In 2021, the corporate partner of Lake Baikal Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary! We are glad that for the fourth year the Siberian Wellness Corporation Foundation «The World Around You» has been working closely with us, helping to develop impact charity in the ecology of Lake Baikal.
Since 2018, the World Around You Foundation has provided financial support to 7 projects of our Foundation! So, for the fourth year in a row, we have been jointly supporting the long-term environmental monitoring program of Lake Baikal «Point No1» of the Research Institute of Biology of Irkutsk State University. Almost every year, the scientific results of the program are included in the international report State of the Climate, published by the American Meteorological Society, which is of great importance for the conservation of the world’s freshwater reserves. In addition, the World Around You Foundation acted as an exclusive partner of the Baikal Initiative competition for young scientists. Over the years of the program’s implementation, we have supported 11 studies of young scientists on Lake Baikal. Thanks to this, the Olkhon vole has been reintroduced into its natural habitat, camera traps have been installed to monitor the population of wild reindeer living on Khamar-Daban, ornithological observations of birds are being conducted in conditions of prolonged low water in the south of Lake Baikal, viromes of Lake Baikal are being investigated, fluorescent biosensors are being implanted, ecological trails are being protected taking into account anthropogenic and pyrogenic loads.
In 2021, we launched two joint projects . We opened the Baikal Nature Reserve School, which has been visited by more than 4,400 tourists since June, and went on the Baikal Without Nets expedition to study the consequences of network pollution of Lake Baikal, clean it from networks and develop measures to prevent further pollution. In addition, we continued the development of the Trash Free National Parks program, starting the implementation of the RSO system in the Chikoy National Park and the Baikal National Park, and the Baikal Seal project – right now scientists are conducting genetic studies that will allow us to find out if there are subspecies of this endemic.
We are proud to note that the results of our partnership are highly appreciated by experts. The Baikal Seal Year project, co-financed by the World Around You Foundation, was included in the list of the 100 best projects of the Presidential Grants Foundation. The project «With a backpack on the trail« in partnership with the Great Baikal Trail Association became the winner of the V.I. Vernadsky National Environmental Prize. Following the implementation of the Trash Free National Parks” program, a roadmap was initiated to eliminate accumulated damage in national parks and reserves at the level of the relevant ministry. As a result, the implementation of the state program to minimize the impact of production and consumption waste on specially protected natural territories of the Russian Federation will begin in 2022.
All these achievements are the result of the efforts of caring people, a reliable partner who is ready to support environmental initiatives at the systemic level! We wish Siberian Wellness, its partners and the World Around You Foundation further development and prosperity!