Groundwater Resources in Shallow Transboundary Aquifers in the Baikal Basin: Current Knowledge, Protection and Management
The present report is a contribution to the Project Integrated Natural Resources Management in the Baikal Basin Transboundary Ecosystem, implemented by UNDP and funded by the GEF. The report was prepared by UNESCO-IHP, one of the project’s Executing Agencies and partners, in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair on Water Resources at Irkutsk State University (Russia), Irkutsk State Technical University, the Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences – Siberian Branch, the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Russian Academy of Science - Siberian Branch, the UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Groundwater Management, Mongolian Academy of Sciences - Institute of Geo-Ecology, the Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment of Mongolia, the Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia, Tsukuba University, Japan, and other national and international partners. The report consolidates the results of activities under Output 1.3 of the Project, which were focused on the assessment of groundwater resources and their interaction with surface water in the transboundary basin of Lake Baikal. As a central element the role of groundwater in sustaining the functioning of the unique ecosystems of Lake Baikal was explored. This included the identification and description of potential threads to these ecosystems in terms of quantitative (groundwater level decline) and qualitative (pollution) aspects. Priority was given to unravelling the hydrological, hydraulic and hydro-chemical interactions between surface and groundwater, with specific regard to shallow aquifers in fluvial/alluvial deposits and their interactions with adjacent rivers and lakes.
4029: Integrated Natural Resource Management in the Baikal Basin Transboundary Ecosystem