Environment: Lake Baikal - for iPad/Mac/PC

A heavy burden

Environment: Lake Baikal

Pearl of Siberia

A World Heritage Site

The growing demand for electricity creates further pollution.

Increasing threats

Ignoring the risks

Environmental protection in the Gorbachev era.

The Gorbachov era

The impact of the sudden end to the Soviet Union in 1991.

A country in transition

Environmental proctection is a hindrance to economic development

An inconvenient law

Protecting the lake

Risks facing the lake and the threat of global warming

Balancing the risks

The economic importance of Baikalsk paper mill

Two sides to the story

Treating the water

Is it possible for economic growth and environmental sustainability to co-exist?

Economy versus nature

The Baikal water bottling plant as a more sustainable form of development.

An alternative industry

Should natural resources be exploited to support economic development? In Siberia, Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and contains one fifth of the world’s freshwater. It has developed over 25 million years to be a truly unique eco-system - yet this lake is now an environment at serious risk. This album focuses on the growing environmental threats to the region, which was named a World Heritage Site in 1996. Industry and new businesses flocked to the once-isolated region, inducing massive economic growth, but at what cost to the natural habitat? On top of this threat, the invasion of alien species and rising water temperatures due to global warming throw up questions, conflicts and challenges about sustainable development and how we are to manage the consequences of our actions responsibly. This material forms part of the course U216 Environment.