The field phase of the high-latitudinal expedition on the Kola Peninsula organized by the Center for Arctic and Siberian Research, a division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been completed.
(yakutsk.ru) - Alongside with the study in the Murmansk Province, a number of surveys and interviews were conducted in the field in the Arkhangelsk Province, Komi Republic and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District.
“Comprehensive in-depth interviews with representatives of the indigenous peoples of the Saami, Komi-Izhma and Nenets made it possible to collect a sufficient amount of content to analyze the Barents indigenous peoples’ attitude to issues of poaching fish, support for the traditional activities and the implementation of FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) — to obtain the consent from the indigenous peoples to implement projects in their territories,” the Peoples of the North website reported quoting Veronika Simonova, Ph.D., the head of the Center.
A lot of important information was collected about FPIC. The Russian government and corporations, following the world fashion, consider the current FPIC procedure, which was held in Norilsk for the first time, to be optimal and maximally protecting the rights of indigenous peoples. But not all the FPIC practices are considered necessary by the elders, and they understand the procedure of “conscious” choice in a completely different way.
“There is no need to play some kind of game building the correct relationship with the indigenous peoples to please the Americans and the British. We are certainly no less patriots of Russia than any CEO, who has an apartment in London and whose children study there. And there is no need to agitate us for Russia,” a respondent said bluntly. “It's not about FPIC. Just hold normal public hearings, which are provided for by Russian law, where necessary. And in other cases, just make a human approach to arising issues. FPIC will not save you if you will cheat people and there is no need at all in FPIC where a company’s management or authorities act honestly and according to the law.”
The members of the expedition told reporters that the survey results would be published after its completion.
The survey participants include such well-known scientists as Veronika Simonova, Vasily Voronov, Konstantin Kotkin, as well as some new names to the anthropological community of post-graduate students and trainees of the Center for Arctic and Siberian Research.
The expedition was sponsored through a regional grant from the Russian Science Foundation for the study of poaching in the Murmansk inland waters and the traditional economic activities of the Barents indigenous peoples. The grant is implemented by the Murmansk Arctic State University. The project leader is Professor Andrey Sergeev.
