University of Alberta
Negotiating Northern Resource Development Frontiers: People, Energy, and Decision-Making in Yamal
by
Igor A. Osipov
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Anthropology
© Igor A. Osipov Spring 2011' Edmonton, Alberta
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1*1 Canada Examining Committee
Dr. Mark Nuttall, Anthropology
Dr. Michael Percy, Business
Dr. Andie Palmer, Anthropology
Dr. Naomi Krogman, Rural Economy
Dr. Marko Zivkovic, Anthropology
Dr. Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh, Politics and Public Policy (Griffith University) Abstract
This dissertation examines contemporary models of co-existence and partnerships negotiated between local communities, government, and resource corporations in the
Russian District of Purovsky (Arctic Yamal), with a particular focus on the relations of these partnerships to Russia's wider socio-cultural and political contexts and, more broadly, the circumpolar world. Yamal has Eurasia's richest oil and gas reserves, and is an important crossroads region where various geopolitical and financial interests intersect. With the opening up of new gas and oil fields, and construction of roads and pipelines, Yamal is experiencing rapid changes; and is being challenged to reshape its many 'frontiers' in which people, energy, and decisions are closely linked to one another.
Since the late 1970s, resource development projects have had significant impacts on the lives of the local people in the Purovsky tundra. Along with experiencing negative consequences, such as water and soil contamination, impacts on land, wildlife, and local communities have also nurtured creative ways of adaptation, decision-making, and self- organization.
Since 1998, a number of unique models of co-existence and participatory dialogue, involving public project reviews, and sound participation of local indigenous activist groups have been developed and implemented in Yamal. Furthermore, during the past decade the Purovsky District has served as a unique decision-making polygon for the
Northeastern Urals. Several joint community-industry-government political and economic cooperation models have been tested and their elements have subsequently been implemented in other Arctic Russian localities. From 2006-2008 this project was focused on documenting these important developments by investigating and explicating the on-the-ground models of agreement-making in the context that these models have been developing since the 1970s.
This project, as such, strives to benefit the areas of anthropology, political science, rural economy, as well as Northern studies in indigenous-state-industry relations spectrums.
More specifically, this research contributes to a better understanding of the forms of public participation, negotiation, local activism; and their interconnections to the broader sociopolitical context, rural economic capacity building, power relations, and decision making environments that local communities, governments, and corporations create effective co-existence/partnership models. Preface
The very idea of this project came to life during a major international scientific congress that I attended in my first year as a postgraduate student. The congress was devoted solely to issues of Arctic resources, the environment, people, and future development.
Representatives of Northern indigenous groups, businesses, industry, academics, government, and community experts shared their stories; overall, the atmosphere was almost like "business as usual" for those who were engaged in the problematique. Having lived in Alaska at the end of the 1990s, I could relate much of what was discussed at this conference to what I have personally observed or experienced while living and conducting research in the North during the last decade. However, there was something that stood out at this event.
A number of reports and case studies related to the oil and gas industry and its interactions with local communities from Northern Canada, Europe, and the United
States specifically examined both successful and unsuccessful developments and models of interaction between industry, local peoples, and governments that have occurred over the last decade. It was obvious from these reports that life in the North is rapidly changing and indigenous peoples are becoming interveners, as well as business partners with corporations interested in development of these Northern regions.
However, case studies from Russia and, more broadly, Northern Eurasia, have targeted primarily the negative consequences of industrial interference in the pristine Arctic and
Sub-Arctic environments. This seemed biased - at least to me. There were practically no cooperation case models discussed, lessons learned, or inquiries voiced by the participants of this Congress. At the same time, issues with a problematic flavour, and challenges inherent in a social and cultural change associated with industrial development in Northern latitudes, were analyzed and presented in significant detail.
Coincidentally, just a few days before the Congress, there was a detailed news report highlighting a unique model of cooperation that was established in Yamal between
Gazprom - Russia's largest state-owned gas company - and local communities. This news report exemplified a successful cooperative case model in Northern Russia that was clearly absent at the Congress. Either the television report had no factual basis, or the congress participants were unaware or uninformed about this particular partnership. This inspired me to research this topic further as the major part of my journey as a postgraduate student.
There are three reasons why I decided to move forward with this topic. First, it was a
challenge to find and explore a case of joint community-industry-government partnerships from the Russian North, and to examine more closely what kind of decision making, partnership, and resource development cooperation models were in place almost
20 years after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Second, business and government-related views and perspectives on Northern development were
a 'white spot' on the maps of Arctic anthropology. It was presupposed that they were
materialistic, money-oriented, and overall, capitalistic in their very nature. Most
anthropological inquiries have taken indigenous perspectives as a starting point, as corporate and governmental perspectives are highly regulated by internal rules and are difficult to obtain, especially for foreigners. Due to my Russian heritage, I thought that at least this obstacle might be easier for me.
Third, I wanted to provide as much information as I could—and in very practical terms
—to those local communities that are just starting their engagement with industry, by listening to stories told by the local people who have already successfully engaged with the industry and could share these experiences with others. It is my intention to examine and flesh out interaction models that have already led to mutually beneficial and lasting partnerships between local communities, industry, and government in the Russian Arctic.
This served the essence of my research topic: How and in what ways do people, resources, and decision-making relate to each other now and in the past, what is their context, and what co-existence models have been developed based on these interactions?
The first steps of my journey were difficult in a number of ways. It seemed like the more inquiries I made, the more challenges and obstacles appeared. The topic was considered to be too 'political' by almost anyone I spoke with and the degree of gate-keeping was at its maximum for this kind of study. Nevertheless, I started from Moscow, where all oil and gas companies headquarters are located, and extended my research to Tyumen'
City—the administrative center of the larger Tyumen' region, which Yamal is nominally a part of—and Salekhard City—the Yamal capital. My final field site was the Purovsky District, and more precisely the Tarko-Sale and
Kharampur settlements in Kharampurskaya tundra where forest Nenets communities have played a part during the entire history of the resource development story. This gave me an opportunity to observe both sides of the coin - from corporate and governmental board rooms to the fishing camps of the Ivan Velio brigade. However, at the beginning of this project it was difficult to overcome the challenges presented by doubtful peers.
Thankfully, many of these challenges were overcome by the final stages of the project, exemplified by the documentary film produced by local the Tarko-Sale Indigenous TV studio: the documentary was based on the topic of this research project.
Later in the process, I would get surprised looks from BQiarampur and Tarko-Sale Nenets when telling them that people outside Yamal do not have any idea of how far they have advanced in managing their relationships with both the State and corporations. Nenets' smiles and looks would proudly say that they have lived through the struggle with the changes and earned what they have now. "All Yamal knows this!" —they would often tell me. The world, however, is much larger. This is why I wanted to share their stories outside Yamal, where few would tell them in English. Acknowledgements
CjiaBa Bory.
This work has many connections to many people across continents. I would like to thank all of those who helped me along the way to make this project come to fruition.
Fundamental for me was the warm support of my entire family, which gave me the opportunity to be away doing this project so often as well as being back—but similarly
'away'—while writing it up. Thank you so much for that. Professor Mark Nuttall, my
PhD Committee Chair and principal supervisor extended his help and resources, giving me unprecedented levels of academic and travel freedom for which I am most thankful.
His critical advice, consistency, firm word, moral and personal help, as well as trust in what I do means a lot to me. School of Business Dean Professor Mike Percy's sincere interest in this project, amazing references and acquaintances into the business world as well as active assistance, always open door and ability to speak for five minutes, given his incredibly busy schedule, from the very first to the very last days, provided a unique
source of energy, support and opportunities for this project and its end result.
I am thankful to both Dr. Andie Palmer and Dr. Naomi Krogman for their critical views
during the intermediary part of the research. Their advice made me think more and
created additional ways to analyze and reflect the perspectives I have formed in Yamal, both in this thesis and in the form of a documentary film, made jointly with the local
indigenous TV station. The documentary has become a 'winning ticket' for this project in
general and opened up many doors that would have stayed closed otherwise. This film owes both Andie and Naomi and their criticisms much. I appreciate the friendly advice and critical comments from Dr. Gordon Laxer, who generously gave his time. Ciaran
O'Faircheallaigh's and Niobe Thompson's research and articles have served as an inspiring piece for my own work and greatly assisted me through the doubts and questions in the first stages of the project. I would like to mention the kind help and humorous contributions by John Todd, former Finance Minister of (then) Northwest
Territories, who took me on a private visit to his Inuit friends in (now) Nunavut to show how partnership and con-existence models work there. It was a very inspiring and useful experience for this research project.
Many people - from business and government, NGO activists and local fishermen, social and environmental experts and scientists in Yamal Nenets Autonomous Region,
Tyumen', Salekhard, Moscow, Nunavut and Fort McMurray have shared their lives and stories with me and given me access to their views, feelings, memories, and understandings. They devoted their time (in the government and business circles this is the main 'currency') and hospitality; participated in interviews; took me fishing; invited me to their chums (tepees) and allowed us to bring a joint filming crew to film their activities. Their explanations and differing views on what resource development, partnership, cooperation, and decision-making means to them, how it works on the ground, and their causes and consequences, were the cornerstone upon which this work was built. These rich stories, activities, and challenges created something that is called life - so different and so amazing in these very differences. The warm support and welcoming attitudes from the people living in the settlements of Tarko-Sale, Kharampur, Salekhard, camps of the Kharampurovskaya factory, the Kar-Nat trading post, and the Ivan Velio fishing brigade were of great help to me and I am very thankful to these communities.
These people are stakeholders in the decision-making process, the very center of agreements, negotiations, and roundtables beyond money and balance sheets. Their views, stories, and tales have shaped the format and content of this research. I hope very much that they will find what I write in this thesis useful.
Sincere gratitude goes to people who cleared their schedules and gave me their time to
explain about nuances and details of decision- and agreement-making in Yamal, particularly Tatyana Gostykhina, Maria Klimova, Dmitry Kobylkin, Sergey Aivasedo,
Mikhail Bystrov, Alexander Evay, Edman Nerkagi, Maria Velio, and Tatyana
Murashova. I really appreciate the efforts and time of TV Studio "Luch" Indigenous
Programs Division film crew members and Larisa Aivasedo, who were delegated to this project by Irina Stibacheva and Maria Klimova as well as sound track assistance from
central TV Studio "Yamal-Region" and its Indigenous Programs team.
The fieldwork and academic part of this project was made possible through support from
the University of Alberta FS Chia PhD Fellowship, CAB REE and School of Business
Dean's Office support, as well as a Canadian Circumpolar Institute C-BAR Grant and
several Research Assistantships from the Department of Anthropology and its Tory Chair Fund. I am deeply grateful to all these organizations and individuals for providing excellent support and travel capacity to complete the work. I am also thankful to Mark
Nuttall and Ryan Brown who both devoted significant time to revising and proofreading my thesis at the final stages.
