Two women fight to save world's biggest lake

Some 20 to 30 million years ago, scientists believe, a rift in the Earth's crust created Baikal's 400-mile-long, sickle-shaped basin.

Today the lake near the Mongolian border, 2,600 miles east of Moscow, contains one-fifth of the world's fresh water, enough to provide Earth's 7 billion people with six cups of water a day for the next 6,000 years.

It's a sprawling outdoor laboratory of biological diversity comparable to the rich fauna of the Galapagos Islands. Geologists come to study the formation of the Asian continent. Biologists probe such mysteries as how a lake 1,000 miles inland became home to the world's only true species of freshwater seals.

Last month two small, manned submarines reached the bottom of the lake with scientists on board to take soil and water samples. The 5,223-foot dive fell just short of setting a world record.

Baikal inspired the Soviet Union's environmental movement in the 1960s, after Izmestieva's grandfather and other scientists spoke out against Nikita Khrushchev's plans to build a pulp and paper factory on its shores.

Dead zone frmo paper mill
Today Marina Rikhvanova, who helped found the nonprofit group Baikal Ecological Wave, is still fighting to close the mill, which has created a dead zone miles wide in the lake and may be contaminating the seals.

A few years back her group led protests against a 2,700-mile oil pipeline, part of which would run along the lake's northern shores. The group's books were audited by authorities, its computers seized and its phones tapped — retaliation, she says, for fighting the pipeline.

In 2006, then President Vladimir Putin ordered the pipeline rerouted, a rare victory for Russian environmentalists that earned Rikhvanova international accolades. This year she won a prestigious, $150,000 award from the U.S.-based Goldman Foundation.

The 47-year-old former scientist, whose grandmotherly appearance belies a steely demeanor, says the victory demonstrates Baikal's potency as a symbol.

The lake "is an indicator of whether modern man can curb his appetite and preserve what nature has created," she says, surrounded by shelves of maps, nature guides and scientific papers. "It's a kind of red line for humanity."

Misha Japaridze / AP Dead fish lie on the shore of Lake Baikal on June 11.

Now she's taking on Kremlin plans to build a uranium enrichment facility 60 miles west of the lake, which would produce nuclear fuel. Officials say the project would bring thousands of jobs to this poor region. Environmentalists say it's a grave mistake that would threaten a natural wonder with radiation.

A year ago Rikhvanova helped organize a tent camp protest not far from the site of the proposed facility. Skinhead nationalists attacked the camp and beat the protesters, one fatally.

Rikhvanova's son, Pavel, was among the intruders, although he denies hurting anyone. She alleges that authorities set up her son in an effort to embarrass her organization. Prosecutors officials refused to comment. Pavel remains in custody.

Despite her personal pain, she says, she is not about to give up. Baikal is too important. "When you see results from your work, you want to continue," she says. "You have to persevere."

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