INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND GLOBAL RIGHTS

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND GLOBAL RIGHTS

Indigenous peoples are under heavy pressure from developments beyond their control. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, а legal process within the auspices of the UN has been underway that may help indigenous peoples to sustain their natural environment, industries, and cultures. This book addresses some of the legal, political and institutional implications of these processes. Are the processes providing indigenous peoples with а more solid foundation for protecting their natural environment and culture? The international group of authors of the essays included draw on examples from different parts of the world, which highlight the issues that are involved in indigenous peoples' struggle for control of their lives and their future.

Chicago University Press: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/16348.ctl

Eburon Academic Publishers: http://www.eburon.nl
Big Oil Playground, Russian Bear Preserve or European Periphery?

The Russian Barents Sea Region towards 2015

Bjørn Brunstad, Eivind Magnus, Philip Swanson, Geir Hønneland, and Indra Øverland. Eburon Academic Publishers, 2004. The final book from the ”Barents Russia 2015 Scenario Project”. ISBN 90 5972 039 3. 212 pages.

In the northwestern corner of Russia lies the Barents Sea: a region of natural resources that has yet to be fully exploited. Future actions taken in the Barents Sea region will create environmental, political, and economic ripples around the globe. The book explores three plausible and thought-provoking scenarios for the region’s future over the next two decades. The volume considers whether the international energy industry will transform the Barents Sea region into a “big oil playground”, if Russian strategic interests and instincts for control will make it a “Russian bear preserve”, or if integration into world trade will put it on the “European periphery”. The result is a valuable resource for understanding the changing dynamics and challenges in modern public planning and a globalised economy.

Chicago University Press: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/16348.ctl

Eburon Academic Publishers: http://www.eburon.nl

Arctic Governance

Edited by T. Koivurova, T. Joona, and R. Shnoro, Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, 2004. ISBN 951-634-940-4

The book deals with social science and, in particular, legal perspectives on Arctic issues. It is subdivided into four parts: 1. International governance in the Arctic, 2. Indigenous peoples and governance, with special reference to the Arctic, and 3. Environmental governance in the Arctic.

  20 January 2005 has been chosen as a day of Protest Action on the part of the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, with the support of Sakhalin’s social movements and parties.

  Two pipelines pumping oil and gas from the Okhotsk Sea shelf will cross the length and breadth of Sakhalin Island. These pipelines will cross 1,103 rivers and brooks comprising salmon spawning areas and will split the migration routes of wild animals and domestic reindeer in two. The full length of the land pipelines will lie on seismic zones of potential earthquake magnitude 8-9 and will cross 44 tectonic faults of different types no less than 55 times. The potential for danger to the population is clear and the impact these projects will have on Sakhalin Island’s eco-system and close-lying areas of water is undoubted.

  And yet these projects are already being implemented by the transnational companies Exxon, Shell, British Petro­leum, Sakhalin Energy and their subsidiaries, in serious violation of Russian legislation and international standards.

  The economic benefit for Russia of the production sharing agreements signed between the Russian Federation and transnational companies is challenged by experts. Eight years of oil and gas extraction on Sakhalin Island have provided no benefit whatsoever to the island’s population. Not even a supply of gas to Sakhalin’s settlements has been provided, as was promised eight years ago. But half a million people have begun to feel the damaging effects of this activity. A key sector of the economy – fishing – is suffering losses and phasing down.

  The indigenous peoples of Sakhalin – the Nivkhi, Nanai and Ulchi, who have a traditional self-subsistence economy based on fishing, hunting, reindeer herding and wild plant gathering – disproportionately suffer the negative environ­mental consequences. Structural engineering has destroyed reindeer pastures and forests, work on the shelf has led to an abrupt decline in fishing and fishing limits for the indigenous population, while traditional handicrafts now form virtually the indigenous peoples’ only source of livelihood.

  Industrial companies take no account of indigenous peoples’ interests. An analysis of published impact assessments showed that no consideration was taken of the cumulative, long-term negative impacts on indigenous traditional lifestyles. Long-term mitigation programs or programs to adapt indigenous peoples to the serious ecological consequences of the projects, which should be implemented in Sakhalin for the decades to come, are absent. The attempts of indigenous peoples’ organizations to negotiate with industrial companies with regard to assessing the long-term economic, social and cultural consequences have failed.

  The absence of access to complete and reliable project information, the disinformation contained in published project documentation and the companies’ unwillingness to seriously dialogue with indigenous peoples’ organizations have forced them to commence a process of civil protest.

  The Vth Congress of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Sakhalin Region, held on 29 October 2004, came to the following decision: “To commence a process of defence of our constitutional rights via protest actions against oil companies violating indigenous peoples’ rights according to the norms and principles of international justice and Russian legislation”. This decision has been supported by the Russian Association of Indigenous peoples of the North.” On 15 December 2004 RAIPON and the Sakhalin Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North held a meeting at the Sakhalin regional Duma in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with the participation of the Chairman of the Duma, 8 deputies, representatives of Sakhalin Energy, Rosneft, British Petroleum, Exxon and the head of the Sakhalin Administration’s Department for Indigenous Affairs. Participants in the meeting were again informed that Sakhalin’s indigenous peoples are suffering the negative effects of intensive oil and gas exploitation. As a way of solving the problem, a draft Memorandum was submitted to stakeholders, calling for the following:

• 
  The conducting of an independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA, with an ethnological assess­ment) for all industrial projects.
  
