Baikal forest fires appeal

The Network has received an urgent appeal for help to combat the catastrophic forest fires around Lake Baikal from Nikolay Tsyrempilov, of Buryat State University, who hosted a roundtable discussion on our recent trip to Ulan Ude and Baikal.

Nikolay explains the seriousness and urgency of the situation in his email below and also sends links with information on how to make donations and help.

David Moon

Lead investigator, Leverhulme International Network, Exploring Russia's Environmental History and Natural Resources.
http://www.york.ac.uk/history/research/majorprojects/russiasenvironmentalhistory/
 

31 August 2015

Here in Buryatia we face a catastrophic situation with fires in the forests around lake Baikal. Russian authorities (both federal and regional) demonstrate inability to stop them. Moreover, they try to conceal the scale of destruction. Meanwhile about 180 000 hectares of woods are being destroyed by fires and the weather forecast is very pessimistic. Many people here in Buryatia fight with fires as volunteers.

My friends organized a public committee "SOS Baikal Buryatia". They raise funds, buy equipments, food, costumes, medicaments, etc for those volunteers who fight with the fires. I have just returned from a meeting. We face lack of funds. I am writing to my friends in Moscow and other cities of Russia. I am sending you our collective request to donate what you can to support our efforts. Any donation is welcome.

Please visit our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/pages/SOS-Байкал-Бурятия/888410137909923?fref=ts and website http://sosbaikal.ru. On the website you'll find the USD bank account number to which you can send your donations. I'll appreciate if you let your other colleagues involved in Leverhulme network. I guarantee with my reputation that all your donations will be used only for support of volunteers. Andrey Suknev and Sergey Shapkhaev are with us. Please help us to save Baikal and protect it from the large-scale ecological catastrophe.
 

Thank you for your understanding and support. Don't hesitate to ask me, Sergey Shapkhaev shapsg@gmail.com or Andrey Suknev suknevgbt@gmail.com for additional information. Just to be clear, it is very urgent. 

Nikolay Tsyrempilov

Buryat State University

Ulan-Ude

10 September 2015 update

Please excuse us for the problematic bank account. In the attachment you can find the new one. We still desperately need your help. Most of the fires are stopped but still there are some areas where firefighters and volunteers work. We need also money to equip the volunteers station because we should be ready for such kind of fires again in the future.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=488057961362826

Thank you for your efforts,

Nikolay Tsyrempilov