Needless to say, all the conclusions and analyses in the following chapters express the author's own view. Several personal and company names are either changed or left out for confidentiality reasons or at the direct request of the parties involved. Table of Contents
Introduction 1 Thesis Structure Outline 8 Chapter I. Research Considerations 11 Theoretical Framework 11 Methodology 18 Research Contribution 27 Research Limitations 34 Chapter II. Energy on the Tundra: the Geopolitics of Oil and Gas in 21st century Russia 38 Putting Oil and Gas in a Wider Context 39 Russia and the Arctic Energy Stage 41 Laws and Institutions: Key Facts 48 Chapter III. 'The End of Land' in the Wider Context: Geography, People, and History in Yamal 52 The Land 52 The People 56 The Nenets in the 20th Century 61 Chapter IV. The Case: Partnership, Participation, and Decision-making Model in the Purovsky District 64 The Key Parties of Agreement-making 67 Corporations 67 A Retrospective View 69 The Oil Company 72 The Gas Company 75 Government 77 The Role of the NGO: "Yamal-to-Descendants!" 84 The Context 84 Regional Level 88 Municipal Level 92 Kharampur: Locals, Obschinas, and the Joint Stock Companies 93 Agreement-making Model in Purovsky 107 Chapter V. Peculiarities of Agreement-making and Self-Governance in the Local Context.... 120 Political Peculiarities 120 Shevtsvo 124 Emergent Forms of Participation 133 Native Affairs Officers 135 Public Hearings 137 Round Tables 142 Saying "No" 147 The Role of Leadership 151 Chapter VI. Challenges of Co-existence 161 Locals and Industry: Everyday challenges 161 Political, Legal & Economic challenges 169 Conclusion 176 References 184 Supplement 1. Sample Field Questionnaire 201 Supplement 2. Fieldwork Ethics Statement & Sample Approval 203 Supplement 3. Oil Company Round Table (Selected Transcript) 208 List of Figures
Figure 1. Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region (YANAO) 7 Figure 2. Documentary crew filming at Ivan Velio's camp 25 Figure 3. Purovsky District and Yamal District 32 Figure 4. World map of key proved gas reserves 41 Figure 5. Aivasedo Pur riverbank at Kar-Nat trading post 53 Figure 6. Purovsky District, Tarko-Sale, and Kharampur on Yamal map 56 Figure 7. Dmitry Kobylkin, Head of Purovsky District 83 Figure 8. Old house with erected chum nearby. Kharampur 2008 98 Figure 9. Taking fish out of the sadok. Ivan Velio brigade. 2008 100 Figure 10. Ivan Velio with his fishing brigade 102 Figure 11. Sergey Bystrov. CEO JSC Obschina Kharampurovskaya 103 Figure 12. Agreement process flow with no contract in place 108 Figure 13. Agreement process flow with a contract in place 109 Figure 14. Agreement-making process flow in Yamal (Regional level) 110 Figure 15. Agreement-making process flow in Purovsky District (District level) 115 Figure 16. Maria Klimova with an assistant 144 Figure 17. Maria Klimova nearby new school building in Kharampur 159 Figure 18. Road construction site near Tarko-Sale 168 Figure 19. Political advertisement board of "United Russia" in Kharampur 173 Introduction
Over the last 30 years, the Arctic and Sub-arctic regions have increasingly become a major focus of geopolitics, business, and science. This applies equally to both the
Eurasian and North American regions where these topics have been viewed as the resource-rich high-latitude frontier and include the northern areas of Canada, Russia, the
United States, and the Nordic states. Today, the Arctic is closely monitored by scientists, the military, business interests and politicians as climatic changes cause the breaking up of the sea ice cover and the melting of glaciers, supposedly opening new windows of opportunity for shipping. Technological advances allow off-shore development on the continental shelf, and enormous energy demands from both developed and developing countries (even in the face of a global financial crisis) have kept the Arctic stakes very high (Schlosser 2006).
The Russian North is the Arctic's largest region by territorial coverage and the richest in mineral resource base (Weafer 2007). It has been the stage for a number of dramatic changes encompassing historical, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. These changes were brought about by the turmoil of the 20l century with the panopticum of epochs - Imperial, Soviet, and now capitalist/democratic, all of which were densely packed within a period of just 75 years. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the
Eurasian Arctic—ultimately covered by the Russian sector alone (with the exclusion of the Nordic states)—was a closed region, prohibiting major social research efforts by non-
Soviet scientists, with just a small number of ideologically-friendly Western academics
1 allowed to travel to the Soviet Union's North (Humphrey 1983, Balzer 1989, Vitebsky
1991).
The Russian North and Siberia have always occupied a special place on the map of social sciences, humanities, and literature. From the Chekhov-style 'land of exile' (Chekhov
1993[1895], Grant 1995) to the comparative scenery of the Jesup expedition (Schweitzer
2001b), it has attained the same romantic energy and attractiveness for many Russians and Europeans; as the Wild West has for Americans. Anthropology was no less excluded from the process. Siberian ethnography began in the 17th century and the first official fieldwork and consequent publication of a specifically ethnographic character—Opisanie o narode ostyatskom1 —occurred in the first quarter of the 18* century, based on ethnographic research in Siberia.
Early literature addressing the Yamal and Ob' River region and its inhabitants was directly related to the geographic expeditions sent by the Russian Academy of Sciences or conducted by scientists (German, Russian, French, and others) themselves during the
18th-20th centuries (Anuchin 1890; Bartenev 1896; Kushelevskii 1868; Lepekhin 1805;
Novitskiy andZuyev 1999 [1884]; Zhitkov 1913; Zuyev 1947 [1802]), travelers'journals of various sorts (De Bruin 1872; Islavin 1847; Kastren 1860; Kertselli 1911; Kuznetsov
1868; Pallas 1788; Voropay 1900, 1901) and the notes of the Pravoslavnye monks and priests who settled in the regional centers of Obdorsk and Mangazeya and organized
Christian missions in the area (Irinarkh 1987 [1903]; Yakobiy 1895; Gritsenko 2000
1 About the Ostyak People (rus).
2 [1918]). These accounts contained important and often rich descriptions of the lives and customs of the Ugric and Samoyedic people of the region.
Ethnographic expeditions were organized and supported by special arrangements with the governors of the new territories (Siberian Demographic Review), and from the Tsar
(Great Siberian Expedition 1733-1743). Most of the findings of these ethnographic expeditions have been summarized and published in a major 4-volume work Opisanie vsekh v Rossiyskom gosuidarstve obitayushchikh narodov in 1776-1780; these findings
laid out the basis for further development of the discipline of ethnography in Russia.
Many more accounts containing ethnographic information were written by the leaders of
Cossack parties during their Siberian and Inner Asia journeys.
The apogee of the pre-Revolutionary period of Russian Arctic ethnography was the
collaborative Jesup North Pacific Expedition organized jointly by Franz Boas and
Russian social scientists Ian Bogoraz and Vladimir Jokhelson at the margin of the 19'
and 20th centuries (1897-1902). Aimed at comparative research into Native cultures
across the Northern Pacific, the findings of the expedition regarding the religion, kinship,
language, customs, and material lives of aboriginal peoples have been published in both
Russian and English (Schweitzer 2000: 31). The Jesup North Pacific Expedition is
widely regarded as a landmark of social anthropology, both in America and Russia.
Providing a rich set of data and monographs, the Jesup 'clan' of scientists and their
2 About All the Peoples Inhabiting the Russian State (rus.).
3 successors has shaped, and is still shaping, the field of Arctic anthropology on both sides of the Pacific (Krupnik 2000).
During the first half of the 20th century, several Russian scholars studied local northern groups and produced classic-style descriptive ethnographies (or ethnographic chapters) addressing issues of Yamal peoples' origins, as well as their language, customs, and daily lives (Rychkov 1916; Startsev 1926; Geydenreich 1930; Prokof ev 1937; Verbov 1936,
1939). During the second half of the 20th century there was also significant focus on the people of Yamal (Vasiliev 1979; Gemuev and Pelikh 1975; Dolgikh 1971, 1970;
Evsiugin 1979; Khomich 1966, 1976, 1990), and some specific interest in the forest
Nenets as well (Verbov 1936; Dolgikh 1971). Dominated by the state-endorsed Marxist theory of classes and class formations, these accounts mainly addressed politically neutral issues of material life and economy with the main focus on reindeer herding, ethnogenesis (the formation of the people and their history), and their spiritual lives and customs.
The picture has changed since the mid-1990s, when the rigid 'ideological line' in theory and science was lifted: anthropologists, historians, and other scholars have been able to explore different aspects of the Siberian indigenous people's social and cultural lives— from oral tradition and questionable pages of the Soviet-era history (Golovnev 1993,
1995; Leete 2004) to traditional resource use (Ziker 2002), socio-culrural legacies of the
Soviet period (Grant 1995), contemporary economic situation (Golovnev and
Oscherenko 1999, Karapetova et. al 1995; Turutina 2004), and social meaning of nutrition practices (Atsushi 1997).
4 Unlike the pre-Soviet situation, when joint US-Russian fieldwork projects such as the
Jesup expedition were possible, from the 1930s to the 1990s about 95% of the research on the Russian Arctic came from within the Soviet Union and was rarely published in the
West. As a result of this situation, any major external studies (i.e. not dominated by the state-endorsed ideology or research question) of the massive territory covering eight time zones and hosting dozens of ethnic and cultural groups were halted. The curtain opened up only during the second half of the 1990s (Grant 1996, Schweitzer 2000, Anderson
2000, Gray 2001), enabling rich opportunities for research.
The beginning of the 21st century also highlighted the return of active participation of anthropologists from Europe and North America, as well as continued interest from
Russian scholars. International research projects, like the Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment (ACIA) and Arctic Human Development Report (ADHR) have been instrumental in addressing the present state of the Arctic in terms of environment, climate change, renewable and non-renewable resource use, as well as traditional economies.
With the ongoing political changes that opened up a variety of ways of approaching rights to the land, self-determination, environmental concerns and heightening of industrial development, these topics became an immediate focus of research conducted during the last 15 years (Kvashnin 2006; Wilson 2003; Liarskaya 2004; Stammler
2005a, 2005b; Tuisku 2002a, 2002b, 2003; Heine 2006; Forbes 1999a, 1999b, Stammler and Forbes 2006; Volzhanina 2006; Lekhtisalo 1998). The vast majority of this research has been directed at the tundra Nenets. Very little (Karapetova at al., 1995; Turutina
5 2004) attention—especially in the English-language literature—has been given to the forest Nenets groups of the Purovsky District since Dolgikh (1970, 1971) and Verbov
(1936, 1939).
The rationale for the case of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region (YANAO), just northeast of the Polar Urals, at the heart of the Eurasian Arctic, is therefore threefold.
First, Yamal is the most resource-rich region in Russia, where 90% of the natural gas and
15%o of the oil in Russia is currently developed and exported to the EU. Second, Yamal is home to a variety of local communities and indigenous groups living intact nomadic lifestyles both inland and near the coastline3; and Yamal is the base for the largest reindeer herd in Eurasia, numbering between six to seven hundred thousand reindeer .
Third, significant recent focus on the region from various anthropologists (Kasten 2002,
Stammler and Forbes 2006, Stammler and Wilson 2006, Tuisku 2002) is lacking substantive research into forms and content of decision-making processes, participation models, and partnership agreements between industry, government, and local communities, despite positive 'on-the-ground' cases during the last decade matching the wider global trend of co-management, decentralization, and public participation (Sinclair and Diduck 2000, Mabee and Hoberg 2006).
3 i.e. spending more than half a year or year-round on tundra with the reindeer. 4 depending on season/time of year within the annual cycle of reindeer husbandry.
6 PU J L (JAJ'OMOMCUS MOSCOW ,*p ClJ < "STRICT
Figure 1. Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region (YANAO). Drawn by author using blank map template.
What drives natural resource industry in Yamal? What is the historical background for the relationships between the local communities and industry there? How do decision making processes work, and what forms of participation are available to the local people in ongoing energy projects? What are the past and current forms of dialogue? Who are the major stakeholders in the negotiation processes and what legal, power, and organizational means do they have to address their interests? What role does the state play in the negotiations? Is there a cooperation 'model' that has developed in Yamal? Do communities have a say in projects and can they say 'no'? What are the benefits and challenges of entering into agreements with companies? Can 'on-the-ground' partnership models developed in Purovsky district in Yamal be applied elsewhere? These are the major questions that this thesis attempts to address.
7 My major goal was to answer these questions and provide a thick description of agreement-making models in Yamal, rather than making evaluations about what is working and what is not. I wanted to see and describe the agreement-making models and how people are explaining these models for themselves. The applied outcome of this research as a reference point for other Arctic communities facing similar issues, was the key in my entire project efforts.
Thesis Structure Outline
This thesis is divided into eight connected parts that inform one another: an introduction,
six chapters, and a conclusion. Chapter One outlines a general review of the topic and
context of the research. It is focused on the theoretical and methodological considerations
that have informed the project, the fieldwork, and the interpretation of the fieldwork results. I also outline the potential contribution that the research brings to the social
sciences and anthropology, as well as point out the limitations that inherently exist for
this kind of academic endeavor.
Chapter Two takes outlines a larger picture of what energy is in an Arctic context, and
how energy shapes current situations in the Northern latitudes, both internationally and in
Siberia. This chapter addresses the questions of what drives energy and how it is
connected to politics, economy and structural changes that have shifted the paradigm in
the circumpolar world during the last 20 years. I place particular attention on explaining
what is the meaning of oil and gas development in the Russian context, and what weights
and priorities have been assigned to energy projects in this country's contemporary
8 politics. I also touch on institutional and legal frameworks for energy development and provide a brief outlook on how energy projects take place as a bureaucratic workflow from the perspectives of industry and the state (before these projects are implemented on the ground).
