Lake Baikal is not just one of the great natural treasures of Russia - but of the world.
It has no serious rivals - there is no other lake to match its size or singular importance.
A fifth of the worlds fresh water is held here - locked up deep in the vast expanse of Eastern Siberia.
Grigory Galazy, campaigner against Lake Baikals Cellulose plant: The lake is a unique phenomenon of our planet. It has enough fresh water to supply the whole population of the world for almost half a century.
Baikal is a place still largely unspoiled - one of the last remaining jewels in a country where seventy years of Soviet planning has laid waste much of the countryside.
The only practical way to get around Baikal is by boat - they talk about going to sea here - and thats what it feels like.
You cant quite sail out of sight of land - but you can feel the vast power of the place.
Conditions can alter dramatically from hour to hour - fierce winds can sweep down from the steep hills along the western shore.
Baikal has one and half thousand endemic species.
Grigory Galazy. Baikal is different from other lakes because two thirds of its species are endemic. Theyre not found anywhere else. Theyve appeared because of Baikals long, geological history, 25 million years.
We went in search of the lakes best known resident, the Baikal seal, the worlds only freshwater seal.
Yevgeny Petrov studies the seals of Baikal.
Yevgeny Petrov (seal specialist): The Baikal seals are the only mammals who live in Baikals waters and theyre at the top of the food chain. So they effectively eat everything. They accumulate all the biological energy of the lake. So they reflect the health of the lake. If the seals feel good, the lakes in good shape too.
A chain of tiny islands in the Northern half of the lake provides a summer home for the seals.
And theyre shy, so getting close requires a little care.
They are an estimated 100,000 seals in Lake Baikal and they spend most of their time in the water.
Yevgeny Petrov whispering: We think that this is a place where ill or weak animals rest. The little one on the right has wrinkles on his neck, as you can clearly see. It means he hasnt eaten well and hasnt got enough fat.
The seals closest relatives are in the Arctic more than 3 thousand miles away - and conventional scientific theory says they probably came to Lake Baikal during the last ice age.
Theres an annual quota for culling - about 10 percent, but Yevgeny Petrov thinks that in fact many more seals are being taken.
Yevgeny Petrov: The impact of people on the seals has become stronger. I dont mean pollution. I mean direct impact: hunting, poaching, seals being caught in fishing nets. And thats happening because of economic pressures. People are finding it harder to live and theres not much we can do about that.
About 200,000 people live around the shores of the lake.A few of them live on Olkhon Island, the largest of the lakes 27 islands.Olkhon means dry island - its meant to be in a rain shadow.
There are few more miserable places than a boat when its raining.One of them is the main street of Khuzhir, the largest town on Olkhon.
It's called the 19th Party Congress Street - such loyalty might have at least expected a strip of Bitumen in return.
Fishing is the main business here.
Theyre also starting to get their share of tourists.
Mayor of Khuzhir: In the near future fishing and fish processing will remain the base of our economy but we have to look for new ways to survive. The only other serious thing we can do is develop tourism. Were doing something about it. We have what we call family tourism where people take Russian and foreign tourist into their homes.
The most substantial human impact on the Lake Baikal, however, comes not from tourism, not yet at least.
Baikals water is clean, partly because of the sheer volume. But there is pollution and a growing environmental movement which wants to see the future of the lake secured.
East of Lake Baikal lies Ulan Ude - a city of three hundred thousand people.
And those who live here rely on numerous heavy industries for their livelihoods.Theres a woollen mill, metals and food processing - in fact a collection of some of the dirtiest industries you could imagine.
Ulan Ude is your typical Soviet era industrial city and for decades much of the waste from the factories in the area found its way into this river. The problem is that this river is the largest single river that flows into Lake Baikal.
Dr. Sergei Shapkhaev, Head of Local Government Department for
Lake Baikal: The Selenga River is a huge source of pollution, some of the waste comes as far away as Mongolia, and downstream from Ulan Ude a lot of agricultural fertilizers are washed off into the Selenga and its tributaries. The Selenga is one of the main sources of pollution for Lake Baikal.There are worrying signs of pollution in Lake Baikal. New kinds of algae have appeared, some fish are ill and theyve been outbreaks of disease among the seals.
But however damaging the industrial pollution from Ulan Ude, there is one single industry, one place that has long been the symbol of environmental risk to Lake Baikal.
It is the Baikalsk Cellulose Plant and it sits right on the southern shore of the lake.
When it was built in the mid 60s even in the midst of Soviet totalitarianism, it provoked immediate public protest.
Grigory Galazy was one who took up the cause and was branded a traitor for his trouble.
Grigory Galazy: We were accused of collaborating with imperialism and sabotaging the cellulose industry. The Ministry of cellulose production tried to stop us protesting. Well, were still here. But unfortunately so is the plant.
