Current Problems of the Legislation Development on the Protection of Lake Baikal

Abstract

The article analyzes the current state of activities to improve the legislation in the field of protection of the World Heritage Site of Lake Baikal. The main content of the most resonant draft law currently under consideration in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on amendments to the law “On Protection of Lake Baikal” is highlighted as well as the current situation in the environmental sphere in the Baikal natural territory. The conclusion is formulated about the priority necessity to organize proper execution of the current legislation by the authorities in order to solve the existing environmental and socioeconomic problems. The information about the All-Russian scientific and representative events devoted to the discussion of the draft law, held with the participation of leading scientists from different regions of Russia, which resulted in the final documents with the conclusion that the draft law should not be adopted in the version proposed by the developers, is covered. Taking into account the results of the generalization of experts’ opinions, the grounds for inadmissibility of the adoption of the draft law No. 387575-8 in the current version are analyzed, including: creation by the provisions of the draft law of a risk of weakening the legal regime of protection of the ecological system of Lake Baikal; lack of scientific assessment of the consequences of the changes proposed by the draft law; absence of preliminary analysis of existing alternatives to the measures proposed by the draft law; contradiction of some norms of the draft law to the requirements of the current legislation, etc. Attention is drawn to the fact that the adoption of the draft law, which creates a threat of risks of negative changes in the Baikal ecosystem, was initiated in the absence of the necessary strategic planning documents. Based on the results of the analysis, the conclusion is formulated that it is advisable to conduct an anti-corruption and criminological examination of the draft law text edited based on the results of public discussions, that the measures contained in the considered draft law should be subject to a comprehensive scientific evaluation, and in some aspects are redundant.