Reports of the death of Lake Baikal are greatly exaggerated - scientist
Media claims that Baikal is dying are greatly exaggerated. Director of the Research Institute of Biology of Irkutsk State University Maxim Timofeev stated this today at a press conference in Moscow.
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“What the media say about the death of Baikal, about the swamping of Lake Baikal, is a greatly exaggerated situation. Our institute claims that Baikal is still a living organism. This is still the greatest lake, filled with reserves of pure fresh water and inhabited by unique endemics,” Timofeev said.
The Institute of Biology at ISU has been monitoring Lake Baikal for 70 years.
“From these positions, Baikal’s problems look different. There are peaks and there are lows. Something is changing all the time in Baikal. Some species appear, some species decrease. Some changes can be called alarming. Baikal species are being replaced by non-Baikal ones,” Timofeev said.
According to him, there are enough zones around the lake where environmental changes are observed, but they are not total.
“The largest number of such zones is in northern Baikal. The drains of the city of Severobaykalsk cause quite pronounced changes in the tourism zone. However, basic tidying up, cleaning drains and removing garbage will solve three quarters of the problems. Baikal will outlive all of us, and everything will be fine there if we do not aggravate difficult moments,” Timofeev said.
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