Making cellulose in this case for the synthetic fibre industry, requires enormous quantities of water.The plant uses nearly a quarter of a million cubic metres of water a day.And this is what the water looks like after its been used to wash and bleach the raw product - an evil looking brown liquid with a strong chlorine odour.
But before its pumped back into the lake its cleaned and it comes out looking as clean as tap water.
According to the company its among the cleanest plants of its type in the world.
Raisa Zaikova, Deputy Director of Ecology at the Cellulose Plant: We had a group of international experts look at this recently and they said our water treatment facilities are among the worlds five best.
But it still contains chemical compounds which take centuries to degrade and which opponents of the plant say could poison the food chain in Lake Baikal.
Grigory Galazy: If the Cellulose Plant remains here, Lake Baikal will undoubtedly die. The whole bulk of water in the lake changes once every 400 years. If we close the plant now, its waste will remain in Baikal for the next 400 years. The sooner we close it, the sooner well preserve Lake Baikal.
Raisa Zaikova: The town will die if the plant is closed. Other industries should be developed first and only then should the plant be closed.
In fact the Government first proposed closing the Baikalsk Cellulose Plant in the late 1980s. Moneys the problem and likely to remain so, as the Russian Governments Deputy Environment Minister Alexei Poryadin concedes.
Alexei Poryadin, Deputy Environment Minister: Yes I believe the Cellulose Plant, pollution from industries in Ulan Ude and other places have already and still are doing considerable damage to Lake Baikal. Everybody understands the problem and the importance of Lake Baikal but the economic situation at the moment means I cant get big sums from the Federal budget to cover all Baikal projects.
Few Russians would dare suggest Lake Baikal isnt worth protecting.It really is recognised as one of the countrys great assets.Tourism if its properly controlled offers a way of exploiting the commercial potential of the lake, while still preserving the natural environment.But already there are concerns at its haphazard development at the hands of new, rich Russians.
Yevgeny Petrov: Tourism should and must be developed here, but so far its done in a wild way - a hotel is built by new Russians with no proper sewerage facilities.
There probably wont be a lot of new heavy industry built on the shores of Lake Baikal; there isnt the economic or political imperative for it and public opinion probably wouldnt stand for it either. But old industries remain and there are new pressures, most notably tourism.
Yes, there are laws to protect Lake Baikal but in Russia money often counts for more than the law. So the future of one of the worlds great natural treasures still remains more a case of good luck than good management.
It has no serious rivals - there is no other lake to match its size or singular importance.
A fifth of the worlds fresh water is held here - locked up deep in the vast expanse of Eastern Siberia.
Grigory Galazy, campaigner against Lake Baikals Cellulose plant: The lake is a unique phenomenon of our planet. It has enough fresh water to supply the whole population of the world for almost half a century.
Baikal is a place still largely unspoiled - one of the last remaining jewels in a country where seventy years of Soviet planning has laid waste much of the countryside.
The only practical way to get around Baikal is by boat - they talk about going to sea here - and thats what it feels like.
You cant quite sail out of sight of land - but you can feel the vast power of the place.
Conditions can alter dramatically from hour to hour - fierce winds can sweep down from the steep hills along the western shore.
Baikal has one and half thousand endemic species.
Grigory Galazy. Baikal is different from other lakes because two thirds of its species are endemic. Theyre not found anywhere else. Theyve appeared because of Baikals long, geological history, 25 million years.
We went in search of the lakes best known resident, the Baikal seal, the worlds only freshwater seal.
Yevgeny Petrov studies the seals of Baikal.
Yevgeny Petrov (seal specialist): The Baikal seals are the only mammals who live in Baikals waters and theyre at the top of the food chain. So they effectively eat everything. They accumulate all the biological energy of the lake. So they reflect the health of the lake. If the seals feel good, the lakes in good shape too.
A chain of tiny islands in the Northern half of the lake provides a summer home for the seals.
And theyre shy, so getting close requires a little care.
They are an estimated 100,000 seals in Lake Baikal and they spend most of their time in the water.
Yevgeny Petrov whispering: We think that this is a place where ill or weak animals rest. The little one on the right has wrinkles on his neck, as you can clearly see. It means he hasnt eaten well and hasnt got enough fat.
The seals closest relatives are in the Arctic more than 3 thousand miles away - and conventional scientific theory says they probably came to Lake Baikal during the last ice age.
Theres an annual quota for culling - about 10 percent, but Yevgeny Petrov thinks that in fact many more seals are being taken.
Yevgeny Petrov: The impact of people on the seals has become stronger. I dont mean pollution. I mean direct impact: hunting, poaching, seals being caught in fishing nets. And thats happening because of economic pressures. People are finding it harder to live and theres not much we can do about that.
