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February 2010

Vol. 15, No. 7 Week of February 14, 2010

Our Arctic Neighbors: Industry works with Yamal indigenous peoples

Oil companies and the local authorities are successfully working with the indigenous peoples of the Yamal Peninsula to make projects beneficial for everyone, a politician from the northern region of Russia told the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromso, Norway, Jan. 25. Sergei Kharyuchi is president of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and chairman of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug’s legislative assembly.

The Yamal region has been the largest gas producer in Russia for almost three decades, Kharyuchi said in his presentation. It is home to about 260 oil and gas fields, 60 of which are being developed. About 92 percent of Russia’s gas reserves are located there. There are also 700,000 reindeer in the region — the biggest herd in Russia — and more than 37,000 indigenous people. Half of those people still lead a nomadic life. The Ob River and other rivers on the peninsula contain one-third of the world’s stock of whitefish.

“We have accumulated very good best practices in cooperation between the authorities and the oil and gas companies working here in Yamal,” Kharyuchi said. “There is a practice of drawing up annual agreements with the indigenous population and with the authorities locally. Thanks to the allocations in these agreements with companies, we have enough money to use to take care of the environment, to build new housing and to resolve outstanding social and health issues. The local municipalities and the district administration are continuously negotiating with the industrial development companies, establishing the rights and obligations of the stakeholders.”






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