From January 27 to February 5, 2012 on the initiative and with the organizational and financial support of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal the winter expedition of the Scientific Student Society of the MSU Geography Faculty took place in the Republic of Buryatia. The expedition included 17 students and teachers of the Environmental Management Department (Head of Department - Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor M. Slipenchuk).
The main objectives of the expedition included research of the impact of the Lake polymetallic deposit on the environment, acquaintance with the prospects of the tourism development and recreation in the Baikal region. Despite the difficult climatic conditions (temperatures sometimes drop below 30 degrees), the scientific program of the expedition was fully accomplished.
During the work in the area of the Mining and concentrating plant snow samples were taken from the field and its surroundings, as well as water samples from lakes Gunda and Isinga, situated in the zone of influence of the future plant. In the future we plan a detailed geochemical analysis of the samples in the MSU laboratories, on their basis there will be drawn up a detailed scientific report on the current state of the environment in Eravninskiy region of Buryatia. Also, during several long-distance routes there has been studied biological diversity and the ecosystem state of the region.
The second tour of the expedition took place on the shore of Lake Baikal in Pribaykalskiy District of Buryatia. The expedition participants visited the Special Economic Zones of touristic and recreational type “Baikal arbor”, saw the construction process of a hotel complex in the village of Turka, inspected hotels “Bogatyr” (Gremyachinsk) and “Lukomorye” (Maksimikha).
Minister of Natural Resources of Republic of Buryatia Bair Angaev, Head of Eravninskiy District Tsydenzhap Shagdarov and Head of Pribaykalskiy District Sergei Semyonov met with the expedition participants. During the meetings the sides exchanged views on the current status of natural resources in Buryatia, on prospective development of economy and ecology of the Republic.
There was also a communication with the students of the Buryatuniversities. It was held in the competitive manner: the participants were divided into three teams, after a two-hour discussion each of them presented its project to further tourism development on Lake Baikal.
All expedition members highly appreciated its organization, expressed gratitude to the receiving party – the staff of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal, Mining plant and limited company “Siberia”.
