#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum was held in the regional capital. The Nornickel company was the co-organizer of a number of sites. One of them was the Support and Development Programs for Indigenous Minorities discussion club. The experts focused on the participation of socially responsible business in the development of small ethnic groups and territories of their traditional settlement.
“This territory is huge, like two and a half Germanies, where ten thousand people live with whom we work”, said Andrey Grachev, vice president for federal and regional programs of Nornickel. “In 2018, the company adopted a policy on the rights of indigenous small-numbered peoples, which is based on three pillars: taking into account the interests and views of indigenous peoples, developing traditional crafts, and supporting constant dialogue. We strictly adhere to these principles and are going to do it in the future”.
The Nornickel vice-president also dwelled on the issues of compensation for damage to traditional environmental management after the accident at TPP-3:
“For the first time in Russian practice after the events related to the fuel spill, we have conducted an environmental impact assessment. The second stage is being implemented now. The damage to the traditional use of natural resources was compensated for in a targeted manner – more than 177 million rubles. The money was sent to communities, families, peasant farms”.
Andrey Grachev also recalled the long-term support program for the indigenous peoples of the North, the implementation of which has already begun. It provides for more than 40 events and will cost the company more than two billion rubles. 551 million will be spent this year.
The speaker also dwelled on the School of People’s Diplomacy project. It involves the training of representatives of the indigenous minorities of the North at MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations).
“It is the representatives of the indigenous peoples living here who should represent the interests of the territory, but not people from outside, who have never been to Taimyr and studied Taimyr only from the atlases of the Soviet Union”, stressed the Nornickel vice-president. “We also need projects to preserve languages that will resonate internationally. Which will show how we live, how we interact. And we have to do it all together. Because only in cooperation with representatives of the Taimyr municipal district, with the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs and the region, we will achieve these successes”.
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Text: Victor Tsaryov, Photo: Vitas Beneta