Chapter Three is the analysis of the context of the fieldwork location, where the Yamal region—as both a part of Russia and as a part of the Arctic—finds itself in relation to the land, people, and history. This chapter outlines specific types of Northern relationships that are developed in the northern environment. It also looks at how the concept of
'indigenous' and 'historic' connect people in their daily lives and explores the relationships between the Nenets (the major indigenous ethnic group in the region), the land and energy resources.
Chapter Four is devoted to the case study region itself, where I was able to explicate and document decision-making practices, understandings of agreement-making dynamics from the major parties involved (community, local leadership, corporations and the
state), as well as the flow and constitution of layered decision-making models as they have been developed in the Purovsky District. I explore positions of all the key parties as they are voiced from their own standpoints in the context of rapid social and political changes in Russia and the Russian North. I also look at the key role of local indigenous
NGO "Yamal-to-Descendants" in the decision-making processes at different levels within the region and beyond. This chapter provides an analysis of the agreement-making models strengths and weaknesses, and shows how these models came to exist and what
9 drives their relative success (since they are looked at as model frameworks by other indigenous groups and municipalities in Yamal and elsewhere) on the ground in the
Purovsky District and the Kharampur settlement presently and in the near future.
Chapter Five is devoted to the peculiarities and essential nuances of agreement-making over the natural resources in the local context. I discuss the peculiarities of local (self-) governance, its legal and historical basis, as well as socio-cultural traits that are unique to the Purovsky District and Yamal. The institute of shevstvo—an effective local form of corporate social responsibility traced to the Soviet time—is analyzed in detail, as well as currently emerging forms of participation in decision-making around oil and gas projects.
In this chapter, I also take a closer look at the role of leadership in the process of creating
and sustaining the existing models of co-existence between the local communities,
companies, and the government.
Chapter Six winds the discussion down and outlines a number of agendas, 'frontier'
lines, and challenges of co-existence between industry, local people, and the state
government. As in earlier chapters, I look at a variety of issues and impacts surrounding resource development in Purovsky District and the ways in which the local community of
Kharampur and two neighboring companies are dealing with them. In this chapter, I also
address several peculiar political and economic challenges inherent to the Northern
indigenous economies, due to the legal regime currently in place. In the conclusion, I
draw on a number of present social issues that can be transformed into further research
avenues in order to better understand the current trends in agreement-making practices.
10 Chapter I. Research Considerations
Theoretical Framework
Public involvement in decision-making concerning natural resources or large infrastructural projects has been a visible trend during the last 20 years across the globe.
There are cases that come from India, Spain, USA, Canada, Australia, and Uganda
(Walton and Barnett 2008, Cronin and Ostergren 2007, MacKenzie and Krogman 2001).
From forest management, to establishing hog facilities and hydro development, these cases represent an emergent change that is now considered to be "business as usual" in many countries. The trend has been particularly visible in the West, where organized
'citizen engagement' forms the basis of public involvement into the decision-making and invironmental impact assessment practices (Wagenet and Pfeffer 2007, Palerm 1999).
Discussions about decision-making and public participation in the context of resource development and its impacts on local communities have been especially visible in the disciplines of rural economy and political science. Academics have addressed the topic through the 'decentralization' debate, which is understood as 'a process of expanding the number of levels that are authorized to make and enforce collective decisions' (Bartley
2008: 164), 'co-management' in relation to forestry and water resources (Mabee and
Hoberg 2006), and 'public involvement' around hydro development and agriculture.
Examples include research into the establishment of hog facilities and associated issues of access to information or direct public involvement in the decision-making process pre- and post-factum (MacKenzie and Krogman 2001), or issues of conservation (Sinclair and
11 Diduck 2000). With different degrees of criticism—from harsh to moderate—in regard to the process of public participation and its organization (workflow), most researchers agree that the participation dynamics is changing from 'largely bilateral and closed' to one that is more 'inclusive and open' (McGurk et al. 2006: 809).
Anthropologists have attempted to address the resource development and participation debate from a number of directions. Crate (2007) has investigated diamond development in Sakha, paying considerable attention to the process of decision-making as a side-story, while Bielawski (2003) looked closely at diamond mining in northern Canada from an
Aboriginal standpoint in the very heart of decision-making process. Stammler and
Wilson developed a concept of 'collective agency', addressing the capacity of local people to act collectively against incoming institutions and corporations (2006: 8).
Forbes has addressed concerns of oil development and local reindeer herders through an environmental critique (1999), while Tuisku was able to explicate some of the traits in dealings between local Nenets and resource companies through reindeer herding practices and discussions of social and economic changes in the Nenets Autonomous
Region (2002). Nuttall and Wessendorf raised concerns about the benefits, or lack thereof, that various groups of indigenous peoples receive from industrial development on their territories (Nuttall 2006, Nuttall and Wessendorf 2006). Finally, Bielawski looked closely at the challenges in a diamond mining project for local communities in the
Yukon that negotiated with BHP Billiton and the Canadian government (Bielawski
2003).
12 However, exploration into the flow of participation processes and the outlook of particular models in resource development projects, as well as the engagement dynamics between key stakeholders—communities, states, and corporations—have still remained a largely unknown area of research. The same 'white spot' is the list of key decision makers and stakeholders that influence decision-making processes beyond the general tags: 'corporations', 'state', 'locals'. Understanding of the institutional, historical, and socio-cultural framework within which decisions are negotiated and made is also a wide open ground for this type of research.
Therefore, it would not be an overstatement to suggest that the topics outlined in the above paragraph may be somewhat new territory for social inquiry. The major reason for this is not the disinterest to these issues from the social sciences. In fact, one of the major reasons is the rise of new paradigms in the very relationship between the state, the society, and the individual that we have observed in the last two decades (Hunnigan
2005, Weber and Carter 2006). These relationships have significantly diverged from centralized and unilateral state decision-making processes towards participatory individualism. The development and potential complete victory of the latter, however, has just been abruptly cut short by the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, originating from the American economic situation and requiring a fallback to the historically established strong role of the state in economic and—very likely—social affairs.
The first focused attempts to analyze the workflow, end product models, and multiple actors of agreement-making were undertaken by political scientist Ciaran
O'Faircheallaigh (2008). Based on Australian and Canadian cases, he generalized the
13 relationship model that came into existence in Cape York and followed the decision making process from beginning to end in the context of the Australian institutional framework and collective actions capacity available to local residents.
Agreement and partnership models analyzed in my fieldwork case, the Purovsky District of Yamal, provide reference to organizations and organized actions. The stakeholder interaction process is certainly conducted by individuals; however, this process is conducted under the umbrella of an organization: this could be an indigenous
organization "Yamal-to-Descendants", a local branch of a vertically integrated corporation, or a municipal or provincial government office. In this respect, a due reference to organizational theory would be beneficial to inform the anthropological
discussion. The Yamal relationship model analysis that became my major task in this
inquiry would reference two concepts within decision-making theory debate. These are
the concepts of. sense-making and trust. Both have received significant attention in
sociological and organizational studies literature, and both imply action and experience
as their cornerstone (Weick 1993, 1995, Weber 1998, Weber and Carter 2003, Sztompka
2007).
My intention, however, is not to provide an in-depth analysis of trust or sense-making
concepts per se. Decision-making as a process, which takes place in organizational
environments, has been addressed elsewhere and is outside the scope of this thesis (Cyert
and March 2002; Flanders et. al. 1998; March 1994, 1999; March and Cyert 1963; March
and Heath 1994; Simon 1983). Instead, I regard this particular part of organizational
theory as a suitable vehicle, applicable in the context of anthropological research in a
14 particular socio-cultural context. I want to look at decision-making as a product of
interaction between multiple actors and their collective or individual actions, based on
sense-making.
Karl Weick's development of the sense-making concept has grown from the work of
James March on decision-making. March has pointed out that decision-making is closely
related to the negotiation of objectives and 'construction of meaning' (1994: 207), which
have a foundation based on myths, symbols, rituals, and stories (1994: 209-210). Weick
gives his thesis full development providing social scientists with a powerful approach
with which they can analyze organizational processes or, in this case, interaction models
among the organized stakeholders that have been developed in Yamal.
As I will show, 'contextual rationality' was the manner in which most of the agreements
and partnership models in the Purovsky District came into existence. 'Contextual
rationality' is far from the grand theories of 'rational decision-making' (Simon 1986) in
their classical sense: it is 'built out of negotiated agreements that remove confusion'
(Weick 1993: 636). Sense-making through which individuals and organizations come to
terms with the world around them and work to reach their goals, is constructed of, and
materializes through, communication and action. In other words, 'situations,
organizations, and environments are [often] talked into existence' (Weick 2005: 409),
which is firmly supported by the fieldwork data from the Purovsky District case (see
Chapter 3).
15 Embroiled in the process of decision-making and sense-making are the issues of leadership, values and trust; that have all received considerable attention in the social sciences (Palmer 2007, Sztompka 1999, Bielawski 2003). The idea of strong leadership and trust is particularly relevant in negotiating agreements in the North. The concept draws from both experiences from the past—history, as well as on things like 'northern relations' which I explore further in the thesis—and from making sense of other people's behaviors and actions. Weber and Carter note, that without trust there is no society
(1998). Sztompka sees trust to be implicitly connected to action and behavior, where
'trust and distrust are expressed in actions or in abstaining from action' (1999: 25).
Leadership, as a change agent, connects the two, reinforcing them into actions that can reach the goals set forth by a collective or a community.
Another dimension of this work's theoretical consideration is informed by the critiques that have significantly shaped anthropology at the end of the 20th century. Feminist approaches, together with 'post-colonial' critiques of anthropology, broke new ground as alternative ways of looking at both the context and content of ethnographic research
(Abu-Lughod 1991, Appadurai 1986, Cruikshank 1998, Enslin 1994, Gupta and
Ferguson 1992, Hobart 1993, Moore 1996, Ohnuki-Tierney 1990, Rethmann 2000,
Singleton 1996, Strathern 1987). Assigning a remarkable weight to formerly neglected narratives (both anthropologist's and informant's) these studies offered, among other things, a so-called 'experimental mode of writing'. The essay-like style of the latter, where the anthropologist's 'self is often clearly pronounced, draws on 'contextual partiality' (Rethmann 2001: xix) and 'ethnographies of the particular' (Abu-Lughod
16 1991) as alternatives to the sometimes 'hyperprofessionalised' scientific language of the discipline (Abu-Lughod 1991: 152). I find these methods to be of a great value for an anthropological account, which is equally based on personal experience and interpretation of 'the field' as much as on analysis and theory.
Finally, if the contextualized present of anthropological research is important in addressing the immediate on-the-ground social phenomena, then historical retrospective of any socio-cultural environment is crucial in understanding the roots and causes of the ethnographic present. Situated in the very heart of Eurasia, Russia has witnessed a rich millennial history. Dating back to pre-Mongol tribe unions and Kievan Rus', with complex architecture and rich arts, Russia and its numerous people have traded and negotiated globally with the West, East, North, and South. The country has experienced the movements of various nations throughout its territory, and has learned a difficult art of negotiating with a variety of neighbors - from China and Buddhist Mongolia, on to
Muslim Persia and Catholic and Protestant Europe.
Chris Hann points out that in addition to the multiple faces of indigenous populations and the intertwined social networks in the Eurasian context, researchers have to deal with what he calls 'multiple temporalities'. He refers to a rich array of neighboring cultures that have been dealing, living, quarrelling, trading and marrying with one another not for centuries but for millennia. It would be particularly fruitful to accommodate the view where anthropology and history walk hand-in-hand in explaining social and cultural phenomena in any given Eurasian context and where, 'anthropologists can contribute
17 much more to an understanding of post-socialist societies than would be possible if they confined their attention to the documentation of behavior in the present' (Hann 2007: 5-
8). History connects people and cultures in Eurasia. I, therefore, acknowledge history as an important dimension of this study.
Methodology
One cannot start everywhere with everything: one needs to start somewhere with something. The specific point of departure for this project was the question of whether
Nenets in Yamal region were able to find a model of interaction with resource corporations and government. If yes, then how has that model come to be and what can we learn from such an important social experience? If no, what prevented a model of interaction from appearing and why?
