My name is Fumitaka Ito. I went to Irkutsk and Tan Hoi in Russia to study about Baikal BR. I'm going to summarize what I learned there and talk my opinion.
At first, I'm going to explain the situation of Lake Baikal. I studied about Lake Baikal at Irkutsk State University. There are more than a thousand endemic species in Lake Baikal. The famous Baikal seal is one of them. Also, Lake Baikal has 20 to 23 percent fresh water in the world and it is the reason why Lake Baikal is so precious. But now, Lake Baikal is in critical condition. The water of Lake Baikal is being polluted. Making a hotel on the shores of Lake Baikal for tourists or to flow the excrement of the tourists into Lake Baikal is the one of causes of Lake Baikal contamination. The tourism industry and conservation of nature are challenges of Lake Baikal. This is the situation of Lake Baikal.

Classroom learned about Lake Baikal

Next, I'm going to describe my experience in Tan Hoi. Tenth day we've moved to Tan Hoi and I visited Lake Baikal. The things that the waves are standing like the sea, but a fresh breeze is blowing unlike the ocean breeze or be so transparent that you can see the bottom of the lake at a point close to two meters deep surprised me. I felt the natural richness of Lake Baikal and at the same time felt the usefulness of the tourist resources of Lake Baikal. It is one of the themes of this training, not only to protect the environment, but also to use the environment well. As an example of using abundant water, the well-making by the volunteer was introduced.

The shores of Lake Baikal I visited

Finally, I want to describe about my thinking. Before training I thought that environmental issues were a matter of biology. I thought that environmental problems would be at least the range of science. But it's a mistake. In addition to the range of sciences such as biology and geology, the scope of the humanities such as political science, economics（for the tourism industry）, and law（for legal development） was related to the environmental issues. But many students do not study so lots of things. I’m law major student so I am studying law and political science, but don’t study the biology. To use while preserving the environment, I think we need to cooperate with a person who is learning in other field and learn beyond the boundaries of the field. Thank you for your reading!