Putin to see submersibles work in Baikal, hold conf on envr protection

IRKUTSK, August 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
will hold a conference in Irkutsk on Saturday to discuss environmental
protection work. He also plans to acquaint himself with the work of the
scientific research expedition "Mirs on the Baikal" and visit the Baikal
museum of the Irkutsk scientific centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Siberian branch.
The meeting will consider environmental protection measures, including
preservation of the ecological system of Lake Baikal and rare and
endangered species of animals, a Russian government office source said.
The measures must lower the negative technical effect on the
environment and enhance the energy and ecological effectiveness of
Russia's economy. Tougher measures must be also imposed against violations
of the ecological regulations, the source noted.
The premier is expected to visit the Metropol vessel that conducts
scientific research on the lake. The work with the Mir-1 and Mir-2
submersibles has been lasting for 41 days. Specialists have gone down to a
depth of over 1.5 kilometres and studied the chemical content of the water
and the fauna in Baikal depths. The scientists discovered discharges of
gas hydrates, ice-like transformations of natural gas and water, at a
depth of 1,400 metres. Scholars believe gas hydrates can be inexhaustible
reserves of energy raw material in the future, since one such cubic metre
contains about 160 cubic metres of methane.
The Mir submersibles, which examine depths of the world's largest
fresh water reservoir, were made in 1987. They are capable to go down to a
depth of up to 6,000 metres. Two Mirs are in Russia, one is in France and
one in Japan. World specialists consider the Mirs to be the best
submersibles as they allow to work under water for up to 24 hours, while
similar foreign ones can remain under water for no longer than eight-ten
hours.
Speaking about the planned conference, the government source noted
that there were no stimulation mechanisms in the Russian legislation to
switch to ecologically safe technologies, reduce waste discharges and
carry out environmental protection measures. It is allowed to set and
indefinitely prolong limits for discharges that considerably exceed the
safe levels of effect on the environment.
Though there is relative stabilization of the level of environment
contamination in Russia, some areas still suffer from high and very high
pollution. Lake Baikal is still affected by discharges of contaminating
substances in the central Baikal ecological zone and leakage of polluting
substances from industrial sites. The growth of unorganised tourism,
construction of facilities for tourists and private constructions on the
banks, the water transport number increase and the growth of fish poaching
also play a considerable role to harm the environment.
At the same time, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the
quality of water in the Baikal has remained stable for the last ten years
and is even higher than the requirements for water used for drinking and
for fishery purposes.
Particular attention must be paid to the issue of preservation of rare
and endangered species of animals. There are 414 such species in Russia at
present. The most effective mechanism to protect them is creation of state
natural preserves, national parks and other guarded and protected nature
areas.
Russia is the only country where the number of tigers rose to 450-500
from the middle of last century. The government set up three national
parks in 2007-2008 in the areas inhabited by Amur tigers. Over 20 percent
of the tiger population territory is under special protection.
Similar measures are taken with regard to Far Eastern leopards, whose
number is no more than 52 all over the world, and 30 of them live in
Russia's Primorye. The government in 2008 designated a state leopard
preserve area.
There are also other leopards living in remote areas in the eastern
Caucasus in Russia. Measures to restore the leopard population are
included in the programme for ecological measures in preparations for the
Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Specially protected nature preserves of federal importance are created
in Russia's Arctic region inhabited by polar bears.
Measures are also taken in the country to preserve rare birds,
including cranes, storks, falcons, and other endangered species, the
government source noted.
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