Among many things that anthropology is and does, most of its essence is centered on interpretation of an experience. Spencer talks about ethnographic experience both in terms of interpretation as Geertzian-style 'thick description', as well as the impossibility of reaching grand models or generalizations based on individual experience. The problem lays in the very fact of such experience being 'so specific as to be unrepeatable—a fact which in itself removes ethnographic evidence from most understandings of scientific data—generalization is peculiarly problematic' (Spencer 1989: 147-149).
That said, anthropology's particular strength is in explaining the 'other' from an emic point of view, thus, providing richer and more authoritative accounts of situations and
18 events. Another traditional feature of anthropology has been to travel to 'exotic', faraway places and societies that are different from anthropologist's own society. The latter trend has shifted in the second half of the 20th century and has become quite popular in the present. Ethnographic methods, such as extended fieldwork, participant-observation, and others are now used well beyond anthropology into fields such as sociology, business studies, marketing and many other areas of academy and industry. These methods are taking both anthropology and anthropologists out from their 'ivory towers' to the grounds of neighboring disciplines as the social sciences are increasingly becoming cross-disciplinary now more than ever.
Epistemologically, anthropologists are being challenged to use different kinds of approaches from the classical ones that involved fieldwork in a particular community for an extended period of time. This classical approach set by Millukho-Maklay5,
Malinowski, and Boas with regard to 'exotic' communities of the 'other' does not necessarily always address the wide array of social issues and processes, that are witnessed by the contemporary social sciences in general, and anthropology, in particular. Much of the work done now is not with village dwellers, but with the social networks and 'imagined communities' that include indigenous peoples, corporate
5 Nikolai Miklukho-Maklay is one of the founding fathers of Eurasian ethnography in the early 19th century. At the end of the 1860s he organized an ethnographic/ anthropological expedition to Papua New Guinea, where he hoped to research the hypothesis about Lemurian origins of the Papuan race and collect ethnographic material on Papuans. The fieldwork, supported by the Great Prince Konstantin, the Tsar's brother, started in 1871 in Astrolabe Bay, Papua New Guinea. Nikolay Miklukho-Maclay is acknowledged in Russian academia as being one of the first 'founding ethnographers' utilizing classical ethnographic methods: speaking with natives in their own language and trying to understand them as much as possible. His fieldwork spanned several years: 1871-1872, 1874, 1876-1877, 1883 in Guinea and other places in Australasia and Oceania. The scholar was renowned publicly in Russia and Europe, which allowed him to keep correspondence with major contemporaries-politicians in advocating for independence of the Papuan groups he lived with during numerous fieldwork trips. These events occurred about 50 years before Malinowski went out to the Trobriandes (Stocking 1991: 9-72).
19 management board rooms, conference rooms of environmental NGOs, steering committees of all sorts, and so on. Fieldwork is no longer a matter of a single place.
Social and cultural networks are located and operate in different places with little or no possibility of confining one's work to a fixed locality.
An important facet of today's ethnographic reality is an extensive use by both anthropologists and the community members of high-tech tools and methods that are both shaping fieldwork research and being shaped by it. Satellite imagery, computers with electronic mail, mobile communication, and aircraft are widely used across all
Arctic regions and beyond, creating quite a different outset for the anthropological fieldwork per se, in comparison to the studies of anthropology's forefathers who once set the discipline's standards. Furthermore, anthropology relies on high-tech methods for
examples of this discipline's best practices, such as Fairhead's case study that used retrospective satellite imagery of African settlements to disprove the false assumptions of
deforestation theory blaming its main cause to human agricultural activities and, thus, broke new ground in African 'de-forestation' research (Fairhead and Leach 1996).
Anthropological fieldwork is no longer limited to a single geographical 'field site'.
The anthropological field has widened greatly, representing both benefits and challenges
to an anthropologist (Hann 2007). On the one hand, the site has expanded from a village
context to at least a regional context. Key informants do not sit in the Long House
anymore - they fly airlines and respond by email to the ethnographic questions that an
20 anthropologist wants to clarify (Nuttall, personal communication, 2006). Decision making communities are on a constant move—a clear marker of modernity and change.
In the context of my research, I had to deal with how travel, globalization, and media shape an entire way of approaching problems. Former research 'subjects' have also changed significantly, publishing their own articles, hiring lawyers to defend their positions in courts, building businesses, and negotiating with companies (thus, negotiating and managing change, where possible).
The key methodology for my research was based on multi-sited ethnography. In the eyes of multi-sited ethnography, it is not as necessary to follow the annual lifecycle of a particular settlement or reindeer brigade in order to answer the research question. Key importance is assigned to following the problem or question, wherever it takes the researcher. In my case, it was a particular issue of negotiation of agreements and the associated dynamics among multiple actors of such agreements, with the primary location being Purovsky District's central settlement, Tarko-Sale and the local indigenous village of Kharampur in Yamal region. Questions that I looked at in Tarko-
Sale and Kharampur were linked to distant places. From the regional capital, Salekhard to the home for both corporate headquarters and energy politics in Russia—Moscow, field sites represented both geographical locations as well as, to use Anderson's words,
'imagined communities' of decision-makers such as working groups or negotiation teams, comprised of key stakeholders' representatives (Anderson 1991).
Decision-makers are not attached to a single geographical location; they travel from
Moscow to Salekhard. These 'communities of practice' and their project and territory
21 development decisions have direct impacts on on-the-ground situations in Kharampur, and even on the fishing brigade of Ivan Velio and other local inhabitants. My approach, therefore, was not so much to follow a single locale or one particular group, although it became an important consideration in the final stages of the project when the role of the
NGO "Yamal to Descendants" unfolded frilly. The task was to follow the question, or to follow the cooperation model between the actors, as it unfolded during my fieldwork process from the beginning to the end. Nevertheless, the clear 'anthropological-ness' of a multi-sited project, anticipated by Marcus, derives from the following:
...essential to multi-sited research is the function of translation from one cultural form or idiom or language to another. This function is enhanced 1 since it is no longer practiced in the primary dualistic "us-them" frame of conventional ethnography but requires considerably more nuancing and shading as the practice of translation connects the several sites that the research explores along unexpected and even dissonant fractures of social location (Marcus 1995: 100).
Participant observation has been the key method of this study, as in any ethnographic
project. What it means, is that we usually strive to blend in with the society or
community under study in order to achieve the level of insider information access that
would be impossible to gain as an outsider. This has been true for my project as well.
Fortunately, upon providing credentials and building informal personal rapport with the
key decision-makers and regular people, I was allowed, as an observer, into the process
as part of the NGO "Yamal to Descendants" team. We traveled to negotiations, attended
internal discussions, went to roundtables with corporations, and visited municipal
government headquarters. The negotiations took us to fishing camps and the Moscow
22 Festival of Northern Arts. It was both a unique and difficult experience that I would have never traded for a single-sited ethnography.
What both helped and impeded me in my role as a participant-observer for my fieldwork was my peculiar social setting. On the one hand, I was doing a project 'from Canada' - i.e. a 'Canadian doctoral student'. On the other hand, my Russian background took away the label of "exotic" that is naturally attached to any foreigner in Russia (closed during most of the 20th century to foreign travel outside major cities).
Being a 'Canadian' Russian made me closer to Yamal locals' inquiries. They kept asking me questions like: "How things in Canada are? What is similar? What is different?" We would sit and talk in the Tarko-Sale band office over tea. At the same time, having lived in Alaska and knowing the North from the heart I knew some of the Northern customs— respect, calmness, patience, and awareness. These are all ideas the Yupiaq people have taught us in Fairbanks. On top of this, we all spoke Russian fluently (most Nenets speak
Russian as either a second or first language) and like all people of the former USSR, we had a lot of similar cultural references. Put together, these facts helped to establish personal rapport and provided a necessary research environment.
Collaborative research was an important part of my methodology. From the outset, I wanted to develop a practical research result that would bring direct benefit to the local community I was conducting my research in, and bring me closer to the local people.
This way the locals and I could work on a common theme, beneficial to them, as well as helping to move the project forward. A major component of this collaborative project
23 was the documentary film. Together with the NGO "Yamal-to-Descendants" and Nenets
TV Studio "Luch", a documentary film was created to showcased the interactions between the local community of Kharampur, two large oil and gas companies, and the municipal government in the Purovsky District.
Documentary filming became one of the key ethnographic methods playing a crucial role in this project. Filming enabled access to all of the key informants at both the regional and local level throughout the targeted research audience, including industry, community, and government leaders (all three of the ultimate decision-makers). In essence, it was possible to position the documentary film around the same topic as my research project, because it tried to document industry-community interaction models at different levels and flesh out decision-making process outcomes, as they are viewed by the participating stakeholders themselves. The documentary film turned out to be an interesting exercise for company managers, Nenets leaders, and community members, as well as state representatives.
The film also helped greatly in accessing remote communities and tundra camps via the connections that the local TV studio Native directorate enjoyed throughout the region.
Certainly, the most valuable information was provided to me outside the filming or taping; however, creating a documentary was essential in making sense of my project for the community members, and doing it together with Tarko-Sale Nenets TV studio resulted in a 'win-win' situation for both the researcher and the locals. Documentary became that small key that unlocked the large door of Yamal resource politics, provided the delicate nature of the energy problematique being addressed (a highly politicized
24 topic in contemporary Russia, read further). Needless to say, in this thesis I will sometimes be avoiding citing particular names of individuals and companies who generously shared information with me in order to protect their confidentiality.
A collaborative approach proved to be a fruitful one for several reasons. First of all, it did set aside my presence as being an outsider. I traveled to meetings, public hearings and corporate round tables, which were followed by interview sessions. Second, I had a chance to work with Nenets in their own setting, which opened the doors that otherwise would have stayed locked. Despite the formal appearance of a TV crew shooting a film, we had plenty of time and chances to talk with people informally—beyond the video recordings and interviews conducted. These moments were particularly fruitful for the project in terms of information.
Figure 2. Documentary crew filming at Ivan Velio's Camp. Photo by author.
25 In addressing the research questions, I draw on a number of information sources, including multi-sited participant observation in the meetings and boardrooms,
interviewing various stakeholders, filming a documentary, formal and informal
discussions, questionnaires, roundtable participation, and archival work.
The selection of the Purovsky District of Yamal as a case for this study is based on
several criteria:
1. There are a number of existing partnership agreements between oil and gas
companies and local communities;
2. Partnership models have been worked out and been in place for more than 5 years
(enables to see retrospective dynamics);
3. Communities have significant nomadic populations that live on the tundra on a
regular basis;
4. Issues of land use and participation with respect to ongoing resource projects
exists;
5. Forms and models of decision-making processes and stakeholder participation
have not been studied by any major academic researchers in the region.
All five bring together the structure of the thesis where energy, people, and decisions
meet along one of the last northern frontiers in Arctic Eurasia.
26 Research Contribution
Wilson and Stammler argue that the study of the forms of dialogue between corporations, governments and local communities have 'broad relevance to theoretical understandings of social organization, local self-governance, and political economy' (2006:7). In fact, the range of issues that such research would touch on reaches far beyond these three. The process of decision-making and models that parties arrive at at the end of the agreement- making activities serve as an excellent field for social inquiry on a number of fronts.
First, it sheds light on the constitution of key stakeholder parties actively involved in the processes of agreement-making in the Russian setting. I would like to provide at least some information on how the intersection between negotiations, land, energy, and people is considered from the eyes of not just local Nenets, but also from the eyes of governmental officials and corporate decision-makers, who are often not newcomers to the North. Hidden behind the habitual concept of 'outsider', there is a rich and complex identity of Northerners who happened to be caught in the larger historical dynamic of populating and depopulating the North in the Soviet Union (Thompson 2008).
The situation when local community members are painted as victims and oil companies as aggressors does not create a constructive atmosphere for negotiations and understanding. It is of particular importance to note that in Russia oil and gas development is considered a high priority task for the national economy, a strategic resource and sometimes a national security matter, where major decisions are made at the
state level. It would be beneficial to understand and address all four stakeholders, their
27 interests and intentions, using their own language and facilitating dialogue between all of the parties. This way it would be possible to find a mutually beneficial solution that is constructive and responsible.
