The Potential of International Law for Regulating Tourist Relations at the World Heritage Site Lake Baikal

Kolobov Roman Yur'evich PhD in Law Associate Professor of the Department of International Law and Comparative Jurisprudence of the Irkutsk State University Law Institute; Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law of the East Siberian Branch of the Russian State University of Justice 664082, Russia, Irkutskaya oblast', g. Irkutsk, ul. Ulan-Batorskaya, 10 roman.kolobov@gmail.com Other publications by this author     Ditsevich Yaroslava Borisovna PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of Prosecutorial Oversight in Participation of the Prosecutor in Consideration of Civil and Arbitration Affairs, 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     Ganeva Ekaterina Olegovna PhD in Law Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law of the Irkutsk State University Law Institute; Coordinator of the Youth Research Center of the Research Institute of Legal Protection of Lake Baikal ISU 664082, Russia, Irkutskaya oblast', g. Irkutsk, ul. Ulan-Batorskaya, 10 kareva10@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Borodin Lev Vladimirovich Expert, Youth Research Center of the Research Institute of Legal Protection of Baikal, Irkutsk State University 664082, Russia, Irkutskaya oblast', g. Irkutsk, ul. Ulan-Batorskaya, 10 lockeone@mail.ru Other publications by this author

In recent decades, international norms and law enforcement practices in the field of protection of World Heritage sites from the negative consequences of the widespread increase in tourists have been modernized annually. New documents regulating, in particular, the procedure for carrying out tourist activities at such specific facilities are being improved and adopted. Such activities are of increased importance in relation to the World Heritage site Lake Baikal located in Russia, where in recent years, the growth in the number of foreign and Russian tourists has only temporarily stopped for objective reasons related to the unfavorable epidemiological situation that took place at a global level.

Among the obligations of the participating states, the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (hereinafter the Convention) establishes the implementation of measures to promote natural heritage (Articles 4, 5, and 6 of the Convention). In our opinion, at the moment, this direction of fulfilling international obligations under the analyzed Convention in relation to Lake Baikal has a significant "bias" toward the use of the lake's recreational potential and the development of infrastructure projects on its shores. In practice, this significantly exceeds the activity and volume of dissemination of information about the vulnerability of the Baikal ecosystem and the necessary measures for its conservation, which is an equally important element in implementing the obligation to popularize this World Heritage site.

At the same time, without denying the need to use the diverse resources of Lake Baikal, it seems that the status of a World Heritage site should also be used to preserve the ecosystem if we talk, first of all, about the sustainable implementation of this activity.

Thus, in the draft state program of the Irkutsk region "Tourism and the hospitality industry" ^[1] for 2022–2026, the goal is to increase the annual tourist flow to three million people. However, it is unclear from the document's content how these indicators will be correlated to compliance with environmental requirements. In August 2021, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences sent materials on the scientific justification of the need to ban the discharge of wastewater into Lake Baikal to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, with the conclusion that the key cause of environmental problems in the lake’s coastal zone (the growth of filamentous algae, the death of the Baikal sponge, the development of cyanobacteria, etc.) is the inflow of polluted effluent ^[2]. At the same time, existing sewage treatment plants cannot provide proper wastewater treatment.

A significant increase in the number of tourists and vacationers will entail an even greater burden on the worn-out infrastructure, leading to an inevitable deterioration of Lake Baikal's ecological state. This thesis is confirmed by the materials of the official authorities ^[3].

Thus, according to the information provided in the State Report on the state of Lake Baikal and measures for its protection in 2020, anomalies in the composition of the aquatic environment are regularly noted in areas with a stable negative impact of economic activity on the Baikal ecosystem, the cause of which is the unsatisfactory condition of water treatment facilities in the settlements of Kultuk, Babushkin, Listvyanka, Slyudyanka, entailing ingress into the lake is insufficiently treated wastewater and household waste and expressed in elevated concentrations of nitrogen group substances, phosphate ion, copper, aluminum, and zinc ^{[3, p. 328]}.

