Russia: Bikin Udege community vows to rally to defend land rights

Written on 11 June 2014. Posted in Russia

14 June 2014, the residents of Krasny Yar village in Pozharsky district, Primorsky Krai will be holding a rally to express their opposition against the establishment of a national park on the Bikin River. They fear that this measure will deprive them of access to their ancestral land and their livelihoods. In the past, national parks established in other regions in Russia have massively violated indigenous peoples' rights to their ancestral land and subsistence.

Earlier this year, the inhabitants of the village, and the Russian Association of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North of the Russian Federation (RAIPON) appealed to the Governor of Primorsky Krai, the Russian Federal Government, the President of the Russian Federation, but they had been listened to.

As announced by the head of RAIPON’s legal center, Yulia Yakel, the local residents have decided to rally because they believe, that the creation of a national Park on lands being used by one of the largest and most self-sufficient communities of small-numbered indigenous peoples in Russia will inevitably lead to their demise, and all the inhabitants of the indigenous villages will be left without work and without the ability to maintain their traditional way of life.

On 19 April, the Centre for the Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North hosted a roundtable in Vladivostok. Participants recalled that for more than 10 years, the residents of Krasny Yar, Udege, Nanai and representatives of other nationalities, including Russians have struggled for the creation of a Territory of Traditional Nature Use (TTNU) in the basin of the Bikin River.

In 2006, the indigenous community (obshchina) "Tiger" funded the development of the necessary documentation. In its report 2007 to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Russian Government referred to this initiative as a piece of evidence that its land rights policy was succeeding. But for reasons unknown, the TTNU was never established.

In 2013, President Putin decided to make the conservation of the Amur tiger and leopard populations a political priority; and in November 2013 he handed down the according orders.

Paragraph 5 of the list of assignments of President Putin’s order dated 07 November 2013 stipulates: "to ensure the preparation and adoption of normative legal acts, aimed at the establishment of an especially protected conservation area of Federal significance in the form of a National Park in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Bikin river, with special consideration for the need to regulate the possible participation of representatives of indigenous small-numbered peoples of Primorsky Territory in in the park’s management".

Government ignores indigenous concerns

In response to the letter from the inhabitants of Krasny Yar to the President, urging him to abolish this plan and to establish a Territory of Traditional Nature Use (TTNU) instead, the Ministry of natural resources responded, that the President's order will be carried out on schedule, by 30 June 2014. While doing so, according to the Ministry,

"...the rights of small indigenous peoples living in the basin of the Bikin river to maintain their traditional economic activities and traditional way of life will be realized through the zoning plan of the National Park. After the establishment of the national park and of the corresponding federal agency, representatives of indigenous communities living on the given territory, may be employed in the national Park and also be included in the composition of the scientific-technical council. Such councils play a significant role in the management of national parks".

The population of the red Yar was not satisfied with this answer and on 17 March 2014 again protested against the establishment of a national park in the Bikin River Basin.

The village of Krasny Yar is the biggest settlement with an Udege majority. The Udege consider it to be the core of their community, guaranteeing their continued survival as a distinct group.

Disastrous experience with existing national parks

The round table meeting of 19 April discussed whether the establishment of the National Park is feasible to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and also to contribute to the conservation of the Amur tiger and leopard populations.

Representatives of indigenous peoples of the Khabarovsk region whose territories have already been included into the newly created national parks, responded with a resounding "no":

With the establishment of national parks "Udeiskaya Legenda" and "Anyuisky" in Khabarovsk territory, the conditions for traditional nature use of indigenous minorities have deteriorated sharply, it has become impossible to harvest wild plants, to collect firewood and to hunt. The President of the indigenous peoples’ association of Khabarovsk Territory, Lyubov Passar said:

"During the creation of national parks in places of traditional residence of indigenous peoples, its original idea has been turned into a complete travesty. That's the problem."

Experts believe that in the Primorsky region a lot has been done for the protection of the indigenous peoples’ ancestral land and their traditional way of life; and the creation of a new structure, a new body managing the natural resources of the basin of the Bikin river is redundant.

The creation of the national Park will bring new threats to the indigenous peoples’ traditional subsistence activities, and it will add nothing to the conservation of tigers and leopards, which the indigenous peoples preserved for centuries, in accordance with their cosmo-vision. Indigenous peoples have successfully preserved the biodiversity all by themselves, which the National Park is supposed to preserve.

Indigenous people of Krasny Yar are not impressed by promises to allocate a significant area for their traditional livelihood activities and to create civic council comprising representatives of indigenous and local communities, because they have closely studied the legislation on protected conservation areas, which strictly regulates indigenous peoples’ livelihood activities while allowing various other land uses, including sport and tourism, which will inevitably reduce the community’s land base.

In national parks, traditional economic activities are permitted only on specially designated sites upon agreement with the directorates of the national parks. The creation of civic councils of indigenous small-numbered peoples, participating in the co-management of national parks is not stipulated by legislation, therefore, this body will not have any real power.

At the same time, the law on especially protected conservation areas provides that land, within the boundaries of national parks may be rented out to citizens and legal entities for recreational activities, including sports. Federal agencies in charge of the park’s management may provide service plots to their employees free of charge. However, the strictly protected zone and special protected zones may not be reduced, which implies that most likely such plots will be allocated from the area designated for indigenous peoples’ livelihood activities.

Thus, with the creation of the national park, the number of land and resources users in the basin of the Bikin River is likely to increase significantly, and this will decrease the area available for traditional nature use. This will inevitably harm indigenous and local communities and deprive them of much of their ancestral territory.

Tags: Land rights