Indigenous peoples – hostile towards development?

Governor Yevdokimov spoke in a State Council meeting taking place in Murmansk last week. In his speech, he is reported to have said that indigenous peoples in the Russian North are development hostile, and that they have hampered investment projects in the region.

Magne Ove Varsi, head of the Sāmi Knowledge Center in Kautokeino, Norway, says such statements in the long run could influence the wellbeing of Russia’s indigenous peoples. -If the Russian Federation begins to accept these kind of statements, it can of course influence the indigenous peoples possibilities’ to develop, he maintains.

In a response from Raipon, the Russian organisation for indigenous peoples, member of the executive committee Rodion Sulyandziga says he is “not shocked by the governor’s statement”. At the same time he asks for understanding about the fact that Arctic Russia is home for a number of indigenous peoples and that companies and authorities must see which consequences oil and gas and mining will have for the local population.

Photo: Barentsphoto.com