The process of construction and the modernization of sewage treatment plants in the Central Ecological Zone of the Baikal Natural Territory (hereinafter referred to as the BPT CEZ) carried out initially within the framework of the federal target program "Protection of Lake Baikal and socio-economic development of the Baikal Natural Territory for 2012-2020" and subsequently within the framework of the federal project "Protection of Lake Baikal" of the national project "Ecology," has to date not been completed. The non-fulfillment of several important projects and initiatives in this direction is due to various reasons: the inefficiency of the use of funds allocated for the implementation of planned activities, related to the incompetence and direct abuse of employees of the authorities to whose authority the functions in question are attributed, as well as with the "dishonesty of contractors, non-fulfillment of state contracts, systematic postponement of the development of design estimates, etc., etc." ^{[3, p. 273]}. Nevertheless, there are some examples of achieving the targets set by the program documents.

It seems reasonable to reflect the need to implement balanced measures to promote World Heritage sites in the legislation. Baikal should be presented in the Russian and foreign media space perhaps not so much as a place of leisure and recreation but also as a "victim" of not always reasonable human activity, requiring a careful and caring attitude on the part of everyone on the Baikal natural territory.

Tourism development is indeed one of the main means for fulfilling the obligations to promote World Heritage sites. However, uncontrolled flows of tourists carry the risk of ecosystem degradation and the emergence of social tension in relations with the local population. The World Heritage Committee has repeatedly drawn attention to the environmental risks of uncontrolled tourism development, pointing out the need to apply various planning and regulatory measures to ensure sustainable tourism development (35 SOM 7B.23, 34 SOM 7B.22, 33 SOM 7B.28, 32 SOM 7B.24, 31 SOM 7B.31). The same problem has repeatedly become the subject of research by natural sciences scientists, as well as the object of attention of state bodies. For example, in 2021, Rospotrebnadzor declared bathing dangerous in popular recreation areas on Lake Baikal in the Irkutsk region—Mukhor Bay, the area "Burlog" and Kurkutskaya Bay—due to the inconsistency of water in these areas with the requirements of hygienic standards for microbiological indicators ^[4]. For these reasons, in 2022, a ban on bathing was introduced in the main tributary of Lake Baikal: the Selenga River near the city of Ulan-Ude and adjacent territories, the central agglomeration of the Republic of Buryatia ^[5].

The World Heritage protection system pays considerable attention to the methodological support of the organization of tourist activities. It is possible to improve Russian legislation on World Heritage sites in general and Lake Baikal using already established approaches. Here it seems expedient to develop some ideas about the possibility of using international best practices when regulating tourism in the CEZ BPT.

The first set of rules to be discussed is formed within the framework of the World Heritage Convention. An important policy statement in this area is the document "Policy Guidelines: Defining the Relationship between World Heritage and Tourism," adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 2010 (decision 34 COM 5F.2) ^[6]. It states the bilateral mutually beneficial relationship between the tourism industry and the World Heritage system, as well as significant features of the implementation of tourism activities at various unique cultural and natural sites. The balanced nature of the approaches expressed in this document makes it possible to use them as a fundamental basis for preparing tourism management plans at World Heritage sites.

Practical recommendations on the organization of tourism at UNESCO World Heritage Sites were expressed in preparing ten guides reflecting the best tourism management practices ^[7].

As the strategic planning of tourism development in the Central Economic Zone of the BPT is in its initial stage, the first four manuals devoted to the basics of organizing sustainable tourism are of particular interest. The first guide, "Understanding," assumes an assessment of the existing tourist infrastructure, quantitative indicators of tourist flow, preferences, and tourist motivation. There have been positive changes in this direction in recent years.

The Rules for the Organization of Tourism and Recreation in the Central Economic Zone of the BPT adopted in 2019 in the Irkutsk Region contain Chapter 6, "Monitoring and Regulation of the Impact Arising from the Organization of Tourism and Recreation." This regulatory act provides for the organization and monitoring of tourist activities, the main tool of which is the environmental passport. According to the specified rules, this document is prepared by the subjects of tourist activity that have the right to carry it out in the CEZ of the BPT.