An important example of the kind of misunderstandings that occur between the parties that have to be overcome is a recent uprising of the Sakhalin indigenous groups coupled with local environmental organizations in an action named 'Green Wave'. The Sakhalin
Energy project involves major multinational corporations that explore off-shelf sea deposits of oil and gas near the shores of Sakhalin Island. Among the companies are such giants as Shell, British Petroleum, Exxon, and Sakhalin Energy:
Participants of the action announced that they will seize radical actions to start negotiations still maintaining that oil development is highly negative for the region, its resources, and culture. They look for negotiations and if the latter will not work the action will be continued (blocking roads). Sakhalin Energy said in response that company is ready for constructive dialog and has a considerable experience in negotiations with and social support for indigenous groups during the last 10 years. Yet, the company notes that it is not aware of judicial basis for execution of additional ethnological expertise as well as scope [and outcomes] of such expertise in the case of its execution (RBC, 2005).
The absence of a common language is obvious, and this is where anthropologists may
provide their insight to assist both sides for their mutual benefit, by putting theory into
practice by documenting and showcasing useful and practical solutions.
The mosaic of local governments, often consisting of Nenets, Russians, Ukrainians as
well as oil corporations and their people are often discarded from the picture as mere
outsiders, greedy for oil, money, carelessly using the land. That observation becomes
obscure and much more nuanced when one looks at the issue from a closer position. For
28 this project, I wanted to bring some insight from individuals working in the companies and government on their own terms and in the context of indigenous Yamal, too. These people are rarely given voice (sometimes they are not willing to be voiced) and are often generalized behind unspoken concepts like 'corporations' and 'government'. My intention was to give them equal representation and voice in this project. Furthermore, indigenous-ness in a Eurasian context requires much more attentive painting, as there are always 'more social actors, than just Native, as recently acknowledged by many Northern anthropologists (Schweitzer 1999, Thompson 2008, Stammler and Wilson 2006). As
Thompson puts it:
It might appear self-evident that anthropology should show interest in the ' full range of actors in any social field. Yet, in social investigations of the post-Soviet North, this is not so. Its non-indigenous population is rarely examined in any depth. In fact, the possibility that a settler population with lasting attachments to the Arctic might have emerged from among the many migrants who moved north in the Soviet era has until now never been seriously discussed. Instead, social scientists have bypassed the northern industrial town on the way to the native village, producing over the past decade a rich and varied body of research on the indigenous experience (Thompson 2008: 8).
This was a particularly difficult task I set for myself in this project - to understand and
voice the perspectives of all key major stakeholders who participated in the process of
interaction around resource development in northern Yamal, and include local people
(the 'Natives' of classical genre ethnographies), corporate, and governmental people.
Only after examining all the positions of key stakeholders, can one claim a certain degree
of understanding of the whole situation.
29 The process of decision-making in the context of Northern resource development in its entirety has somewhat escaped the attention of traditional Arctic anthropological accounts, focusing on binary opposition of 'local' culture and 'ethnic' differentiators, setting apart the 'local' and 'newcomer' (Thompson 2009). The first is always given full attention and detail, while the latter is devoted a shaded or simplified image of the one from 'colonial past' or one guilty of spoiling the present and future through greed for money and resources. I agree with Ingold, Thompson, and Schweitzer in their view that all constituents of Northern communities have to be given the equal opportunity to be represented in the multi-vocal picture of Arctic society that we study as students of
Northern life.
Second, it was my intention to analyze in detail the actual interaction model that has been developed in Purovsky and trace its roots to the village of Kharampur, where the agreement-making process started at the beginning of the decade. Understanding such models and their relations to different levels of decision-making (national, regional and local) brings out a valuable toolkit of creative strategies—legal, methodological, and economical—developed by the forest Nenets, their indigenous organizations, municipal governments, and oil and gas companies. It also explicates the framework in which the agreement-making process lives. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no focused attempt in the anthropological literature to document a specific industry-
community-government interaction and agreement-making model that works in the
Russian North.
30 Third, I wanted to see how the model of partnership and interaction, outlined and analyzed in detail by O'Faircheallaigh, relates to, and reflects on, the Siberian context.
Given the relative newness of the whole avenue of agreement-making and participation throughout the globe, it would be particularly interesting to study how industry and communities have managed to come to agreements, and the role of the state played in such dealings based on the Yamal context.
My interest in decision-making, as a fluid process, influenced by many factors and far from being truly 'rational', made me think of examining decision-making not from a position of circumstantial activism (Marcus 1986), departing from the ultimate interest of indigenous people, but to analyze the situation from the multi-actor perspective. Such an approach provided greater visibility and, in the end, better understanding of the agendas of other stakeholders, giving them a true voice that was equal to other players. It was also important to situate the whole picture into a larger national and international context, both in historic and socio-economic terms. By doing so, my intention is to benefit anthropological inquiry with some valuable references from organizational theory. I believe that my data links facts and interpretations of relevance to the analytical approaches in other fields of social inquiry.
Important contribution this research can provide lies in its geographic focus within
Yamal. Most of the current anthropological research in the region is targeted on the
Yamal Peninsula District - the northeastern tip of the larger Yamal Region - where the major stock of reindeer herds are located (Forbes 2006, 2008, Stammler 2005, 2006,
Habeck 2004). However, this vast sub-region above the Arctic Circle is only relatively
31 disturbed (in its lower part) by the quickly emerging—and sporadic until recently—gas industry Almost no oil is developed there yet and little data is available to provide an informed retrospective analysis of interrelations between industry and communities.
Figure 3 Purovsky District and Yamal District Redrawn by author using public information sources
The Purovsky District, on the contrary, has been the center of active processes of industry-community engagement (both oil and gas) for the last 30 years. Since the 1970s, massive resource development projects have already had significant impact on the lives of Tarko-Sale and Kharampur Nenets communities on the Purovskaya tundra, where my project fieldwork was conducted from 2006-2008. What I discovered, however, is that
32 these impacts have brought to life not only the negative consequences that have been widely documented in circumpolar regions (Feit 2005, Kasten 2002, Tuisku 2002, Roon
2006, Stammler 2005), but also fostered novel and creative ways of decision-making, dialogue, and self-organization resulting in reformulated forms of governance and law making around which this study is centered.
' If you want to see the agreements and how they work, you should go to i Purovsky (Alexander Evay, President of NGO "Yamal-to-Descendants" , personal interview, 2007).
All these new developments of the 1990s - Native Affairs officers in the j companies, agreements, and partnerships started here in Purovsky district. ! After that they began using these in other places in Yamal (Sergey \ Aivasedo, personal interview, 2008).6
The Purovsky District is both unique and indicative in resource development debate for a number of other reasons. It serves as a testing ground for the industry-community
interaction models development and implementation since the late 1990s. Results of
these engagements have been widely rolled out elsewhere in Yamal region. Now, other
Northern regions of Russia are closely looking at this experience. The timeline for
industry-community interactions allows a sufficient period of time to justify retrospective
analysis of the progress (unlike locations where industry is just starting projects). As a
result, this account contributes to a greater understanding of contextualized forms of
public participation, local activism, leadership, rural development, and corporate social
responsibility in the Arctic context, shaped by the active resource development over a
substantive period of time.
6 The translation of interview excerpts from Russian into English in the Thesis is author's.
33 And lastly, there is one more potential contribution this project is striving to accomplish.
Among many problems and issues that the North is undoubtedly challenged with, there are developments and opportunities that people have been able to achieve and benefit from by using their knowledge, wisdom, skills, and interaction practices. Among the variety of social, environmental and cultural dimensions across the Arctic it is necessary to show a positive and successful side of the involvement between communities, industry and the state "in order to strike a proper balance" (AHDR 2004: 10). This, I believe, is essential for all northerners who are engaged in processes concerned with finding solutions to the many challenges and complex changes they are facing.
Research Limitations
At outset of this section, I would like to note that Yamal is a large region. Therefore, when one speaks of Yamal, it may mean quite different things: from the far northern yamal'skaya tundra and Yamal peninsula to southern Krasnosel'kupsk taiga, and from
Arctic Ural foothills to Ob' river delta fjords. There are places where there has been no oil or gas development whatsoever, and there are places where industry has been present for the last thirty years. Yamal has many faces and experiences. This is why it is so difficult to provide a generalization of this area. Along these lines, I prefer to use district names (each district can be a size of a small European country), while speaking of
'Purovsky', instead of referencing 'Yamal' at large.
The task of doing ethnography focusing on decision-making has a number of inherent challenges. One is related to the fact that decision-making is rarely done in a single place
34 and thus requires a certain degree of mobility—that definite marker of modernity that is attained in the circles of power and decision-making (Thompson 2008). The only way to tackle this challenge has been to employ a multi-sited approach, where the field is represented not only by location, but rather by the, problem or issue that is being addressed and followed by the group being analyzed.
That said, I should clearly indicate that interaction between those involved in the dynamics of decision- and agreement-making around oil and gas and regular people is extremely close, at least in Yamal. Public hearings, opinion surveys associated with fly- in visits of local activists into the reindeer camps or fishing camps are regular activities that are constantly performed during the process of any new project planning and final approval.
Being in a single locale for a year would indeed give me some insight into how agreement-making is done, but this would not get me close to my key objective - i.e.
explicating a workflow and analyzing the model of agreement-making. I had to be more mobile, and therefore I divided my fieldwork time among several locales in order to
attend to the key groups that influence, and participate in, the decision making process.
Fortunately for me and this project, it worked out well. Success was due to fieldwork
support I received both from the University of Alberta, members of my Committee, as well as locally from major Native lobby groups that run all negotiations with industry
and government.
35 The next limitation has been imposed by the very guarded information gate-keeping by corporations that sometimes refused to respond to my inquiries or allow me in: they were generally quite unwelcoming concerning the details of how negotiations are conducted.
This particular limitation - gate-keeping - slowed me down on a number of fronts. In
2007, when I was about to start Yamal portion of the fieldwork, the ban on free travel in
Yamal was imposed by the federal government. It meant permits, and reporting information regarding where I was going and who I was meeting before receiving a permit. Permits were everywhere—I had to apply for a permit even to fly into Salekhard.
These problems were partially solved by my local friends who helped organizing permits and the willingness of municipal government officials, regional government officials, and indigenous activist groups to share information on the decision-making processes.
One of the practical dimensions of the gate-keeping limitation was the restriction on sharing some of the direct names, figures or other sources of sensitive information I was allowed to access. In the Purovsky District context, which is quite socially small—with even a tighter circle of actual (often politically charged) decision-making individuals, I need to be selective in disclosing such information through the thesis. Therefore, I use pseudonyms, or lift names altogether, if requested by the informant.
Being Russian certainly influenced my social position and inevitably injects a certain flavor of what I would call 'Russian subjectivity' into the matter. By stating this I am far from embarking on discussions on the 'native anthropologist', addressed elsewhere
(Abu-Lughod 1991, Narayan 1993). It is my firm belief that no anthropologist is free
36 from biases of his or her own culture. We do not live in a vacuum, but are shaped in a number of ways by our social and cultural environment. What makes the profession so unique is the mosaic of interpretations each anthropologist provides and the polyphony of voices about socio-cultural settings we study.
One of the limitations, but one that also benefit to this research, has been the fact that it is anthropological. The limitation of it is that the theory and writing we do does not always fall into the strict categories of physics or even sociology, where perfectly formed hypothetical questions are asked and then are attempted to be answered in a repeatable and verifiable manner—the acclaimed marker of 'science'. Much of what the anthropological, or more precisely, ethnographic endeavor is relates to the personal experience and (again personal) interpretation, akin to literary activities such as journalism (Ingold 2002).
The message from the field is always the image painted with the brush of a particular author, or, in terms of Marcus, ethnographic writing is 'a middle ground - a form of reportage and exposition - between the substantive categories of method and theory'
(1980: 507). What makes it valuable is the translation and analysis of a particular social issue from the language of its own - the 'other' - into the comprehensive images of the
'self. With this in mind, I try to avoid grand generalizations, but instead account for the mosaic of contexts - cultural, social, political, historical, and economic in which the processes of decision-making are performed.
