On February 20 the press conference of the State Duma deputy, Chairman of the Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal Mikhail Slipenchuk took place in Ulan-Ude. The event was dedicated to several initiatives for the protection of Lake Baikal.

One of the issues raised at the press conference was the situation with the Baikal pulp and paper plant. Mikhael Slipenchuk reaffirmed that he supports the plant closing, also because this enterprise “creates a stereotype of pollution of Lake Baikal”. “But on the other hand, we understand that there are people who work there. Therefore, our government should offer them some alternatives. I think it is necessary to do there a recreation area”, - he said.

Also, Mikhael Slipenchuk voiced the idea of creating the ombudsman institute for Lake Baikal. The idea belongs to the director of the Limnological Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician M. Grachev. Protector of the lake’s “rights” should be a man who is held in respect and be able to regulate all the unresolved issues in the lake ecosystem protection and the Baikal natural territory. In the future, the deputy is going to introduce this position by a special presidential decree. “Today, approximately fifteen federal subjects of the Russian Federation deal with the regulation of protection of Lake Baikal. The catchment part of Baikal includes three federal subjects (Irkutsk region, Buryatia and Transbaikal region). And here, too, everywhere there are regulatory authorities”, - said Mikhail Slipenchuk. - "There is a proverb: too many cooks spoil the broth. For this purpose Baikal needs an ombudsman”.

“It is necessary to strengthen in the citizens’ minds the thesis that Ulan-Ude is an environment capital”, - declared Mikhail Slipenchuk, - “Moscow is a financial center, St. Petersburg is a cultural capital, Sochi is a sport capital, and Ulan-Ude has to become the environmental capital. This may be possible with the development of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, with adoption of a number of federal programs”. According to him, modern environmentally safety technologies should be implemented as a pilot projects in Ulan-Ude and Buryatia. As an example, he cited the special economic zone of touristic recreational type “Baikal harbor”; its construction is under way on the lake.