The composition of such a passport, which is subject to renewal once every three years, is quite detailed and contains 26 items, including, among other things, information about the area, accommodation facilities, the availability of water and sanitation, waste disposal methods, and legal grounds for ownership. According to the established procedure, information about these passports is combined into a register, which at the time of writing this article, contains 43 entries ^[8].

Of course, such a register cannot be formed at the same time, but at the moment, its representativeness is very conditional. So, according to a popular domestic tourist site ^[9], accommodation services are offered by more than 60 different accommodation facilities (not counting those who do not use the services of this aggregator) in the Slyudyansky district of the Irkutsk region.

The rules for the organization of tourism and recreation adopted in the Republic of Buryatia contain similar provisions on environmental passports of subjects of tourist activity. According to the data posted on the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Buryatia website, 76 entries have been entered into the accommodation facilities register.

Statistical information about the number of tourists is formed based on statistical observation forms submitted by accommodation facilities. In the context of the functioning of a large number of private hotels, many of which ask to pay in cash when booking, the reliability of such statistics is also in question. Therefore, it seems necessary to further improve the first step: the collection of information. One of the possible options for monitoring and collecting information is filling out notifications when entering the CEZ BPT’s borders, according to the results of which a permit is formed to stay within its borders without charging a fee. One way or another, the formation of such a regulation requires preliminary consolidation of the management process of Lake Baikal as a World Heritage site. The authors propose carrying out such consolidation by recognizing the BPT CEZ as a protected natural territory of a special kind, accompanied by the formation of its unified administration. This issue is discussed in more detail in our previous publications ^{[10, p. 132]}.

It should be noted that the first manual contains very reasonable recommendations for filling in the missing source information. In particular, it is proposed to identify, link, and unite the various positions of the parties interested in improving tourism. This appeal concerns, for example, local universities and other educational organizations' possible activities and implies the possibility of involving volunteers in tourism assessment processes. Thus, in the city of Irkutsk, there are educational institutions of different levels that train students in the "tourism" profile, and it seems appropriate to involve students in the assessment of tourist flows within the framework of educational practice.

In addition, since July 2022, legislative amendments have come into force at a federal level prohibiting the activities of guides, interpreters, and instructor-guides without certification ^[11], the procedure of which for each of the listed entities is subject to renewal every five years and has been carried out in the Russian regions since September 2022 in accordance with the norms approved government decree ^[12].

The above changes provided for a ban on foreign citizens and persons who are not included in the unified federal register of guides and guide-interpreters, as well as the maintenance by Rosturizm together with the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation (where appropriate certification commissions will be created) of the register of instructors and guides.

In the Baikal regions, as in other Russian territories, work is currently organized on the professional retraining of guides, translators, and instructor-guides based on large regional universities (for example, in the Irkutsk region, this function is implemented based on Irkutsk State University ^[13]). In the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, at the time of writing, the Federation is considering the introduction of administrative responsibility for carrying out activities as a guide or tour guide in the absence of a certificate.

The content of the second guide, "Strategy," is devoted to the development of a strategy for the development of tourism at the World Heritage Site. The lack of a strategy for the development of the tourism industry largely determines the lack of a systemic basis for its formation and, in many ways, a destructive impact on the ecosystem of Lake Baikal. Documents regarding the strategic planning of tourism development in Russia are accepted at different levels. The most general policy document is the Strategy for the Development of Tourism in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2035 ^[14], which, due to its general nature, cannot contain detailed provisions on the parameters of tourism development in certain territories (including Baikal, despite its unique nature).