37 Chapter II. Energy on the Tundra: the Geopolitics of Oil and Gas in 21 st century Russia
What does energy on the tundra mean? It means many different things: passport control and the need for travel permits in the airports, police posts on the borders of districts; burning tops of gas fields on the horizon and muddy roads with ugly-looking hardware stocks around fresh pipeline construction sites right in the middle of forest or tundra. It is
Toyota Land Cruisers and other sport-utility vehicles on the bumpy tundra road plates and near northern houses, smiles of Nenets kids in a newly built homes, daycares and schools in a local settlement somewhere deep on the Purovskaya tundra. Energy means power, influence, and mobility, those clear markers of 'modernity' both in the sky and on the ground (Thompson 2007). Energy connects the communities of Novy Urengoy,
Nadym, and Salekhard with Moscow and other major cities with several daily direct flights, used by both outsiders and locals. Outsiders fly in for jobs, locals return from holidays or business.
The multiple dimensions of energy on the tundra comes to life in so-called 'northern benefits', that peculiar and unique sign of somewhat elitist belonging to the 'rich North' and to the process of mastering the North together with special arrangements for the indigenous peoples of the North. Thompson captures this peculiarity in great detail in his book Settlers on the Edge (2008). Energy manifests itself in careless short-term migrants, coming to this tranquil and beautiful country simply for service work and moneymaking, and to see the last frontier for romantics and settlers, who blend into both the land and the culture of local Nenets in a way that is difficult to tell them apart.
38 'Once I came here for a job I knew that I would stay' is the sentiment of people who stayed, raised their children, literally married to Nenets and to their culture. Energy is also in phrases like "I wish those companies never came" from Tazovsky tundra Nenets commenting on the topic of decision-making and resource corporations. It is about old
Russian settlers—starozhily—and Nenets, Khanty, Zyryane and Selkups who have to cope with and navigate through the enormous changes in their daily lives ever since oil and gas exploration have began. Energy is a major challenge for the local way of life, for reindeer, for tundra and, at the same time, it is the future of Russia as a country, the source which, among others things, guarantees everlasting attention to this part of Earth from politicians and military at home and abroad.
How does energy connect the North and other parts of the planet? What are the major political and economic trends in the energy debate across the circumpolar North? What is the place of Russia and Yamal on the map of global energy politics? Who are the main players? What is the view of Russia regarding oil and gas exploration in the high-latitude territories? How does oil and gas development work in practical terms? What is the usual procedure for a resource project in Russian legal and institutional environment? These are some of the questions that I address in this chapter.
Putting Oil and Gas in a Wider Context
Oil and gas development triggered remarkable changes across several dimensions: political, economic, and social, especially at the local and regional levels across the
39 world (Lee 1995; Mitchell 1996; Penn 1990). The trend that has been particularly visible during the last few years - is re-negotiations of the state's role in virtually all major projects/licenses across the globe (Latin America, Russia) and quick emergence of new and active industry players (China, India).
Rising demand from major industrial states in Europe, America, and Asia combined with capabilities for off-shore shelf development, and political and economic issues with small transit countries have also contributed to shifting approaches and triggered a number of already launched or still discussed 'direct route' large-scale energy projects that have already been launched or are under still under discussion. These include Russian-led
Nord Stream (Barents Sea/Baltic Sea), South Stream (Mediterranean), Near-Caspian
(Central Asia), Siberia-Pacific (Siberia-China-Japan) pipeline routes and US-, EU- supported Nabucco (Mediterranean), Trans-Caspian (Central Asia) or Baku-Tbilisi-
Dzhejkhan (Caucasus). Contested North American resource areas such as Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (Alaska), and the McKenzie Delta Gas Pipeline project (Canada)7, both under active discussion, also reflect the current critical degree of the energy supply
situation.
All of these major resource activities and carbon fossil territories will be reshaping energy markets in the years to come. They will significantly intensify and, most likely,
actually determine political and economic relations between the geopolitical power
centers such as the US, EU, Russia, and China. As a result, global energy projects will translate into an array of impacts inside the countries in which they are planned to
7 Has been approved at the end of 2010 after many years of discussions.
40 operate. Thus, energy and resource development is becoming one of the decisive factors for internal economic, social, cultural, and environmental developments requiring continuous analysis.
Russia and the Arctic Energy Stage
According to the recent industry report:
Russia is the biggest producer of global energy and the biggest exporter of oil and gas in boe terms. In 2006, the aggregate volume of oil (crude and products) and gas exported was equivalent to 8.2m barrels per day, or almost 19% of the net amount of hydrocarbons supplied to the global market by the net export countries. Saudi Arabia, bigger in terms of crude but smaller in gas exports, was second with an 18.1% share of the net export market. In boe terms, Russia's vast reserves of natural gas, conservatively estimated at 1 26.7% of the proven world total, added to proven oil reserves means that Russia's hydrocarbon base is the largest in the world. Its boe reserves account for 16.3% of the proven total compared with 13.2% for Saudi Arabia (Weafer 2007).
•** NORTH AMERICA 7.320 A' ( EUROPE 5,780
It* "V\ MIDDLE & SOUTH AMERICA AFRICA . 7/1O0 14,050
Data source- BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2005
Figure 4. World map of key proved gas reserves. Drawn by author using cited source data.
41 Naturally, oil and gas constituted one of the principal shares in Russia's exports in 2007 and 2008 and still accounts for one of the key sources of currency income for the country's budget. High prices for oil from 2000-2008 allowed the country to pay back its remarkable Soviet-era debts to the Western banks and International Monetary Fund
(IMF), so that Putin's administration closed its second term with one of the lowest state debt statistics and best balance of external vs. internal state debt ratio in the world, not to mention the third largest currency reserve of more than USD 500 bin. equivalent.
In her recent comprehensive analysis of Russian Northern energy strategy, Wilson Rowe outlined a detailed picture of both major trends in Russian Arctic politics and economy.
From the centralization period of Soviet times, she traced the main tendencies of the decentralization era in the Yeltsin years, providing significant powers to the local territories, triggering cross-border cooperation initiatives back to the recentralization of
Putin's presidency. The key features of the last two decades in the history of Russian
Arctic are captured in two main concepts that Rowe correctly acknowledged - the
'tension between 'open' and 'closed' North' (Wilson Rowe 2009b: 1-2) and the vocabulary of 'strategic resources' (Wilson Rowe 2009b: 3), 'reflected both in new legislation to govern new projects and in efforts to restructure the existing portfolio of large oil and gas projects within Russia' (Moe and Wilson Rowe 2009: 109).
The importance of energy and natural resources of the Arctic that have recently found a sound explication across major Arctic states, addressed, in strategic documents, such as
—in Russian case—the Russian Energy Strategy (planned up until 2020). The strategy
42 was first offered in 2003 and then publicly re-confirmed in 2009. The main target of the strategy is energy resources, their availability, security, and ecology. The document, which was published by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and then approved by the Federal Decree 1234-p, states :
Russia possesses great energy resources - its territory contains 1/3 of the ' world natural gas reserves, 1/10 of oil reserves, 1/5 of coal reserves and 14 , % of uranium reserves - and a powerful fuel and energy complex, which is [ the basis of economic development and the instrument of carrying the internal and external policy. The economic growth forms the expectation of increasing demand for energy resources within the country. For providing all kinds of energy for the country and population we need a long-term energy policy, well-grounded and accepted by the society and government institutes. The aim of energy policy is to make most effective use of the natural fuel and energy resources and of the potential of energy sector for economic growth and improvement of life quality (Energy Strategy of Russia, Decree 1234-p: 2).
The Arctic has become a clear priority. First of all, Russia has maintained the world's strongest icebreaker fleet, developed by the Soviet Union. In addition, there are two unique deep underwater vessels, 'Mir-l' and 'Mir-2' that were used in a controversial (in the eyes of other Arctic states) expedition to put a Russian flag at the geographical point
of North Pole in 2007.
To emphasize the seriousness of these intentions, the last three years have seen three new
icebreakers join the northern fleet: the world's largest nuclear icebreaker 50 Years of
Victory (2007), and two diesel-electric icebreakers Moscow and St. Petersburg (2007 and
2008 respectively). The latter icebreaker was launched in the presence of Vladimir Putin.
For a detailed analysis of the strategy, see Wilson Rowe's article (Moe and Wilson Rowe 112-116). Authors categorize the strategy in terms of both the areas of concern as well as actions, which the Russian state set for itself in addressing the energy strategy in the high latitudes. My objective here, however, is not to repeat their analysis, but outline the main points held by the state officials on the matter, as stated in the original strategy document.
43 Overall, the number of Russian operational icebreakers is nearly 40 vessels. Now priorities are firmly supported by the resources (RBC: 2009). Quite notably, this particular feature escaped the attention of Rowe's book analysis, both due to the timeframe of the announcement, which was made right after the publication of Rowe's book, and, perhaps, more importantly, due to the 'silenced environment', so to speak, in which most of the key strategic decisions related to the national interests have been made during Putin's time in office.
Analysts conclude that such an impressive record in light of seemingly eroding technological advances of Russian industry in several other sectors—for instance, the machinery or automotive sectors, results from direct and active state involvement in the
Arctic and putting state control over previously privatized ship-building industry. Such involvement is necessary to back up the energy strategy through the building of a capable fleet of icebreakers, sea-based platforms and oil-wells as well as supporting ships targeted at mastering Northern resources in the near future (RBC: 2009).
The significance of grand Northern projects to Yamal and Purovsky dwellers is not as distant as it may seem. One of the largest projects in the Russia's Northern Strategy is the
"Industrial Ural - Polar Ural" project created to connect the industrial south of the Urals region with resources hidden beneath the soil and sea in its northern Arctic part. As a whole, this ambitious project is to create a railroad, as well as coal and oil mining
locations and tie them together with transportation arteries across the North.
44 Russia is not alone in this move towards Arctic resources. Both Canada and the United
States have clearly defined their Northern strategies about the same time, targeting the same issues. The question now lies in the actions that all the key players are willing to take. The US identified three major incentives for Arctic policy in 2009, which mirrored
Russian and Canadian incentives in their attention to i) national security; and ii) natural resource bases (including continental shelf) with a particular emphasis on energy (NSPD
66: 8-9) and established direct claims for using the Northwest Passage and the Northern
Sea Route as international waters:
Freedom of the seas is a top national priority. The Northwest Passage is a 1 strait used for international navigation, and the Northern Sea Route includes ; straits used for international navigation; the regime of transit passage applies to passage through those straits. Preserving the rights and duties relating to navigation and overflight in the Arctic region supports our ability to exercise these rights through strategic straits (NSPD 66: 3).
At the same time, contradiction appears to be in the very essence of such claims, exemplified by both Russian and Canadian claims to the Northern Sea Route and
Northwest Passage, respectively, in their sovereign waters (ADHR: 208). Another dimension of the Arctic debate is climate change, which has already attracted significant attention from scientists across the globe. We see that the Arctic is experiencing
significant changes in climate patterns that directly impact northern communities, vegetation, animals and their habitat (ADHR 2005, ACIA 2004, IPCC 2007).
The importance of fossil fuel issues, assigned to them by the government, has also been manifested in recent legal cases that re-shaped the ownership of a number of the largest
oil companies and energy projects in Russia. The reason that has been identified by the
45 media for one of these cases was that the company had been planning to sell its oil assets to foreign owners (Olkott 2005). Ex-President Putin's view on oil and gas politics (cited from the President's PhD dissertation defended in 1999 at the Geological Institute of
St.Petersburg) has been a major determinant of the government energy policy in Russia for over a decade:
Russia's ownership of its strategic resources has critical importance for the country's economic development and its strategic global influence... Oil and gas resources play important economical role, but, at the same time, I they serve as a guarantee in Russian foreign affairs. It is strongly maintained | that only state, not corporations, shall be setting long-term strategic priorities for the oil & gas development in Russia (Putin 1999, cited in Olkott 2005: 10-11).
According to this account, which is based on comparison between the current political dynamics and materials of Vladimir Putin's PhD dissertation, it is also highlighted that
Russia will not settle for playing a one-sided role as an oil and gas exporter. Instead, the country will use high prices for oil and gas to begin investments in both oil infrastructure, including refineries (in order to sell products, not crude oil), and high-tech sectors of the national economy. This gives us an important example of the political dimension of the oil and gas industry that crosses many other layers of social and economic life in the
Russian Federation.
