure the conservation of endangered species; to ensure that the value of ecosystems and biological diversity is taken into account in national and local planning and development processes; to mobilize financial resources from all sources for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and ecosystems.

Projects: «The Baikal Seal Year», Conservation and Recruitment of the Olkhon Vole Population, Water Birds Monitoring on Lake Baikal, Preserving the Yellow-Breasted Bunting Population, «Bear Shore».

To strengthen the Global multi-stakeholder partnership for sustainable development, which mobilizes and disseminates knowledge, technology and financial resources; to promote and encourage effective partnerships between the state, the private sector and civil society, drawing on the experience and strategies of partners’ resources.

Projects: grant competition «Baikal Initiative», cooperation with foreign NGOs and protected areas on the Manual on Waste Management in Protected Areas; international dissemination of environmental online lesson; participation of representatives of the Foundation in activities under the auspices of the UN-Habitat, Global Shapers, Open World Program; Sociological Survey «What is Lake Baikal for the Russians?», Sociological Survey «The Baikal: Opinion of the Irkutsk Region and the Republic of Buryatia Population on Ecological Problems of the Lake».