At the level of the Irkutsk region, the Strategy for the development of the tourism and recreational cluster in the region has been approved until 2030. Separate provisions on the goals of tourism development in the region as a whole are contained in the regional law "On regional state support of tourism and tourist activities in the Irkutsk region" ^[15]. However, these acts relate to the tourism industry in the region as a whole and, among other things, have a fairly general character and pay attention to the tourist and recreational complex and the Strategy for the socio-economic development of the Irkutsk region ^[16]. Even though this section of the strategy is devoted to developing tourism in the Irkutsk region as a whole, not only on Lake Baikal, some provisions can be found in it that are directly related to the organization of tourism in the Central Economic Zone of the BPT.

So, for example, among the problems hindering the effective development of tourism are "the presence of special environmental requirements in the CEZ BPT (the authors of this article express the hope that this provision of the Strategy is an unfortunate use of words, as the vision in the environmental requirements of the problem contradicts the very idea of preserving Lake Baikal), chaotic development of tourist infrastructure in places of mass tourism and its unsatisfactory condition, and insufficiently developed supporting infrastructure," which, according to the developers of the document, is one of the reasons for the unprosperous ecological state of the Baikal ecosystem.

Among the possible directions of tourism development, the following are highlighted: attracting world-class specialists from different countries to conferences, business events, scientific and research events, training, and teaching. Of interest is the direction of activity declared in the document under consideration for creating biomedical centers on Baikal focused on treating patients from all over the world (medical tourism).

The strategy draws attention to the development of the Baikal National Park as one of the key areas of ecological tourism and the need to develop the village of Listvyanka, located on the shore of Lake Baikal. Obviously, the document's format also does not imply disclosure of the stages and mechanisms for achieving the results of these projects.

The Republic of Buryatia has approved a strategy to develop domestic and inbound tourism until 2035. At the same time, the subject of regulation of the document is also not limited to Lake Baikal. The advantages of the document should include, first of all, a detailed SWOT analysis (including strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). Among the weaknesses of the tourism industry, the following are highlighted: insufficient competitiveness of the products in the tourist complex, the discrepancy between the level of service and the material and technical base of prices for tourist and recreational services, outdated material base, etc. The strategy contains target indicators, including quantitative ones, which allow for assessing the results of their achievement, the objectives of the strategy, and the principles of tourism development. However, it needs to be clarified from the available materials why these indicators are specifically such, for example, why the number of foreign tourists who visited the Republic of Buryatia (in 2025: 100 thousand people) should reach exactly 300 thousand people by 2035 ^[17].

At the same time, a significant part of the Strategy under consideration is devoted to an abstract description of various types of tourism, and the list of measures for the development of the wellness-resort complex is compiled in the form of a concise table (appendix to Strategy No. 3). The principles of tourism development enshrined in the document under consideration do not reflect the role of the local population and indigenous peoples, the spiritual (immaterial, religious) significance of Lake Baikal, and the priority of preserving the unique ecosystem of the lake.

For these reasons, we have to state that, at the moment, there is no unified strategy for the development of Lake Baikal as a World Heritage site, and its appearance as one is unlikely if legal and organizational conditions remain unchanged. Given the status of a protected natural area of a special kind, it is very useful to study the experience of applying the norms of the second manual on the formation of a tourism management strategy at the World Heritage site.

The third manual, "Management," is devoted to tourism management issues. Among its most promising provisions, it is necessary to note the requirement of maximum openness and involvement of all stakeholders in tourism management. Only under constructive interaction between businesses, government, and the local population is it possible to build a model of sustainable tourism on a single World Heritage site.

The fourth guide, "Engagement," describes how to involve businesses and local people in building sustainable tourism in the BPT CEZ. One of the features of the development of tourism on Lake Baikal is the mass provision of tourist services by the local population.

This often happens without taking into account any mandatory norms in terms of nature protection. This issue requires particularly close attention as, for many residents of the CEZ BPT, this type of earnings is the only way to generate income. In addition, the guide quite reasonably notes that the local population largely influences tourists’ impression of the site. Thus, it is necessary to involve the local population in the planning of tourist activities, as well as to convince them of the need to participate in the management and compliance with a number of tourism organization rules. The use of the first four manuals will allow us to introduce the best practices of tourism management into the program documents on the Baikal natural territory.