As a result, the situation created a very special attitude toward, and relationship between, the state and the natural resource provinces in which 'black gold' (i.e. oil) or gas is developed. I was repeatedly told in Yamal that this is a 'special' region, which has to do with the country's 'strategic assets' (e.g. energy export). At times, the 'strategic resource' reference in the Russian setting is almost identical to the 'national security' rhetoric of
46 the US administration in their argument on resource use and development in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (Schlosser 2006). The closure of Yamal to unrestricted public access was introduced in 2006 when this project was about to enter the active fieldwork phase coming back to the concept of tension between the 'closed' and 'open' North
(Wilson Rowe 2009b: 2).
Although somewhat inconvenient, the news about the introduction of Yamal travel passes came in as no surprise, fitting well into the hardening line of state regulation and control over the rich natural resource assets in the area. It was also the time when state- owned Rosneft bought back Abramovich's Sibneft for several billion dollars, international consortium of Sakhalin-2 project had to give out control package to
Gazprom, BP was asked to return to the state its license for the Kovykta gas mega field and the Yukos trial brought all company assets back under state control. Yamal finally became a true 'northern frontier', bordering the Arctic Ocean and guarding its well-kept treasures.
Overall, this fits well into the major trend that is visible throughout the globe in the shade
of the financial crisis. The paradigm is changing; as Hester elegantly puts it:
Decades of global prosperity and growth have indelibly changed the geopolitics of energy. This is a new era. If the US, Britain and Arab OPEC designed the rules in the past, now Russia, China and individual producers call the shots. If the large oil multinationals, the Seven Sisters, were the main players before, now state oil companies will take command. And if the I concept of free markets provided the underlying basis for energy 1 development, now governments will be expected to play a much bigger part. This new paradigm is an unexpected development. Only a few months ago few would have agreed that the world was about to return to the historical
47 [ norm [my emphasis] of a strong government hand in the affairs of nations. ' Now it is clear that this will be the case. In hindsight, it is the last two decades that will be judged by future generations as the exception to the rule (Hester 2009: 26).
Laws and Institutions: Key Facts
In order to understand the dynamics of decision-making in oil and gas development, one needs to address the legal and institutional frameworks, in which the process of decision making takes place in Russia. Oil and gas resource extraction is regulated by an array of federal and ministerial laws and regulations. Some local regulations have also been created and applied.
However, these regulations are subject to confirmation of the federal laws - current presidential administration has gone to great lengths to bring consistency into regional and federal legislation. The institutional framework is chefly composed of federal ministries and agencies that also have regional representative offices that conduct their activities locally.
The key laws and regulations that influence oil and gas development include, but are not limited to:
Laws9 • Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 ' • Federal law issued 21.02.1992 N 2395-1-FL "On subsoils" • Federal law issued 08.08.2001 N 128-FL "On licensing of selected types of activities"
9 Almost all of the listed key laws went through a considerable number of amendments. Legislative analysis and the key implications of laws associated with energy development - both local and federal for Northern regions and indigenous people, see detailed analysis by Rowe (2009) Sirina (2009), and Overland (2009). My task here is to provide an outlook of institutional framework instead of analyzing the details of each law/institution which clearly deserves a separate research project due to its magnitude.
48 • Federal law issued 30.12.1995 N 225-FL "On product sharing agreements 1 (PSA)" ' • Federal law issued 21.07.1997 Nil 6-FL "On industrial security of the dangerous industrial objects" • Federal law issued 27.12.2002 N 184-FL "On technical regulation" I • Federal law issued 10.01.2002 N 7-FL "On environmental protection"
Regulations • Decree "On licensing of the subsoil use" (approved by the Decree of the I High Council of the Russian Federation issued 15.07.1992 N 3314-1) j • Decree of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia issued 14.11.2002 N 457-p "Methodological recommendations on organization of conditions and the order of conduct of auctions and competitions for granting rights of i subsoil segment use" ' • Decree of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia issued 19.11.2003 N 1026 "Approval of the Order of subsoil segment use licenses re-assignment" 1 • Decree of the Russian Government issued 04.06.2002 N 382 "On licensing of the industrial security expertise activities" I • Decree of the State Committee on Ecology issued 16.05.2000 N 372 "On I environmental impact assessment of the economic and other activities in the Russian Federation ".
The institutional framework has been changing over the last 10 years with several government reforms that would sometimes create some ministries and agencies while shutting others down (for example, during the last reform the State Committee on
Ecology was dissolved and its authorities were transferred to the newly organized
Ministry of Natural Resources). The main reform has been performed during the last five years has finally solidified the array of ministries, federal agencies and commissions which have a say in the oil and gas industry. There activities are mainly regulated by the:
Ministry of Natural Resources, which includes • Federal Agency for Water Resources • Federal Agency for Forestry Resources • Federal Service for Monitoring of the Subsoil Use • Federal Agency for Subsoil Use Ministry of Industry and Energy Ministry of Energy and Industry Ministry for Economic Development and Trade, including I • Federal Agency for Managing Federal Assets
49 Federal Service for Ecological, Technological, and Atomic Supervision
Other important players include institutions such as the President and Presidential
Administration, The Government, Federal Anti-monopoly Service, regional Governors' administrations, and the Presidential Representatives in the Federal Districts10.
Each case for subsoil use is licensed by the Russian Government and its respective
Ministries and Agencies are responsible for licensing activities within its operation - e.g. licensing for a particular type of activity (geological, oil and gas survey, drilling, well production, pipeline building and operations), rights to usage of segments of subsoil for particular activities (survey, oil/gas development), et cetera. In addition to the licenses are the payments that are determined by the Federal Tariff Service of the Russian
Government.
The usual timeline in licensing of the oil and gas development after the deposits have been confirmed is regulated by the Law on Subsoils and constitutes five years for initial survey and pre-development, and 20 years for full development and usage. The granting period may vary: in some cases the license may be granted for the entire 25-year period.
According to the law, the license is sold only at the auctions, where the best price is offered for each piece of subsoil. In reality, the auction is organized and delivered by the state authorities who pay close attention to the participants—whether it is a Russian, or an internationally owned company. Recent regulations and the overall 'spirit' of approach to these issues have confirmed priority for Russian companies and established
10 There are 7 federal districts - okrug (rus.): Northwest, Central, Southern/Caucasus, Volga, Ural, Siberian, Far East.
50 principles of 'national strategic resources' with regard to natural resources and, particularly, oil and gas.
Each license is a subject to the license conditions that have to be fulfilled by the licensee of the subsoil use. Not fulfilling the conditions of the license and other federal regulations as above (for example, by the year XX of the license period the producer has to deliver Z bin cubic meters of natural gas a year to the regional market), leads to the
grounds for revocation of the licenses. Continuing development and a good standing
(paying taxes and fulfilling agreed conditions of license) result in re-assignment of the
license after the first license term.
Before the initial project begins, a number of expert assessment phases take place
(ecological, local, public hearings) of which the two major final ones are: expertise of the
Federal Service for Ecological, Technological, and Atomic Supervision (Rostekhnazdor),
and the Higher State Expertise, both supported by the Federal Government. Based on the
latter, the project receives a 'go' or a 'no go' decision to start operations.
None of the payments from resource rent or taxes go to the local communities directly
(and they never have). Before the new federal law On Subsoils, some of the payments
had been left at the regional level, e.g. YANAO budget for further redistribution. A small
part of the revenue is directed to the local communities. With the new law, adopted
during the very last legal reform on resource rights (2003-2007), all monies flow to the
federal center, while local communities and the regional authorities have to negotiate
with the companies on the grounds of voluntary and informal economics.
51 Chapter III. 'The End of Land' in the Wider Context: Geography, People, and History in Yamal
The Land
Flying over Yamal-Nenet Autonomous District (YANAO or Yamal) gives true meaning to its Nenets translation - 'the end of land' (Stammler 2005). Hundreds of lakes, rivers and streams blinking in the sun, Ob' delta opening towards the Kara Sea, gray-green lichen-covered tundra expanses during the short northern summer, or white snow mass as far as one can see in the winter unequivocally unfold the name. Traveling by land gives further dimensions to this country with the burning fires of gas rigs on the horizon on the way from Novy Urengoy to Tarko-Sale, or bumpy roads built right on top of the permafrost, covered with a thick blanket of sand, gravel, and concrete plates, topped up by the asphalt in the very best cases. Once you are on the soft carpet of lichen or snow- covered tundra flat plane (depending on the time of year), the river boat, snow machine, or reindeer sled are the main modes of transportation beyond the road system on the very end of land.
Yamal gives a clear sense of the North and its tranquility, once you are off the road in a winter or summer camp or a trading post. The gentle flow of life surrounded by the streaming curve of Aivasedo-pur near the bridge or quiet shores of Kharampur river at the edge of the village unfold a contemplating, inward-looking essence of the locality that goes beyond what any words can express. Ever-changing nature with yellow leaves of early autumn, evergreens of the semi-taiga, noisy mosquitoes ready to greet anyone right outside the chum-teepee, and further away beautiful and windy tundra expanses awaiting the snow after a short burst of summer, make many Nenets poetic.
52 Figure 5. Aivasedo-Pur riverbank at Kar-Nat trading post. Photo by author.
Quiet northern days seem like a necklace with flashy diamonds of occasional community events. Teams of reindeer racing on the Den' Olenevoda - this is when whistles and shouting is heard everywhere, and smiling faces of tundroviki, their families, and guests
look like flowers on the snow. Colorful gatherings from all neighboring family or brigade
camps (some travelling from far away) break for their festive activities cutting through
the simple daily tundra life. When the sleds stay on the camp side and the warm days
bring mosquitoes, the time is filled with hard work fishing, preparing nets and fences on
the river, cooking around a warm stove or bringing bricks of firewood from a stack
laying on a carefully stored sled, awaiting kaslanie. Sounds of a morning bark of the
camp dog and the distant rumble of a hurrying boat motor bringing someone - most
likely a father (with or without a guest - you will never know until you see him coming
up the steep shore). An unhurried conversation over tea without too many words is an
apogee of a daily passage.
53 Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YANAO or Yamal) is one of Russia's northernmost regions adjacent to the Northeastern Arctic part of the Urals, known as Polar Ural. The
Arctic Circle cuts YANAO into two parts. The northern part, reaching deep into the
Arctic Ocean, locally called the Kara Sea, with Yamal, Gydan', and Tazovsky peninsulas. The Southern part borders on the forested Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug,
Komi Republic, and Krasnoiarsky Territory.
Geographically, YANAO occupies the northernmost part of Western Siberian Plain and covers more than 700,000 square kilometers (about 1.5 times the size of Alaska). The center and western part of the region is home to Ob' river - one of the largest Siberian rivers - and its delta. Other large rivers: Pur, Taz, and Nadym flow directly into the
Obskaya and Tazovskaya Guba - the long fiords of the Kara Sea dipping inland. Among
Yamal's 300,000 lakes, the largest are Yarato, Neito, and Yambuto11.
The landscape slowly changes from South to North with flat plains covered with forests and pine taiga to the end of the tree-line, and on to the vast expanses of tundra. About
90%o of the territory is the flat plain while the other 10% accounts for the hilly and mountainous regions adjacent to the Polar Ural range. Tundra alone constitutes over half of the YANAO territory. Each part of the tundra has its own name associated with a peninsula or large river drainage: Nadymskaya tundra, Yamal'skaya tundra, Gydan 'skaya tundra, Tazovskaya tundra, and so on.
11 -to is lake in Nenets.
54 Due to the location of the YANAO in the center of Eurasian plate with little access to the warm waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, Yamal climate is divided among three main zones: arctic, sub-arctic, and boreal forest/taiga. Weather is generally cold with strong winds, long and harsh winters with fogs and blizzards, and short summers. The temperatures can drop down to -59°C in the winter, while during some August days the air warms up to +30°C. In the spring and autumn Aurora borealis is often seen in the sky.
The center and western part of the region is home to the Ob' River—one of the largest
Siberian rivers—and its delta. Other large rivers - Pur, Taz, Nadym flow directly into the
Obskaya and Tazovskaya Guba, which are the long fiords of the Kara Sea dipping inland.
