<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Holding about 20% of all the world’s freshwater, <strong>Baikal</strong>, the <strong>world’s oldest lake</strong>, is also one of the world’s largest. However, there’s more to Baikal than just being one of the pretty places in the world, </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">its clear waters are home to a massively diverse range of marine life found nowhere else, including the world’s only freshwater seal.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Known as the ‘Galapagos of Russia’, its age and isolation have produced one of the world’s richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.The lake contains an outstanding variety of endemic flora and fauna, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science. It is also surrounded by a system of protected areas that have high scenic and other natural values.</span></p>
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