We have already noted that the formation of instruments of strict international law on general tourism issues is just beginning. Thus, at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in 2001, the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism was adopted ^[18], which formed the basis of the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics and its Optional Protocol, adopted in St. Petersburg in 2019. The content of the Code and the Convention on the Ethics of Tourism practically coincide. The ideology of these documents is extremely useful for developing sustainable tourism in the BPT CEZ. Their contents highlight the provisions for tourism as a factor of environmental sustainability (Article 3 of the Code and Article 6 of the Convention). The formation of the principles of tourism organization in the CEZ BPT could well be based on these ideas: the need to distribute the flow of tourists to reduce the human influence on nature, consideration of environmental requirements in the design of tourist infrastructure facilities, recognition of the need to restrict the activities of professional actors to protect ecosystems, and the promotion of nature tourism and ecotourism.

Among the specific initiatives of the UN to promote the ideology of the Code and the development of sustainable tourism, I would like to mention three initiatives that, in our opinion, have significant potential for solving environmental problems in the BPT CEZ.

Firstly, these are the obligations of the private sector under the Code of Ethics. Commercial companies from any State can undertake obligations to support and promote the ethical principles of the Code, which involves submitting reports to the World Committee on Tourism Ethics on specific forms of implementing the ideas of the Code in their practical activities. We believe that the use of soft international regulation instruments will positively impact the development of environmental protection and tourism in the BPT CEZ.

Secondly, the Global Initiative to Reduce the Use of Plastic in Tourism, implemented as part of the Sustainable Tourism Program coordinated by UNWTO and the Governments of France and Spain, is of interest. In natural science studies, a significant amount of plastic is thrown out by waves and left on the shore of Lake Baikal, which is the basis for the formation of microplastics under the influence of solar radiation, temperature fluctuations, wave activity, etc. ^[19]. At the same time, reducing plastic use in the BPT CES is not represented in regulatory documents or in the strategic planning documents considered. The only exception is the Rules for organizing tourism and recreation in the Central Economic Zone of the BPT (Buryatia). Paragraph 2.7 of these rules fixes the recommendation in the legal document not to use plastic dishes, plastic bags, and phosphate detergents in the territory.

The Global Initiative to Reduce the Use of Plastic in Tourism invites the business community and non-profit organizations to join the Initiative. To do this, it is necessary to declare commitment to the "common vision" in the sustainable use of plastic ^[20], to solve several formal issues related to the preparation of documents, and to take active actions to introduce sustainable approaches to the handling of plastic. The Global Initiative also involves the preparation of annual reports on the implementation of the commitments undertaken. At the moment, there are positive changes when it comes to this issue. So, the Baikal Without Plastic Association was established in the Baikal region, the main task of which is to promote the reduction of the use of disposable plastic in the BPT CEZ and the Baikal regions, attracting the attention of the general public to the lake’s problem of plastic pollution. Of course, at the initial stage, it is necessary to create a system of incentives for the subjects of the tourism industry to join both the obligations of the private sector under the Code of Ethics and the Global Initiative on Plastic in Tourism.

Such incentives can be created through the use of a procurement mechanism. Within the framework of the UNEP program, a guide, "Transforming tourism through sustainable procurement," has been developed, the ideas of which can be adapted to the situation in the BPT Central Economic Area and subsequently to the development of tourism in general.

In modern Russian legislation, procurement activity is regulated by two main laws: Federal Law No. 44-FZ of 5.04.2013, "On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services for state and municipal needs," and Federal Law No. 223-FZ of 18.07.2011, "On procurement of goods, works, services by certain types of legal entities." The first applies to purchases carried out by state bodies, extra-budgetary funds, state corporations Roscosmos and Rosatom, and state-owned institutions. The second law is somewhat more liberal in its rules and applies to state-owned companies, natural monopolies, economic societies in which the state's share exceeds 50 percent, budgetary institutions, and unitary enterprises if they have approved the procurement regulations (otherwise, they fall under Law No. 44—FZ - Article 8 of Law No. 223-FZ). At the same time, the law provides for the possibility of approving a model procurement regulation that defines the main parameters of the procurement activities of organizations of a particular type. For example, such a provision has been approved for organizations under the jurisdiction of the Federal State Statistics Service ^[21].

