On July 26, 2023, the PORA Sustainable Development Laboratory held a discussion club meeting in Murmansk on the topic of “Ethnoexpertise and its interaction with the indigenous peoples of the North and the environment”, NIA-Murmansk reports.
The need for ethno-expertise in the region was actualized by the development of the Kolmozersky lithium project in the Lovozersky district.
According to Yevgeny Borovichev, director of the PORA Sustainable Development Laboratory, insufficient attention is paid to ethnological examinations in the region, so there is a need to discuss the initiatives of indigenous peoples to ensure sustainable development.
It is not the first time that PORA acts as a hub for ethnological expertise discussions. In 2020, the organization held a similar event in Taimyr. As a result of this work, Norilsk Nickel adopted a five-year program to support the indigenous peoples of Taimyr in the amount of more than 2 billion rubles.
At the end of July 2023, a group of scientists led by Alexei Novozhilov, head of the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology at St Petersburg University, studied the ethnographic features of Lovozero and Krasnoshchelye, as well as the ecological situation in the surrounding area. The scientists mapped the areas of reindeer herding, wild plants gathering, fishing and hunting, which could potentially be affected by lithium mining here.
“It is necessary to come up with some kind of program that will effectively develop those traditional models that still exist and compensate reindeer herders for the losses they incur,” Novozhilov said.
Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished
