Damage Compensation for Indigenous Peoples in the Conditions of Industrial Development of Territories on the Example of the Arctic Zone of the Sakha Republic

Abstract

In the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, hereinafter SR, the Arctic zones are the original habitat of indigenous peoples, who can conduct economic activities only in undisturbed or lightly disturbed lands. From this point of view, the problem of compensation for losses of indigenous peoples as a result of industrial development of territories is of particular relevance. At the same time, it is necessary to identify the main problems of indemnification of losses of the indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North (ISNPN) during the industrial development of the traditional natural resource management territories (TNRMT). The study was conducted using historical, geographical, analytical, synthetic, and statistical methods. In the Arctic zone, the diamond mining, gold mining, and coal mining industrial facilities are located inside TNRM areas. In the near future, it is planned to revive the tin industry, develop oil and gas fields on the continental Arctic shelf, and develop the Tomtor Complex Rare-Earth Deposit. In 2010, a law of the SR was passed: “On Ethnological Expertise in the Places of Traditional Residence and Traditional Economic Activities of the Peoples of the SR”. To date, in the ethnological examination of SR, we have investigated 13 investment business projects. In the course of the investigation, it turned out that most of the comments from both experts and tribal communities concern the section of compensation for damages. The official methodology developed on materials from the polar regions of the western part of Russia cannot be extrapolated to the entire territory of the North, Siberia, and the Far East. It is necessary to develop regional methods for calculating losses of indigenous peoples, which regulate the interaction of subsoil users with the authorities and representatives of the clan communities engaged in traditional crafts.