Report - UNDP Russia

Box 2.2. The energy sector and indigenous minoritiesof the Russian NorthCurrent status of indigenousminorities in the Russian NorthLarge energy facilities which are alreadyoperating, under construction, or planned in northernRussia, Siberia and the Russian Far East are mostlylocated in areas, where small, indigenous minoritiesare engaged in traditional natural resource use. Theenergy projects affect these minorities and theirenvironment.In its report, ‘Legal Support for EthnologicalAudits as a Compulsory Condition for Development ofNorthern Territories’, issued for parliamentary hearingsin the Federation Council, the Council’s Committee forNorthern Territories and Indigenous Minorities haspublished the following conclusions of the FederalReal Estate Cadaster: “Since the 1930s the structure ofnatural resource use and concepts for development ofnorthern territories have prioritized industrialdevelopment at the expense of traditional sectors,leading to pollution and environmental degradationover vast areas, causing disturbance and loss of themost valuable grazing and agricultural land ...Reindeer pastures have been particularly badlydamaged … the ecological situation has beendestabilized due to stress exerted by industrialfacilities on reindeer pastures and hunting areas,amounting to as much as 40% of the territory wheretraditional natural resource use is practised.”Industrial development of the North, Siberiaand the Far East has done much to change the localdemographic situation, and experts are concernedabout the current socio-economic and demographicstatus of native minorities.These areas are inhabited by over 250,000people representing 40 indigenous minorities, whichare listed in the official register of indigenous smallnumberedpeoples of the North, Siberia and the FarEast. Criteria for inclusion in the register are adherenceto a traditional way of life and total ethnos size under50,000 people.Russia’s northern territories, particularlyrural areas, are also inhabited by descendants oflarger Slavic and non-Slavic peoples, which havetraditionally lived here, including the Komi, theKarels, Yakuts, Pomors and half-blood descendantsof the first Russians, who came to these regions andhave been living there now for over 300 years.These small nations and population groups are notregistered as indigenous minorities, but in mostcases they have a similar way of life and dependfully on the local environment, making their livingfrom hunting, fishing, gathering and cultivation.Ethnographers estimate their total number ataround one million people.More than 75% of these peoples live in ruralareas, and those who are in towns and cities maintainclose ties with their families in the countryside,supplementing their incomes by traditional seasonalactivities (hunting, fishing and gathering) in theirplaces of origin. Around half of the population ofnorthern territories breeds reindeer.The way of life is self-supporting and relies onuse of traditional natural resources. Unemploymentamong indigenous peoples rose by 8 times in the lastdecade of the 20 th century compared with 3.5 times inRussia as a whole, and cash incomes are 2-3 timeslower than the national average. The number of birthsin 2002 was only 69% of the 1995 level, while themortality rate had risen by 35.5%. Average lifeexpectancy of males among native minorities is 10-20years lower than the national average at 45 years. Theepidemiological and public health situation in theseareas has significantly worsened, and tuberculosis andalcohol addiction rates are much higher than thenational average.The share of deaths from external causes(accidents, suicides, murders) is very high amongnorthern peoples: in 1998–2001 it was 37%,compared with the Russian national average of 14%and much lower figures in developed countries(under 8% in Finland in the same period, 6% in theUS in 1998, and even lower in other Europeancountries). Current birth and mortality rates placeindigenous minorities in a particularly high-riskgroup, and serious damage to the environments, onwhich they rely for their livelihood, could lead totheir complete disappearance 1 .1D.D.Bogoyavlenskiy. Are the minorities of the North dying out?//Social studies, 2005, 8, pp.55-61. D.D. Bogoyavlenskiy. 2008http://www.npa-arctic.ru /Documents /conferences/climat_19052008 /Presentations /19.05.08 /bogoyavlensky.pdf48National Human Development Report in the Russian Federation 2009