The concept of a retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value of Natural World Heritage properties is critically examined using Lake Baikal as an example. The need to prepare such a statement is determined by the decisions adopted at the forty-sixth session of the World Heritage Committee. It is shown that the absence of such a declaration hinders the preparation of a management plan for Lake Baikal as a World Heritage property and an environmental impact assessment in accordance with the guidelines developed by the advisory bodies of the World Heritage Committee. The range of legal texts to be interpreted in the preparation of the retrospective wording is identified and their detailed analysis is carried out. The necessity of using the nomination documents and their evaluation prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1996 for the preparation of the retrospective statement is demonstrated. The concept of the “attribute of a World Heritage property” and its role in the preparation of the formalisation of the outstanding universal value of Lake Baikal is examined. The deficit of scientific attention to the concept of integrity of World Heritage properties is compensated, its role in the protection of World Heritage properties is determined. It is proposed to consider in a retrospective statement the possibility of creating a transnational World Heritage property “Lake Baikal” at the expense of Lake Khubsugul and the Tunka Depression on the principle of geological integrity. One of the possibilities to implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee to formalise the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site “Lake Baikal” by including the territories of five settlements, which were not included in its territory according to the inscription decision, is considered. The need for systematic improvement of the legislation on the protection of World Heritage Sites is noted.

outstanding universal value, statement of outstanding universal value, world heritage, Lake Baikal, international law, environmental law

Kolobov Roman Yurievich – Candidate of Juridical Sciences, Assistant Professor of Department of International and Comparative Law, Law Institute, Irkutsk State University (1, K. Marx st., Irkutsk, 664003, Russian Federation); Researcher of Department of Regional Economic and Social problems of Irkutsk Scientific Centre of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (134, Lermontova st., Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation), ORCID: 0000-0003-1488-7530, ResearcherID: H-4644-2016, e-mail: roman.kolobov@gmail.com

Kolobov R. Yu. Problemy podgotovki retrospektivnoj formulirovki vydayushchejsya universal'noj cennosti ob"ekta vsemirnogo prirodnogo naslediya «ozero Bajkal» [Problems of development of retrospective statement of outstanding universal value of the world heritage property “lake Baikal”] Sibirskij yuridicheskij vestnik [Siberian Law Herald]. 2024, no 4(107), pp. 122–134. – DOI 10.26516/2071-8136.2024.4.122 (in Russian)

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