The Convention concerining the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage is the basis of international protection regime of the Lake Baikal. Within the framework of the project on constructing a conception of international legal protection (funded by Russian Fund of Fundamental Research № 20-011-00618 A) it is crucial not only to identify the benefits reached by using the rules of Convention, but to search those perspective instruments that might strengthen the regime of Baikal`s legal protection. The current investigation attempts to identify the unused potential of the Convention in the issues of socio-economic development. The first direction examined in this regard is the regulation of tourism on Baikal natural territory. The bodies of the world heritage protection system pay considerable attention to the development of tourism, that is why these positions may be used when regulating tourism within the world heritage site«Lake Baikal». One of the most important issues in the prossess of normative regulation is the engagement of local communities. The article reveals the existing approaches of the world heritage system to the institutionalization of the engagement of local communities into the site`s management. The provisions of the Convention, the Operational Guidelines, and the decisions of the world heritage Committee are analyzed. The specific attention is paid to the thematic programmes, implemented by the structures of the world heritage protection. The results of the investigation are related to the relevant socio-economic and environmental problems of the lake Baikal. Among the most important findings of the investigation are the usage of sustainable tourism toolkit, developed under the world heritage tourism programme; the application of the world heritage Committee`s legal positions on the development of tourism; the establishment of the local consultative body, representing the position of the the communities on environmental and socio- economic issues of the world heritage site “Lake Baikal”.

Kolobov Roman Yurievich - Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor, Law Institute, Irkutsk State University (1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation);

East-Siberian Branch of Russian State University of Justice (23a, Ivan Franko st., Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation), e-mail: roman.kolobov@gmail.com

Kolobov R.YU. Potencial konvencii ob ohrane vsemirnogo kul'turnogo i prirodnogo naslediya dlya social'no-ekonomicheskogo razvitiya bajkal'skoj prirodnoj territorii [The Potential of the Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage for the socio-economic development of Baikal natural territory]. Sibirskij yuridicheskij vestnik [Siberian Law Herald]. 2020, no 2 (89), pp. 100–106. (in Russian).

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