• 
  The creation of a Sakhalin Indigenous Peoples’ Development Fund. This will be extremely necessary in terms of the industrial developing of Sakhalin Island.
  
• 
  The creation of a special permanent Working Group to achieve the Memorandum’s goals (i.e. EIA implement­ation and Fund creation)
  

  Since the indigenous peoples of Sakhalin can see no other way to defend their lands and traditional lifestyle, they have decided to commence protest actions such as road blocks and pipeline blocks. The indigenous peoples and representatives of different NGOs will set up tents in the path of the pipeline and on the road leading to construction works. This action will commence on 20 January 2005 and its duration will depend on the response received from the oil and gas companies and authorities.

103132, Россия, г. Москва, Старая площадь, д. 4 (для почтовых отправлений)

2. Председатель Правительства Российской Федерации М.Е. Фрадков

103274, Россия, г. Москва, Краснопресненская набережная, д. 2

Chairman of the RF Government – Mikhail Fradkov

Krasnopresnenskaya naberezhnaya, build. 2, Moscow, 103274, Russia

3. Председатель Совета Федерации Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации С.М. Миронов

103426, Россия, г. Москва, ул. Б. Дмитровка, д. 26

Chairman of RF Federation Council – Sergey Mironov

4. Председатель Государственной Думы Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации Б.В. Грызлов

103265, Россия, г. Москва, ул. Охотный ряд, д. 1

Chairman of RF State Duma – Boris Grizlov

5. Министр природных ресурсов РФ Ю.П. Трутнев

123995, Россия, г. Москва, ул. Большая Грузинская, д. 4/6

Тел: 7 (095) 254 48 00; Факс: 7 (095) 254 43 10; e-mail: admin@mnr.gov.ru

6. Министр экономического развития и торговли РФ Г.О. Греф

125993, Россия, ГСП-3, Москва, А-47, 1-я Тверская-Ямская ул., д.1,3

Тел: 7 (095) 200 03 53, 200 53 38, 200 52 77, 209 53 38; Факс: 7 (095) 250 37 37, 251 69 65; e-mail: presscenter@economy.gov.ru

RF Minister on economic development and trade – German Gref

1 Tverskaya-Yamskaya street, build. 1,3, Moscow, A-47, ГСП-3, 125993, Russia

7. Министр регионального развития РФ В.А. Яковлев

103274, Россия, г. Москва, Краснопресненская набережная, д. 2

RF Minister on regional development – Vladimir Yakovlev

8. Генеральный прокурор РФ В.В. Устинов

103793, Россия, г. Москва, ул. Б. Дмитровка, 15а

Тел: 7 (095) 292 88 69

RF General Prosecutor – Vladimir Ustinov

B. Dmitrovka street, build. 15a, Moscow, 103793, Russia

Tel: 7 (095) 292 88 69

9. Губернатор Сахалинской области И.П. Малахов

693011, Россия, г. Южно-Сахалинск, Коммунистический пр., д. 39

Sakhalin oblast Governor – Ivan Malakhov

Kommunistichesky prospect, build. 39, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 693011, Russia

10. Полномочный представитель Президента РФ в Дальневосточном федеральном округе К.Б. Пуликовский

680030, Россия, г. Хабаровск, ул. Шеронова, д. 22

Тел: 7 (4212)31 30 44; Факс: 7 (4212) 32 65 31

RF President’ Plenipotentiary Representative in Far East Federal Okrug – Konstantin Pulikovsky

Sheronova street, build. 22, Khabarovsk, 680030, Russia

Tel: 7 (4212)31 30 44; Fax: 7 (4212) 32 65 31

11. Председатель Комиссии по правам человека при Президенте РФ Э.А. Памфилова

Москва, ул. Стромынка, д.18, тел. 268-1321

Chairman of RF President’ Commission on Human Rights – Ella Pamfilova

12. «Сахалин Энерджи Инвест Компани Лтд.»

693020, Россия, г. Южно-Сахалинск, ул. Дзержинского, 35

Тел 7 (4242) 73 20 00 Факс 7 (4242) 73 29 38

119435, Россия, г.Москва, ул. Малая Пироговская, д.14

Тел. Приемная 7(503)/ 7(095) 956 17 50 Факс 7(503)/ 7(095) 956 17 78

Sakhalin Energy Investment Company LTD

Dzerzhinskogo street, build. 35, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 693020, Russia

Tel: 7 (4242) 73 20 00 Fax: 7 (4242) 73 29 38

Malaya Pirogovskaya street, build. 14, Moscow, 119435, Russia

Tel: 7(503)/ 7(095) 956 17 50 Fax: 7(503)/ 7(095) 956 17 78

13. «Эксон Нефтегаз Лтд.»

693000, Россия, г. Южно-Сахалинск, ул. Пушкина, 80

Тел. 7 (4242) 46 88 20, 46 88 00, 48 81 11, 46 88 12, 42 29 22, 42 29 23, Факс 7 (4242) 66 88 95, Григорий Беляков (отдел по связям с общественностью) 7 (4242) 72 71 64 \ 60 \ 61 \ 62 \ 63