(ttelegraf.ru) - During the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), Andrey Grachev, Vice President for Federal and Regional Programs of Norilsk Nickel presented the company's experience in supporting indigenous peoples.
According to him, Norilsk Nickel's policy towards the Indigenous Minorities of the North (IMN) is an integral part of the company's strategic development concept: “We really see representatives of indigenous peoples as our colleagues and friends. We understand that these relations should be based on mutual respect, mutual benefit, and striving for development. And our task is to contribute to the preservation of indigenous crafts, lifestyle, to take into account the aspirations and requirements of the indigenous peoples.”
A good example of this, Andrey Grachev emphasized, is a five-year program for interaction with indigenous peoples based on the wishes of 38 communities carrying out traditional types of economic activity throughout the Taimyr municipal district.
It was developed with the participation of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. Norilsk Nickel allocated two billion rubles for the implementation of the program. It includes the construction of residential buildings, houses of culture, the purchase of various workshops for the processing of deer and fish, as well as the implementation of tourism projects and the development of intellectual property.
A special place in the program is devoted to preserving the original culture of the northerners: “The key principle of the program is: “Nothing for us without us.” Let's say the association suggested a good idea - to support the project of recording songs of the Great Patriotic War in the Nenets and Dolgan languages. And by May 9, together with The Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), we brought this project to life. It is also a publication of a collection of poems by Sami poets. At the suggestion of the association, we supported the project of restoring the Nenets script. That is, it is important for us not only to build, but also to support the original culture of the northerners,” Andrey Grachev explained.
In addition, the speaker told the forum participants that Norilsk Nickel became the first company in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation that initiated the procedure for obtaining free prior informed consent (FPIC) by residents of the village of Tukhard: “People themselves have chosen a new place for the construction of the village, which we will build and make a standard. In fact, FPIC has already become part of our corporate culture. We will expand this form of interaction to other platforms. For the company FPIC means also respect for the right of indigenous peoples to independently make decisions about their future, about their development, and this is part of our, as I said, corporate culture, an inalienable part. We are trying to create a new practice in the Russian Arctic, to create new standards for interaction with indigenous peoples.”
The program is being implemented with the involvement of science. According to Andrey Grachev, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is conducting an expedition to study biodiversity at all three sites: in the Trans-Baikal Territory, the Murmansk Province and the Krasnoyarsk Territory:
“The new standards of relations with the indigenous peoples of the North are a turn from the simple construction of some objects to the preservation and enhancement of the intellectual property of local ethnic groups, including the elimination of the digital divide. We talked about eliminating the digital divide in the Arctic, and here a very interesting topic was raised - the digital reindeer herder. This is the use of digital technologies to specify the number of reindeer herds, to control their progress, study their routes, and so on. That is, we are talking about the fact that digitalization did not just come to the Arctic, but came precisely to the indigenous peoples. One of the most important steps towards this was the laying of a fiber-optic communication line from Novy Urengoy to Norilsk. In fact, it was done by the company solely at its own expense.
Andrey Grachev drew attention to the fact that Norilsk Nickel is interested in improving the professional competencies of public leaders who express the interests of their ethnic groups, and creates conditions for their development, the formation of a new generation. An example of this is the educational project "School of Public Diplomacy", which is being implemented on the basis of the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations (MGIMO): northerners have the opportunity to enter the pool of young leaders who will subsequently represent the interests of indigenous peoples and Russia at the federal and international levels, speak at the high rostrums of the United Nations and Arctic Council. And this, according to Andrey Grachev, is a new standard.
