Legal protection of Lake Baikal from microplastics

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Open Access Open Access
Restricted Access Access granted
Restricted Access Subscription Access

Abstract

The annual increase in microplastic pollution of Lake Baikal is a new environmental threat to a unique freshwater ecological system that requires a set of interrelated general (applies to the entire territory of Russia) and special (applies to the Baikal natural territory or its individual parts) legal measures. The forthcoming international and interstate decisions to reduce plastic and microplastic pollution, which will have an impact on the domestic regulation of environmental protection, including the protection of the ecosystems of the Baikal natural territory, are considered. In a systemic relationship, the existing, expected and recommended legal measures for the protection of Lake Baikal from primary and secondary microplastics are shown on the basis of foreign legislation. The consolidation in the Russian legislation of the missing general and special legal measures for the protection of Lake Baikal in relation to pollution with both primary and secondary microplastics is substantiated. It is proposed to create a special council that would coordinate the protective measures taken against microplastic pollution and other negative environmental impacts at the level of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, Mongolian aimags and their municipalities located within the entire catchment area of Lake Baikal.

Full Text

Restricted Access

About the authors

Elena V. Luneva

Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University; St. Petersburg State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: vilisa_vilisa@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6666-5353

Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Ecological, Labor and Civil Procedure Law,  Associate Professor at the Legal Protection of Environment Department of the Law Faculty

Russian Federation, Kazan; St. Petersburg

References

  1. Biritskaya S. A. et al. Microplastic water pollution over the littoral zone in the southern basin of Lake Baikal // Baikal Zoological Journal. 2020. No. 2 (28). Pp. 29–32 (in Russ.).
  2. Il’ina O.V., Kolobov M. Yu., Il’insky V. V. Plastic pollution of coastal surface waters of the middle and southern Baikal // Water resources. 2021. Vol. 48. No. 1. Pp. 44, 45, 49. doi: 10.31857/S0321059621010181 (in Russ.).
  3. How to save the basis of life – water // UN in Russia. 2021. No. 1 (127). P. 12. URL: https://iite.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/un-in-russia_1_2021_WWW.pdf (in Russ.).
  4. Luneva E. V. Legal protection of surface water bodies from microplastics in Russia // Journal of Russ. law. 2022. Vol. 26. No. 2. Pp. 125, 129. doi: 10.12737/jrl.2022.021 (in Russ.).
  5. Battulga B., Kawahigashi M., Oyuntsetseg B. Distribution and composition of plastic debris along the river shore in the Selenga River basin in Mongolia // Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2019. Vol. 26. Pp. 14059–14072. doi: 10.1007/s11356-019-04632-1
  6. Driedger A. G.J., Dürr H. H., Mitchell K. et al. Plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes: a review // Journal of Great Lakes Research. 2015. Vol. 41. Iss. 1. P. 16. doi: 10.1016/j.jglr.2014.12.020
  7. Il’ina O.V., Kolobov M.Y., Il’inskii V. V. Plastic pollution of the coastal surface water in the middle and southern Baikal // Water Resources. 2021. Vol. 48. No. 1. Pp. 56, 60, 61. doi: 10.1134/S0097807821010188
  8. Karnaukhov D. et al. Distribution Features of Microplastic Particles in the Bolshiye Koty Bay (Lake Baikal, Russia) in Winter // Pollution. 2022. Vol. 8. No. 2. P. 443. doi: 10.22059/POLL.2021.328762.1159
  9. Karnaukhov D. et al. Pollution by macro-and microplastic of large lacustrine ecosystems in Eastern Asia // Poll. Res. 2020. Vol. 2. Pp. 353–355. URL: http://www.envirobiotechjournals.com/PR/v29i220/Poll%20Res-23.pdf
  10. Lasserre F., Vega Cárdenas Y. E. Governance around the Great Lakes between Canada and the United States. Always in agreement? // Frontera norte. 2022. Vol. 34. Art. 3. P. 19. doi: 10.33679/rfn.v1i1.2188. URL: https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0187–73722022000100103&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en
  11. Moore M. V. et al. Lake-wide assessment of microplastics in the surface waters of Lake Baikal, Siberia // Limnology. 2022. Vol. 23. No. 1. Pp. 265–274. doi: 10.1007/s10201-021-00677-9

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2024 Russian Academy of Sciences