The first stage of using the procurement mechanism to form sustainable tourism in the Central Economic Zone of the BPT may be the extension of law No. 223-FZ to residents of special economic zones. A model procurement regulation for these organizations can be developed jointly by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

This provision may reflect restrictions on purchasing plastic tableware and other plastic goods, goods packaged with plastic, detergents, and other substances the ecosystem is sensitive to. In the future, such experience can be extended to territories outside special economic zones. On the other hand, it seems logical to introduce rules on the preference of state bodies and state organizations in the procurement of tourist services for tourism business representatives who participate in international environmental initiatives discussed earlier.

Finally, another tourism development problem that needs to be solved and is not raised at an official level is the observance by everyone in the field of tourism (vacationers, tourists, representatives of tourist services, etc.) of the moral and ethical requirements in implementing tourism activities.

For many centuries, Lake Baikal has been regarded as a sacred place ^{[22,23,24,25]}, requiring a respectful attitude. Recognition of the secular nature of Russian statehood does not mean abandoning the observance and respect of cultural traditions and the religious sentiments of local communities and indigenous peoples. Unfortunately, tourists often underestimate or completely ignore the special intangible significance of the lake.

Information about the unethical behavior of tourists in the territory under consideration (alcohol consumption in the waters of Lake Baikal, holding numerous entertainment events on the lake's ice in winter, etc.) regularly appears on social networks and other sources. The current regulatory legal acts do not reflect this issue, as well as arriving tourists. As a rule, information about the intangible value of Lake Baikal is not explained.

In this regard, in the system of current regulation, it is possible to introduce the obligation to carry out activities with mandatory consideration of the intangible value of Lake Baikal as a cultural value into the tourism and recreation rules of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia, and in the future—when forming a unified management plan for the World Heritage site—to reflect this aspect in a separate section, taking into account advanced world practices.

In a general sense, this issue is raised in the Convention on Biological Diversity's system of documents, for example, in the guidelines of the Agui-Gu governing the assessment of the consequences of projects in the locations of shrines, as well as on lands and water areas traditionally occupied or used by indigenous and local communities. Defining the scope of their action, these principles stipulate that they can be used in cases of "proposed implementation of any projects in the locations of shrines, as well as on land and water areas occupied or used by indigenous and local communities" (paragraph 1). Local communities should be involved in ensuring their full respect at all stages of the evaluation and development of the project, including planning and implementation (item 12). The Principles address the issues of notification procedure and involvement of stakeholders in decision-making on the implementation of projects, assessment of social and environmental impacts, and other important issues.

The analyzed principles themselves are focused on taking into account the interests of indigenous peoples and the local population when implementing “projects” ^[26], i.e., specific industrial, commercial, and other similar activity plans (for example, during the construction of a hotel or a mining and processing plant). Concerning the problems of protecting the spiritual significance of Lake Baikal, the content of the principles is important not only in the implementation of individual projects but also in forming a general respectful attitude to the intangible value of Lake Baikal. It can be reflected in the Federal Law "On the Protection of Lake Baikal" and in regulatory legal acts adopted in its development, for example, in the rules of tourism and recreation in the CEZ BPT adopted in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia.

In conclusion, it seems necessary to summarize that both at an international and national level, authorities and civil society institutions are trying to neutralize or mitigate the negative factors that inevitably accompany the development of the tourism industry in any state. However, not all modern problems arising in this field under consideration have received the necessary solutions. As a result, further legal and natural science research aimed at finding new and improved effectiveness of the methods used to ensure the sustainability of tourism activities is important in preserving Lake Baikal.