Kolobov Roman Yurievich ↑, Ditsevich Yaroslava Borisovna ↑

The reported study aims to analyze the instruments adopted by international environmental non-governmental organizations in the sphere of protection and sustainable use of water resources. The structure of the World Water Council and its principal outcomes are reviewed. The practice of holding the World Water Forum is analyzed due to its rare coverage in Russian legal literature. Primary attention is paid to the outcomes of the Forum in the form of declarations. The activities of the International Water Resources Association are reviewed, particularly the outcomes of the 16th World Water Congress. The above mentioned international experience is extrapolated to the problems of Baikal’s legal protection. The documents adopted by the mentioned forums are proposed to be used as an inspiration and model for the legislative improvements in Baikal’s legal regime. For instance, the Ministerial Declaration “An urgent call for decisive action on water”, adopted at the 8th World Water Forum stresses the public attention on the issues of climate change and encourages the states to take into account this global problem in national water strategies. However, due to various reasons, the climate change issues are completely out of the legal discourse of Baikal protection. The Sustainability Declaration of the Forum has a significant potential for legislative and political improvements. Its 8th recommendation calls for business to value and mainstream water into its strategies, materiality and decision making process and share good practices in water management. Baikal’s business community’s commitment to the goals of sustainable development (in the form of Declaration) would be a useful politico-legal instrument within the lake’s legal regime. The outcomes of the 16th World Water Council in Cancun hosted by International Water Resources Association may also be a premise for the improvement of environmental policy and legislation in Baikal region. Among the most fruitful ideas of the forum is the acknowledgment of the pivotal role of scientific expertise in the environmental policy-making. The management system of Lake Baikal clearly needs an expert council, exercising advisory powers in respect to all the regulatory instruments concerning the ecosystem of the lake.

soft law, World Water Forum, World Water Congress, International Environmental Law, International Water Resources Association, World Water Council

Kolobov Roman Yurievich – Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of International Law and Comparative Law, Law Institute, Irkutsk State University (1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation); Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law, East-Siberian Branch of Russian State University of Justice (23a, Ivan Franko st., Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation), e-mail: roman.kolobov@gmail.com

Ditsevich Yaroslava Borisovna – Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Prosecutor’s Supervision and Ensuring the Participation of the Prosecutor in the Consideration of Civil and Arbitration Cases, Irkutsk Law Institute (branch) University of the Prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation (1, Shevtsova st., Irkutsk, 664035, Russian Federation), e-mail: yaroslavadi@mail.ru

Kolobov R.Yu., Ditsevich Ya.B. The activity of international non-governmental organizations as a premise for the development of lake Baikal legal protection Sibirskij yuridicheskij vestnik [Siberian Law Herald]. 2021, no 2(93), pp. 120–124. DOI 10.26516/2071-8136.2021.2.120. (in English).

349.6

HJLFVD

1. Brown K.P., Gerber A., Bedulina D., Timofeyev M.A. Human impact and ecosystemic health at lake baikal. WIREs Water, 2021, e1528, p. 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1528. (in English)

2. Garmaeva T. Lake Baikal: Model for sustainable development of the territory. Lakes and Reservoirs: Research and Management. 2001, vol. 6, iss. 3. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440- 1770.2001.00156.x. (in English)

3. Ditsevich Y.B., Kolobov R.Y. The potential of the convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. International Law, 2020, no. 4, p. 11-24. (in Russian)

4. Hampton S.E., Izmest'eva L.R., Moore M.V., Katz S.L., Dennis B., Silow E.A. Sixty years of environmental change in the world’s largest freshwater lake - Lake Baikal, Siberia. Global Change Biology, 2008, vol. 14, iss. 8, p. 1947-1958. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01616.x. (in English)

5. Metzo K.R. Articulating a Baikal Environmental Ethic. Anthropology and Humanism, 2005, vol. 30, iss. 1, p. 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1525/anhu.2005.30.1.39. (in English)

6. Kolobov R.Y. Problems of International law regulation of the creation of hydraulic structures on transboundary rivers (on the Example of Ecosystem River Selenga - Lake Baikal). Economics, Sociology, Law. 2018, no. 3, p. 116-132. (in Russian)

7. Kolobov R.Y., Makritskaia E.D., Ditsevich Y.B., Shornikov D.V. Sustainable development in international law: history, normative consolidation and value for the legal protection of the biakal world heritage site. Tomsk State University Journal, 2020, no. 460, p. 247-257. https://doi.org/10.17223/15617793/460/30. (in Russian)

8. Sinyukovich V.N., Chernyshov M.S. Water regime of lake baikal under conditions of climate change and anthropogenic influence. Quaternary International, 2019, vol. 524, p. 93-101. (in English)