Posted by Philip Burgess on July 30th, 2008
Is Oil and Gas Development Good for Reindeer Husbandry?
The story from Tyumenskaya News posted in the Reindeer Blog yesterday reflects an earlier “oil and gas and reindeer and good news” story that appeared in Rosbalt Nord a few weeks ago entitled Ямальские газовики подарят оленям комфорт / Yamal gas industry gives comfort to reindeer. The article quoted Sergei Khudi (who attended the EALAT workshop in Yar Sale and the ENSINOR workshop in Rovaniemi). Khudi works for Yamaltranstroy as an advisor on environment and indigenous issues.
According to Khudi pipeline passages for reindeer are being built on the traditional nomadic routes of reindeer herds and these are arranged with the brigadiers of the reindeer herding households. To date, 15 such passages that are 100 metres in width have been built. Khudi also said that reindeer are even allowed migrate on roads and fishing areas in the area of Bovanenkovo. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on July 29th, 2008
Парламентская газета “Тюменские известия”. Осенью в ЯНАО пройдет заседание координационного совета ассоциации коренных малочисленных народов Севера «Ямал — потомкам!». Его главным вопросом станет разработка концепции развития этнического населения региона на ближайшие десять лет.
Предыдущая стратегия жизни тундровиков была рассчитана на такой же срок. Окружная Дума утвердила ее в 2000 году. Время прошло быстро. И не впустую, как утверждает президент ассоциации депутат Государственной Думы ЯНАО Александр Евай. Основные положения принятого десятилетнего жизненного плана для охотников, оленеводов и рыбаков в целом выполнены.
Новая концепция развития КМНС будет составлена с поправкой на новое положение дел в регионе и в стране. Вектор промышленного развития округа устремлен на полуостров Ямал, где «Газпром» начинает разработку ожерелья газоконденсатных месторождений. Ждут освоения и нефтеносные залежи близ поселка Новый Порт. (English Summary Below) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on July 28th, 2008
- The East Siberian Pipeline Route - Passes through Aldan
ИА SakhaNews. В Якутии селу Хатыстыр Беллетского (Google карты) наслега Алданского района присвоен статус «эвенкийский национальный».Вчера на четвертом пленарном заседании Ил Тумэн якутские парламентарии приняли решение о наделении Беллетского наслега (сельского округа) Алданского улуса статусом «эвенкийский национальный». Данный статус позволит наслегу реализовать права представителей коренных малочисленных народов, оговоренные в соответствующих статьях Конституции РФ, а также будет способствовать исполнению Декларации прав коренных народов мира, принятой ООН в прошлом году, и федерального законодательства в отношении коренных малочисленных народов Севера. (English Summary Below) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on July 3rd, 2008
So said Toomas Ilves, the President of Estonia, as he marched his delegation out of last weeks Finno Ugric Congress in Khanty Mansisk. Ilves even called for the European Union to become engaged in protecting Finno Ugric languages. These remarks were designed to irritate Russia, no doubt, as more than 2 million Finno Ugrian people live in Russia (and many are reindeer herders) Nenets, Sami, Khanty, Mansy, and Komi. However, and this point was made in the Moscow Times in yesterdays editorial, many of Russia’s indigenous peoples are not benefiting from the recent rise in Russia’s wealth and this is all the more evident in areas that are rich in oil and gas such as Khanty Mansisk, Yamal Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Nenets Automous Okrug).
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on July 1st, 2008
(Pic - Svein Mathiesen, NAO) У оленеводов свои проблемы, решение которых, к сожалению, может затянуться на неопределенный срок, в связи с передачей полномочий от НАО к АО и реорганизацией управлений по делам малочисленных народов и сельского хозяйства окружной Администрации.
