Features of protection of transboundary objects of the world natural heritage: Russian and foreign experience (Part 2)

Kolobov Roman Yurievich PhD in Law PhD in Law Associate Professor of the Department of International Law and Comparative Jurisprudence of the Irkutsk State University Law Institute; Department of Regional Economic and Social Problems of Irkutsk Scientific Center of SB RAS. 134, Lermontova str., Irkutsk, 664033 roman.kolobov@gmail.com Other publications by this author     Ditsevich Yaroslava Borisovna PhD in Law Leading Researcher of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Irkutsk Law Insitute (branch) of the University of Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation 664035, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Shevtsova str., 1 yaroslavadi@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Cherdakova Larisa Anatol'evna PhD in Law Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Civil Law of the East Siberian Branch of the Russian State University of Justice 664074, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, ul. Ivan Franko, 23A l.docent@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Suvorova Ariadna Vladimirovna Expert of the Youth Research Center of the Research Institute of Legal Protection of Baikal ISU 664082, Russia, Irkutsk region, Irkutsk, Ulaanbaatar str., 10 suvorova.999@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The study was carried out with the support of the RFBR in the framework of scientific project No. 20-011-00618.

There are four World Heritage sites in Russia, which are managed jointly with other countries. Two of them belong to the objects of cultural heritage (the Curonian Spit and the Geodetic arc of Struve), two more are among the objects of natural heritage (the Ubsunur basin and the Landscapes of Dauria). Since this article deals with the problems of protecting World Natural Heritage sites, we will be interested in the management aspects of the last two objects mentioned above.

Chronologically, the first object on the List was the "Ubsunur basin". The documents adopted on the issues of the inscription of this object and the analysis of the state of its preservation within the framework of the World Heritage protection system are relatively few. As follows from the evaluation of the nomination materials prepared by the IUCN, the initial application for the inclusion of the object in the List was submitted by Russia and Mongolia in 1999, but its consideration was postponed in order to revise the boundaries and prepare a joint management plan for the object^[1]. A second attempt took place in 2001-2002, but the materials were returned to Mongolia with a request to increase the boundaries of the nominated object (in the part of the lake "Ubsu-Nur"). The relevant changes were submitted for consideration in 2003 and the Committee decided to include the transnational serial object in the World Heritage List^[2]. The facility consists of twelve specially protected natural areas, seven of which are located on the territory of Russia, five – Mongolia. In addition, buffer zones of World Heritage sites have been created in five territories in Russia, representing an independent international environmental regime.

In subsequent years, the bodies of the World Heritage protection system paid attention to the object "Ubsunur basin" only twice. In 2004, the Bureau of the Committee granted Mongolia's request for the allocation of US$ 26,000 in international assistance for the development of a joint Russian-Mongolian management plan^[3], and in 2011 the Committee approved the so-called retrospective formulation of the outstanding universal value of this object^[4].

Bilateral Russian-Mongolian cooperation on the protection of the Ubsunur Basin is developing both organizationally (through the cooperation of the administrations of national specially protected natural territories) and normative – through the conclusion of cooperation agreements.

In Russia and Mongolia, the legal protection of a unique ecosystem is provided by the regimes of the Ubsunur Basin nature reserves of the same name.  The nomination materials show that various subjects related to environmental protection have concluded various agreements aimed at creating a common framework for cooperation between the two countries on the protection of the ecosystem of the object. For example, in 1998, an agreement on scientific cooperation was signed between the State Committee for Ecology of the Republic of Tyva and the Ubsunur Directorate for Environmental Protection, and in 2000 – a Protocol on cooperation between the reserves of the two countries.

At the moment, the international legal basis for cooperation is the Agreement between the Governments of the two countries on the creation of the Ubsunur Basin cross-border reserve^[5]. This document defines the responsible national authorities – the relevant ministries for environmental protection and gives them the authority to carry out direct contacts among themselves. At the same time, a coordinating body is being created – a Mixed Commission, the frequency of meetings of which is once a year.  Judging by the publicly available information, the structures created by this Agreement are functioning. So, in 2021, a new chairman of the Russian part of the Mixed Commission was appointed^[6], and in December 2022 its next meeting was held^[7].

An analysis of the organization of environmental activities at the facility shows that since the preparation of the nomination materials, management plans have been prepared. Thus, as part of the documents sent in 2001 to the World Heritage Center by Russia and Mongolia, there is a management plan prepared in 2000. This document is quite concise – its volume is only thirty-five pages, twenty-five of them are devoted to the description of the characteristics of the natural complex. Judging by the available information, management plans were adopted in the future. Thus, in a number of sources, the authors refer to the Joint Management Plan of transboundary protected Areas of the Russian Federation and Mongolia "Ubsunur basin" 2010-2015^[8], which could not be found in open sources. The issue of ensuring information openness of management processes will be the subject of analysis in the final part of this article.

