The Project

Building upon a solid baseline of bilateral cooperation between Russia and Mongolia on the transboundary waters of the Selenga River and on the growing economic baselines of the mining and tourism sectors, GEF support will catalyze the development and implementation of a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for the transboundary management and conservation of the Baikal Basin’s aquatic ecosystems.

The project will also support efforts from both national and local governments and civil society to mainstream biodiversity conservation measures into mining and tourism sector policies and practices and watershed management planning, leading to improved management of biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems across 11,047,790 hectares.

The project’s objective is to spearhead integrated natural resource management of Baikal Lake Basin and Hövsgöl Lake ensuring ecosystem resilience, reduced water quality threats in the context of sustainable economic development.

The project has three primary components: elaborating a strategic policy and planning framework; strengthening institutional capacity for IWRM; and demonstrating water quality and biodiversity mainstreaming practice, including groundwater monitoring and protection.