О том, что жизнь людей, ведущих традиционный для НАО образ жизни (оленеводов, охотников и рыбаков), во многом отличается от жизни строителя, геолога, учителя или врача, никто спорить не будет. Тут свои «кричащие» особенности: тундровое становище, продуваемое всеми ветрами, без каких-либо привычных для деревни (не говоря уж о городе) удобств, круглосуточное дежурство по охране тысячного стада в любую погоду, днем и ночью, однообразная пища, оторванность от семьи и, как в космосе, одни и те же лица соседей по чуму в течение нескольких месяцев. И это только малая часть обыденных проблем, с которыми приходится сталкиваться тундровикам. English summary below
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Posted by Philip Burgess on May 6th, 2008
It is well known that the Yamal Peninsula is not only the source of much of Europe’s current and future energy resources (and as a result is of enormous strategic importance to Russia), but it is also the home of the world’s largest area of reindeer husbandry. A major piece of puzzle is infrastructure development, which in the case of the Bovanenkovo field, is being reached by railway, a railway which crosses the migration routes of several reindeer herding brigades. And rivers: The longest railway bridge in Russia is due to be finished by 2009, across the Yuribey River as part of this giant project. You can watch a short video about the project here.
Posted by Philip Burgess on April 24th, 2008
(ROSBALT NORD) САЛЕХАРД, 21 апреля. Освоение Бованенковского месторождения (Ямало-Ненецкий автономный округ) согласовано с коренным населением, сообщает ИА «Север-Пресс».
«Вторжение промышленности в зону хозяйствования коренного населения происходит крайне осторожно и цивилизованно, — заявил заместитель генерального директора компании «Газпром добыча Надым» Игорь Морозов. — Все решения по строительству инфраструктуры и трубопроводов в районе Бованенково принимаются только после детального обсуждения с коренным населением и прохождения соответствующих согласований и экспертиз в местных администрациях».
(Operator Gazprom has got the necessary consent from regional indigenous peoples for the development of the huge Bovanenkovskoe field in the Yamal Peninsula. English summary below) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on April 23rd, 2008
(Pic: Subhankar Banerjee, Vanity Fair) An interesting article has appeared in the May 2008 edition of Vanity Fair by Alex Shoumatoff. He writes about Chilangarov’s hugely popular (in Russia, not the rest of the world) stunt of planting a flag on the seabed of the North Pole,
“I don’t give a damn what all these foreign politicians … are saying about this. If someone doesn’t like this, let them go down themselves and try to put something there. Russia must win. Russia has what it takes to win. The Arctic has always been Russian.” (A. Chilangarov)
But of most interest to the Reindeer Blog is what he writes about reindeer husbandry and the challenges they face in Sakha Yakutia in the face of climate change - which in mainstream Russian scientific circles is not happening, a notion contradicted by Bob Corell (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment author, Heinz Center scientist and EALAT team member also quoted in the article). The mainstream view in Russia is that it is currently getting colder. The author visited several villages in Sakha Yakutia interviewing reindeer herders, horse breeders and wild reindeer hunters.
Read the full article here. / Download pdf here
Posted by Philip Burgess on April 22nd, 2008
According to a report in the Barents Observer and Rosbalt Nord, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug proposes to build a new port terminal in Indiga for exports of oil shipments. This is a region of reindeer husbandry for Nenets and Komi herders and it should be remembered that the establishment of an oil terminal in Varandei led to the relocation of an old Nenets village and created difficulties for reindeer herders in the region. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on April 17th, 2008
(Picture - Miriam Elder, From the Moscow Times, 11042008) NARYAN-MAR, Nenets Autonomous District — When an airplane carrying LUKoil workers crashed in the far north of this Arctic region three years ago, killing 29 of 52 people on board, many blamed the weather.
When, one year later, in March 2006, a helicopter carrying victims’ relatives to a commemoration ceremony at the crash site also fell, killing another person, the indigenous people thought something else was at play. The land, they said, was cursed.
One of Russia’s newest oil-producing regions, the Nenets autonomous district is home to lucrative projects for LUKoil and Rosneft. It is also home to a population of 7,000 indigenous Nenets, whose livelihood and seminomadic way of life is being increasingly threatened by the region’s growing oil industry.
Read the rest of this entry »
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