The second Russian World Heritage Site, whose management is coordinated with Mongolia, is the Landscapes of Dauria. The initial materials on the nomination of this object were submitted in 2014, but were returned by the Committee with an indication of the need to clarify the boundaries, formulate an outstanding universal value, create a system of joint planning for the preservation of the object, etc. In the assessment of the natural properties of the object carried out by the IUCN, the compliance of the object with the ninth and tenth criteria of outstanding universal value is noted.

The legal protection of the object in question is provided by the regime of intrastate specially protected natural territories. In Russia, this is the Daursky Nature Reserve, the reserve of federal significance "Dzerena Valley", in Mongolia – the specially protected natural area "Mongol-Daguur" and the Ugtam nature reserve. A buffer zone has also been approved for the object^[9]. In addition to the above, the Russian part of the object is endowed with the status of a biosphere reserve, and the Torey Lakes are a wetland of international importance.

The transnational basis for the management of the facility is an Intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a joint Russian-Mongolian-Chinese reserve "Dauria" (known in international environmental practice as DIPA – English: Dauria International Protected Area). It also creates an organizational structure for cooperation on the protection of a unique ecosystem, headed by a Mixed Commission. It is co-chaired by the heads of environmental agencies of the three mentioned States. Despite the fact that Chinese protected areas were not included in the World Heritage site "Landscapes of Dauria", the IUCN in its conclusion indicated that the structures created under this agreement have shown sufficient effectiveness and it would be counterproductive to create another level of management^[10]. At the same time, the International Union for Conservation of Nature noted that DIPA structures ensure the proper level of political decision-making, but do not fully ensure operational coordination of actions. According to the information provided in the report of the Russian Federation to the World Heritage Center, various cooperation of working groups is conducted within the framework of DIPA structures in accordance with the work plan^[11].

The main threat to the ecological condition of the World Heritage site under consideration is the construction of a dam on the Uldza River in Mongolia. In 2021, at the forty-fourth session, the Committee expressed serious concern about this circumstance and noted the lack of appropriate notification of the World Heritage protection structures in violation of the provisions of paragraph 172 of the Manual. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Heritage Center, in their conclusion on the state of the site prepared for the forty-fourth session of the Committee in 2021, noted that the Uldza River is one of the main tributaries of the Torey Lakes, which are not only a World Heritage site, but also a wetland of international importance in accordance with the Ramsar Convention, the status of which is intended to ensure the preservation of habitats for rare and endangered bird species^[12]. 

Extremely important is the request of the Committee to immediately suspend construction work until an assessment of the impact of the project on the outstanding universal value of the object is carried out^[13].

The conducted research allows us to formulate a number of conclusions both on improving the regime of cross-border (transnational) World Heritage sites and on improving the efficiency of conservation activities of objects located exclusively within the Russian territory.

The Convention and the Guidelines outline only the most general outlines of the regime of the TPN. As noted above, the regulation of forms of cooperation and the creation of the necessary institutions takes place at the two- and three–way international levels, and specific forms of implementation of environmental efforts - at the domestic level. This approach ensures the truly universal nature of the Convention and allows taking into account the peculiarities of the economic, political and social situation at individual sites and preserving the already existing positive practice of nature protection. On the other hand, such a general nature of regulation imposes stricter requirements on the consistency of the legal positions of the Committee in assessing national practices of management and protection of natural resources, as well as on the activities of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as its advisory body. As noted, at the moment there is no specialized methodological guidance on the management of goods and services. At the same time, its adoption and support by the World Heritage Committee seems to be a necessary condition for improving the effectiveness of the regime of cross-border (transnational) World Heritage sites.

The issue of improving the legal framework for the protection and management of goods in Russia is related to the more general issue of the legislative consolidation of the World Heritage protection regime as a whole. The authors of this article have already expressed the opinion about the most effective way to resolve these issues in legislation, which is to make additions to the Federal Law "On Specially Protected Natural Territories" in the form of a section "International legal regimes for environmental protection"^[14]. It is advisable to fix in it the features of both the protection of the world natural heritage as a whole and the goods. In relation to the latter, it may be necessary to create supranational management bodies for facilities and prepare joint management plans for them. At the same time, it seems quite possible to fix in this section the specifics of the creation and management of transboundary specially protected natural territories that are not covered by the World Heritage protection regime.

The legislative consolidation of the features of the protection regime of OVPN will help to give greater certainty to the consequences of listing objects in the List. A significant number of people often live within the boundaries of spatially extended unique natural complexes, for whom understanding the consequences of recognizing their places of residence and activities as World Heritage is a necessary condition for planning their own lives. The considered forms of involvement of interested parties in solving the problems of protection of such unique natural objects also have a certain potential. Holding regular consultative meetings (forums, conferences, etc.) with the participation of interested groups of entities carrying out their economic and environmental activities within the World Heritage sites will contribute to achieving a social consensus on the sustainable development of the respective territories.

