Environmental safety and the “green” economy in the context of the Baikalocentric model of territorial development

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The results of ecological and socioeconomic scientific research within the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory (CEZ of the BNT) are presented, the legislatively fixed function of which is the preservation of the unique ecological system of Lake Baikal. It administratively includes the territory of three districts of the Irkutsk region (Irkutskii, Olkhonskii and Slyudyanskii) and four in the Republic of Buryatia (Barguzinskii, Kabanskii, Severobaikalskii and Pribaikalskii). The research is based on the theoretical and methodological approaches of social geography; we applied the ideology of the “green” economy and the centrality of territorial development. For Lake Baikal as an object of the World Natural heritage (since 1996) on the basis of the adopted federal law “On the protection of Lake Baikal”, three federal target programs for the protection of the lake and socioeconomic development of the Baikal natural territory have been developed. Based on the data obtained during the targeted research of the federal and regional level on the territory of the CEZ of the BNT, a matrix is proposed for assessing the location of economic activity objects (e.g. industry of specialization - the recreational sphere). Geographical features of the CES of the BNT and its modern functional purpose predetermine the Baikal-centric vector of economic activity, primarily recreational, and the growing role of the emerging environmental protection infrastructure (GIS). We consider the GIS as part of the environmental infrastructure from the standpoint of the”green” economy as a practical implementation of the principles of sustainable development. Methods of expeditionary research and sociology (questioning, survey) were used.