About 200,000 people live around the shores of the lake.A few of them live on Olkhon Island, the largest of the lakes 27 islands.Olkhon means dry island - its meant to be in a rain shadow.
There are few more miserable places than a boat when its raining.One of them is the main street of Khuzhir, the largest town on Olkhon.
It's called the 19th Party Congress Street - such loyalty might have at least expected a strip of Bitumen in return.
Fishing is the main business here.
Theyre also starting to get their share of tourists.
Mayor of Khuzhir: In the near future fishing and fish processing will remain the base of our economy but we have to look for new ways to survive. The only other serious thing we can do is develop tourism. Were doing something about it. We have what we call family tourism where people take Russian and foreign tourist into their homes.
The most substantial human impact on the Lake Baikal, however, comes not from tourism, not yet at least.
Baikals water is clean, partly because of the sheer volume. But there is pollution and a growing environmental movement which wants to see the future of the lake secured.
East of Lake Baikal lies Ulan Ude - a city of three hundred thousand people.
And those who live here rely on numerous heavy industries for their livelihoods.Theres a woollen mill, metals and food processing - in fact a collection of some of the dirtiest industries you could imagine.
Ulan Ude is your typical Soviet era industrial city and for decades much of the waste from the factories in the area found its way into this river. The problem is that this river is the largest single river that flows into Lake Baikal.
Dr. Sergei Shapkhaev, Head of Local Government Department for
Lake Baikal: The Selenga River is a huge source of pollution, some of the waste comes as far away as Mongolia, and downstream from Ulan Ude a lot of agricultural fertilizers are washed off into the Selenga and its tributaries. The Selenga is one of the main sources of pollution for Lake Baikal.There are worrying signs of pollution in Lake Baikal. New kinds of algae have appeared, some fish are ill and theyve been outbreaks of disease among the seals.
But however damaging the industrial pollution from Ulan Ude, there is one single industry, one place that has long been the symbol of environmental risk to Lake Baikal.
It is the Baikalsk Cellulose Plant and it sits right on the southern shore of the lake.
When it was built in the mid 60s even in the midst of Soviet totalitarianism, it provoked immediate public protest.
Grigory Galazy was one who took up the cause and was branded a traitor for his trouble.
Grigory Galazy: We were accused of collaborating with imperialism and sabotaging the cellulose industry. The Ministry of cellulose production tried to stop us protesting. Well, were still here. But unfortunately so is the plant.
Making cellulose in this case for the synthetic fibre industry, requires enormous quantities of water.The plant uses nearly a quarter of a million cubic metres of water a day.And this is what the water looks like after its been used to wash and bleach the raw product - an evil looking brown liquid with a strong chlorine odour.
But before its pumped back into the lake its cleaned and it comes out looking as clean as tap water.
According to the company its among the cleanest plants of its type in the world.
Raisa Zaikova, Deputy Director of Ecology at the Cellulose Plant: We had a group of international experts look at this recently and they said our water treatment facilities are among the worlds five best.
But it still contains chemical compounds which take centuries to degrade and which opponents of the plant say could poison the food chain in Lake Baikal.
Grigory Galazy: If the Cellulose Plant remains here, Lake Baikal will undoubtedly die. The whole bulk of water in the lake changes once every 400 years. If we close the plant now, its waste will remain in Baikal for the next 400 years. The sooner we close it, the sooner well preserve Lake Baikal.
Raisa Zaikova: The town will die if the plant is closed. Other industries should be developed first and only then should the plant be closed.
In fact the Government first proposed closing the Baikalsk Cellulose Plant in the late 1980s. Moneys the problem and likely to remain so, as the Russian Governments Deputy Environment Minister Alexei Poryadin concedes.
Alexei Poryadin, Deputy Environment Minister: Yes I believe the Cellulose Plant, pollution from industries in Ulan Ude and other places have already and still are doing considerable damage to Lake Baikal. Everybody understands the problem and the importance of Lake Baikal but the economic situation at the moment means I cant get big sums from the Federal budget to cover all Baikal projects.
Few Russians would dare suggest Lake Baikal isnt worth protecting.It really is recognised as one of the countrys great assets.Tourism if its properly controlled offers a way of exploiting the commercial potential of the lake, while still preserving the natural environment.But already there are concerns at its haphazard development at the hands of new, rich Russians.
Yevgeny Petrov: Tourism should and must be developed here, but so far its done in a wild way - a hotel is built by new Russians with no proper sewerage facilities.
There probably wont be a lot of new heavy industry built on the shores of Lake Baikal; there isnt the economic or political imperative for it and public opinion probably wouldnt stand for it either. But old industries remain and there are new pressures, most notably tourism.
Yes, there are laws to protect Lake Baikal but in Russia money often counts for more than the law. So the future of one of the worlds great natural treasures still remains more a case of good luck than good management.