The protection of unique ecosystems of global importance in different countries of the world, as shown in this article, requires the involvement of the efforts of the scientific community. The Russian Federation has a unique experience of consolidating the efforts of leading representatives of academic science to ensure the scientific validity of decisions taken. We are talking about the activities of the Scientific Council of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the problems of Lake Baikal (hereinafter – the Scientific Council). In accordance with its regulations, the Council ensures the formation and submission to the authorities of the agreed positions of the scientific community, coordinates specialized scientific research, conducts scientific expertise of major scientific projects related to the use of natural resources in the lake basin and other initiatives^[15]. Taking into account the traditions of organizing fundamental and applied research in Russia, the attribution of issues of scientific support for managerial decision-making to the competence of RAS structures deserves support. An analysis of the activities of the Scientific Council shows a high level of expertise and involvement of leading academic institutions in solving problems of preserving the ecosystem of Lake Baikal^[16]. Further improvement of the issues of involvement of the scientific community in the management of World Heritage sites should follow the path of regulatory and legal consolidation of the status of relevant scientific structures. This problem was also noted in the report of the Scientific Council for 2022.^[17] regarding the uncertainty of the status of the Council itself and the SB RAS.

Among the applied problems that need to be resolved, it is necessary to include ensuring the information openness of the regulatory framework for the protection of goods and services, decisions taken by their management bodies and their activities. In the course of this study, the authors faced the problem of searching for intergovernmental agreements adopted on the protection of transboundary ecosystems and, in particular, decisions taken by supranational governing bodies of such World Heritage sites, which significantly complicates the assessment of the effectiveness of environmental measures.

Of all the World Heritage sites analyzed in this article, proper information openness is provided by the management of the Wadden Sea. A comprehensive information resource on the Internet presents regulatory documents on general issues of management organization; a special agreement; decisions taken by management bodies; facility management plans and many other documents that form the legal and organizational basis for the conservation of this World Heritage site, as well as an empirical basis for analyzing the practice of nature conservation.

No specialized Internet resources have been created for the Russian goods selected for analysis in the framework of this study. Some of the necessary information is provided on the websites of the administrations of Russian protected areas included in the TOVPN. At the same time, these resources do not reflect the specifics of the international status of unique natural complexes. It seems that the global positioning of objects should take place, first of all, using the status of international heritage. For example, at the Wadden Sea facility, the Internet address includes an indication of World Heritage. The inclusion in the Federal Law "On Specially Protected Territories" of the requirement to ensure the management of any World Heritage site (including cross-border and national), as well as any cross-border protected areas, an information resource on the Internet, will contribute to solving the tasks of protecting natural complexes. The main content of such an information resource was disclosed by the authors of this article in a profile study^[18].

Among the issues of an applied nature, attention is drawn to the considered experience in preparing a Comprehensive Plan for the World Heritage site "Wadden Sea". Early declaration of goals in matters of ensuring sustainable fishing is extremely in demand, for example, on Lake Baikal, which is a World Heritage site. The adoption in 2017 of a ban on commercial fishing in relation to the Baikal omul^[19] was quite unexpected for the local population and was not accompanied by systemic compensatory measures aimed at replenishing the sources of income lost with the establishment of this ban for residents of settlements on the Baikal coast. The presence of a strategy for regulating such activities at the World Heritage site as part of the management plan will ensure the proper level of predictability of management decisions and early discussion of the possibilities of economic support for entrepreneurs whose interests are affected by such regulation.

The example of Lake Baikal is also indicative of the planning of tourist activity management. A clear and precise consolidation of the priorities of nature protection in the implementation of this type of activity will help to reduce the level of consumer attitude to the unique ecosystem, since practice shows that in modern conditions, the positioning of tourism on Lake Baikal rarely includes environmental issues. The considered experience of fixing the goals of tourism management on the "Wadden Sea" can serve as a model for improving appropriate approaches in Russia.

It should also be noted the lack of attention on the part of environmental actors to the problems of climate change and its impact on Russian World Heritage sites. The practice of protecting various World Heritage sites shows that the importance of this factor will increase in the future, especially for aquatic ecosystems. In particular, the deterioration of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Belize Barrier Reef is directly linked to global climate change^[20]. In legal and management documents related to the protection of the World Heritage, the topic of climate change and possible measures to adapt to it is practically not raised, and therefore it seems necessary to take into account this important factor when forming management plans for Russian OVPN.

Despite the existing threats to the ecosystem of the World Heritage site "Landscapes of Dauria" and its constituent Torey Lakes from the hydroelectric power station being built on the Uldze River, we have to admit that international cooperation and its legal forms are the main way to solve emerging problems of preserving natural objects of planetary value. The existence of common international obligations of States to preserve World Heritage sites is one of the main tools for reducing threats to transboundary ecosystems. The question of the role of international cooperation within the framework of the World Heritage Convention can also be raised in a broader way. The considered practice of cooperation of foreign states in matters of world heritage protection demonstrates significant potential for solving both environmental problems and the development of humanitarian cooperation in general.

With regard to the considered issues of protection of goods, the expansion of interstate cooperation can be expressed in the activities supported by the Committee on the preparation of new nominations by border states, as well as the establishment of "twinning" relations between various unique natural objects.