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During its ongoing 28th session in Suzhou, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) will decide whether to place Lake Baikal on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Netherlands, Russia, Japan and China jointly contributed production of a photo exhibition entitled "Beauty and the Beasts," which opened Friday in connection with the session. According to leading photographer Takeshi Mizukoshi from Japan, who took most of the photos during three excursions to the Lake Baikal region, the cooperation of the four countries is a good sign, indicating the entry into an era of international cooperation in environmental protection.

Mizukoshi says that he took photos because of the serious threat to the natural environment in the Lake Baikal area. When Greenpeace headquarters in Amsterdam began preparing the project, the photographer jumped in, eager to record Baikal as it is now. Mizukoshi's work focuses on the overwhelming beauty of Lake Baikal and the spectacular flora and fauna around the lake.

Through his images, Mizukoshi hopes to convey that the planet still has places of beauty and peace, still unspoiled, where people can commune with the Nature.

Roman Vazhenkov of the Greenpeace Russia Baikal Campaign says that Greenpeace wants to display both the beauty of Lake Baikal and the threats to the environment that persist there. The organization is appealing to the states that take part in environmentally hazardous projects on Lake Baikal to drop their plans and do their outmost to preserve the lake, thus delivering on their promises to preserve the world's natural heritage.

Greenpeace representatives at the 28th WHC Session are disseminating some new information about the state of conservation of Lake Baikal. Ivan Blokov, Greenpeace Russia's campaign director, says that they are not requesting that Baikal be placed on the List of the World Heritage in Danger. But they do want to send a strong signal to the States Parties involved in oil, gas, timber and pulp import-export operations in the Baikal region: Article 8 of the World Heritage Convention declares that they should avoid doing either direct or indirect damage to world heritage sites, even when sites are located in the territory of another country.

Lake Baikal, located in eastern Siberia, is famed for its depth, 1,637 meters, and age, about 25 million years, as well as for its beauty and diverse flora and fauna. About 80 percent of the 2, 630 plant and animal species and subspecies in the lake area exist nowhere else on Earth.

In 1996, the lake was inscribed on UNESCO's List of World Natural Heritage, but since that time pollution worsened drastically. The planned pipeline transfer oil from Russia to China will run along the lake, says photographer Mizukoshi, which will have a serious impact on the environment.

The numerous paper mills that now surround the lake mostly produce paper fibers, a process that utilizes a great deal of water and results in the discharge of huge amounts of wastewater. Mizukoshi says that industrial and domestic wastewater is dumped into the lake untreated. Already the surrounding forest, as well as the water, is showing signs of deterioration, particularly in the southern area.

Mizukoshi points out that Lake Baikal is only one example of the threats that human encroachment pose to every corner of the planet. Desertification and acid rain have reached the crisis stage, he says. One country acting alone cannot solve these problems: preserving the environment for the generations to come requires the concerted effort of all nations together.

The photo exhibition will continue throughout the WHC session, then travel Japan, India, Germany and Russia.