The Purovsky District lies in the center-south of Yamal. The name comes from the River
Pur. In fact, pur - means 'river' in the Nenets language. It is the third largest district in
Yamal, with a territory of 1.5 Yukons or slightly larger than France, and a population of
200,000 people among which about 4,000 are local indigenous populations of Nenets,
Khanty and Selkup descent. The administrative center of the district is Tarko-Sale (sale
means settlement in Nenets), with a number of intact Nenets communities from South to
North of the district: Kharampur, Tarko-Sale, Khalyasavey, Khadutey, Samburg, Tol'ka;
and larger industrial towns: Noyabr'sk, Gubkinsky, Muravlenko. The Purovsky District is
home for the largest group of forest Nenets - a division of the larger Nenets people who
live in the tundra and semi-taiga territories of Yamal.
55 Figure 6 Purovsky District, Tarko-Sale, and Kharampur on Yamal map. Redrawn by author using public information sources.
The district has several urban or semi-urban settlements of which Noyabr'sk, Gubkinsky and Tarko-Sale are the largest ones. The rest of the territory is covered with taiga, tundra and semi-taiga in which a so-called 'national settlement' can be found. 91% of Russia's natural gas and 14% of the country's oil, accounting for both export and to cover internal needs, is found in this region. Overall, this production is contributing close to 23.7% of the global gas supply over the short- and long-term.
The People
I And the people of seven lands came here. They were going forward, step I by step mastering this cold and unwelcoming land. Cold stones froze their backs, rare trees gave them shelter. Cruel, severe winds brought snow flakes, that cut their faces, like the sharp stones. But people kept going. I And the reindeer were going with them. Their hides saved the people from
56 I the wind and snow. And the reindeer became not only the animals, but the assistants and allies. Without reindeer, the people could not survive. "Here we will live", - said the people, put their chums-teepees near the mountain I feet and stayed. But it turned out they were not first in this country. Small i people come to them - white-haired and blue-eyed, joyful and hospitable. I And their name was Si 'irtya (Sihirtya). And they helped the people of the seven lands, but could not withhold their rigid neighborhood and went > under the earth. They live there until now, breeding the earth reindeer - j the mammoth. Seldom have they showed up on the surface. Only the 1 ancient metal jewelry of non- comparable beauty, that costs more than gold, reminds that they were here»12 (Yamal Inform 2005, Golovnev et 1 al).
The long-term inhabitants of the Yamal region—the Ugric and Samoyedic people—have interacted with others outsides the region since at least the 11th century. Among
Europeans, Novgorod the Great first met traders traveling the North in the search for furs and goods. There are five major ethnic groups that have occupied Yamal. Three of them have inhabited Yamal for more than a millennium - Nenets, Khanty, and Selkups. Two
other groups have been present in the region for close to a millennium—Zyryane (Komi)
and Russians (Old Settlers). I would like to provide an overview of the Yamal population with particular focus on Nenets in general and the Nenets of the Purovsky District—the main field location.
Nenets (ne 'ne 'ts, ne 'ne 'tsya - pi., 'human', obsolete names - Samoyeds, Yuraks)
constitute one of the largest and one of the most studied 'numerically small indigenous peoples of the North'13. The legend in the beginning of this section is the Nenets legend
about their coming to the Yamal. The territories occupied by the Nenets span from the
Kanin peninsula in the European North of Arkhangels Region (Nenets Autonomous
12 Translated by the author 13 Legal definition in the Russian laws introduced for numerically small (less than 50 thousand each) northern ethnic groups by the Soviets. These groups received special attention and benefits from the state throughout Soviet and now Russian political history. See Slezkine (1994) and Sokolovsky (1998) for in- depth analysis.
57 Okrug) to the North Central Siberian tundra of Taimyr (Krasnoyarsky Territory). There are three theories of their origin, with the two main branches - the European origin theory and the Sayan (South) origin theory (Khomich 1995).
Despite the differing theories of their origin, all historians agree that the ancestors of
Nenets came to Yamal and merged with the indigenous population of the Near Ob' cultures. Archeologically, the Si 'irtya legend has been proved to be factual—camps of
Nenets ancestors, ancient hunters and gatherers, are found throughout Yamal. (Golovnev
1993, 1995; Khomich 1976). Overall, the Nenets population is believed to be close to
40,000 people (Census 1989, 2002) with 26,000 living in Yamal. The Nenets language-
Northern Samodian branch of the Uralic group of languages is widely spoken, with many individuals of all ages (about 77%) claiming Nenets as their mother tongue (Sulyandziga
2004).
Khanty, the Ugric people (kondikho, khandokho - human, obsolete Ostyak, Yugra) also
constitute a sizable portion of the YANAO population. There is the Northern Khanty
group of about 9,000 people who live in the Southern districts of YANAO adjacent to the
Khanty Mansi Autonomous Okrug. Khanty speak the Ugric language with three distinct
dialects: northern, southern and eastern. The presence of Khanty in Yamal dates back to
the Ust'Polui archeological culture of the end of the 1st millennia BC to the 1st millennia
AD. Northern Khanty hunters and gatherers have been strongly influenced by Nenets through reindeer herding practices and parts of the Khanty population have been
incorporated into the Nenets clan system. There are seven Khanty clans of Nenets
58 people. (Kulemzin 1984, 1992; Kulemzin and Lukina 1977; Lukina 195, 1992;
Kuznetsov 1868; Golovnev, Khomich 1976).
In the Khanty culture, reindeer play an important role in transportation, partly providing materials for housing needs, clothing, et cetera. In reindeer herding practices, Khanty closely cooperate with their neighbors, the Zyryane (Komi).
Selkups (syesekup, sheshkup - 'taiga human') are a Samoyedic people that researchers generally divide into two distinct groups of Northern and Southern Selkups, who are for the most part isolated from each other. Selkups have also been known as Ostyaks in the early literature. Their language belongs to the Samodian branch of the Uralic languages with six dialects. According to the recent studies, about 50%> of Selkups idntify Russian as their native language (Sulyandziga 2004). Southern Selkups are considered to be the direct descendants of the Kulai archeological culture of the Middle Ob Basin (5th c BC -
5th c. AC). The formation of the Northern Selkup group has been significantly influenced by the migration of the Samoyedic people from Taz and Turyukhan rivers in the 17th century (Geydenreich 1930, Gemuev and Pelikh 1975, Pelikh 1972, 1981).
In the YANAO, Selkups live in the Krasnosel'kupskiy District and Southeastern part of the Purovsky District. Northern Selkups include Kets, Khanty and Enets diffusions. The main activities of Selkups include taiga hunting and fishing with the fur trade as a significant element of their economy. Taz Selkups also have been utilizing reindeer herding with relatively small-scale migrations and herd sizes for the same reasons as forest Nenets and Khanty, indicated earlier (Sulyandziga 2004).
59 Zyryane (Komi, Perm') are a large group of people who occupy significant territories in
Russia's European North, from the Republic of Komi (415,900 sq. km., capital city
Syktyvkar) to the surrounding regions of the Kola Peninsula, Nenets Autonomous
District of the Archangelsk Region, as well as other locations in Siberia as far as the
Kama River where Kirov Permyaks or Zyuzdin Komis live. Zyryan's Northern group who calls themselves the Izhemtsy, and more recently Izvatas number 6,000 people and live in the Northwestern parts of the YANAO adjacent to the Arctic Ural (Dronova and Istomin
2003, Konakov and Kotov 1991, Osipov fieldnotes 2007). Izvatas are unique in their ability for short-term seasonal reindeer herding without losing their permanent settlement lifestyle. They were away for only short periods of time, returning back to settled homes for a significant part of the year. Izvatas have strong kin connections to all people in the region - from Nenets and Khanty to Russians and Western Komi.
The Komi-Zyryan language falls into Perm' subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of Uralic languages, and the Perm' Vychegodskaya are their direct ancestors. The Komi have been in very close contact with Russians as early as the eleventh century. From the fourteenth century on the Komi became Orthodox Christians that resulted in the creation of their writing style based on ancient Permian. Komi has given the name to Obdorsk - 'the town near Ob' - which is now Salekhard, the current YANAO capital. (Zherebtsov 1982,
Startsev 1926, Filatova 1994).
Russians have been sporadically present in Yamal populations, trading and traveling with them, since the 11th century, when Novgorod extended its trading relations westward and eastward as far as possible. More active migrations of Russians began in the 14th and 15th
60 centuries, when the first permanent posts were established. The descendants of those people are usually called starozhily —the Old Settlers—and are considered a Native population by all of their neighbors (Dronova and Istomin 2003; Golovnev et. al, 1994).
The significant influx of other European populations is thought to have started from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the sixteenth century, when strengthening Moskovia that was overrun during the Mongol era started to produce more expeditions east from the Stone Belt (Kamenny Poyas - rus.) to the name of Ural Mountains from the early times. About the same time or even earlier, Obdorks and Mangazeya forts had been established by the traders and Cossacks, becoming the main points of further economic expansion and trade in the region, later supported by the state.
The Nenets in the 20th Century
There are two groups of Nenets people in the region - tundra Nenets and forest Nenets.
Tundra Nenets are the largest group that occupies the vast tundra expanses of the
YANAO and the bordering regions. Their main activities are reindeer herding with long multi-month nomadic livelihoods following the seasonal migration of Eurasia's largest reindeer herds, as well as additional gathering, fishing, and hunting. Forest Nenets (about
2,000) live in the watersheds of the Pur and Taz rivers in the YANAO and the northern parts of the Khanty-Mansi region and South-Western part of the Taimyr. Their main activities are more varied than tundra Nenets, as they are unable to rely exclusively on reindeer herding, because, as one forest Nenets told me 'reindeer do not like forest, that's why we do not have large herds' (Aivasedo, Osipov fieldnotes 2007) . Forest Nenets
61 activities vary from hunting, fishing, gathering, crafting, to managing animal and fur farms and fur trading. Some of the forest Nenets who often live in the settlements take on any available local jobs, in addition to practicing traditional activities.
Until the Soviet era, Nenets and other aboriginal populations of Yamal lived in peace, traded and followed reindeer on the tundra. Furs and hides were paid in tribute once a year for official protection by the state, guaranteeing their undisturbed way of life up until the turmoil of the Bolshevik period in the early 1920s. From the 1920s onwards,
Nenets and other Yamal inhabitants were subject to the Soviet state building, just like other nations in Russia. The major difference was that Nenets were given special legal
status and benefits, private property was nationalized, and reindeer herding was
incorporated into the forms of kolkhoz and sovkhoz agricultural conglomerates with generally the same migration routes and annual livestock cycle (Stammler 2005a, 2005b;
Tuisku 2002a, 2002b) as prior to the 1920s. The state farms were heavily subsidized by the state up until the 1990s.
Oil and gas exploration began in Yamal in the late 1960s, under the Communist regime.
Active phases occurred during the 1970s continued to the early 1990s, when barbaric
exploration and development took place in major oil and gas fields in the YANAO and
Khanty-Mansi Regions. The USSR needed currency for financing the weapons race and
to support an unstable economy that dictated quite indelicate treatment for locals as long
as resources—oil and gas—were developed and sold to European customers. Resulting
62 from these careless practices, local voices were starting to be heard immediately after the fall of state censorship in the early 1990s.
, How was it then? Then the rules were different. Just to look at the beginning - this is 1970s. They - exploration parties - could come anytime, anywhere. They would come, erect rigs, and then go. What about people? Here are the documents. Who are they? Where are they from? (Sergey Aivasedo, personal interview, 2008).
This sentiment is strong both in the urban and rural areas that are closely connected in
Purovsky. Those who have 'homes' in Tarko-Sale or Kharampur live there mainly seasonally, these homes are also used as permanent residences for elderly people. A majority of people still go to the land—'on tundra'—during the warm months and often throughout the year. Many Nenets from Kharampurovskaya, the indigenous fishery enterprise with headquarters in Kharampur, live on the tundra year round.
63 Chapter IV. The Case: Partnership, Participation, and Decision- making Model in the Purovsky District
The North influences the development of special kinds of relationships that many people notice when they visit the Arctic or Sub-Arctic. If the common phrase, 'connections rule the world of polities', is true, it would be just as true to say that 'northern relations rule the life in the Arctic'. Respect and awareness is one of the particularly important facets of northern relationships that catch a visitor's eye. I am not speaking of a type of formal respect that manifests itself in a ready-made Hollywood-style smile with little content behind it. I am speaking of heart-felt, almost palpable respect that people in smaller communities feel for each other, that distinguishes Northern fellows from visitors.
Awareness is the other side of the respect coin that speaks to the person's ability to be aware of what one does and says, and how this all impacts the world and the people living in it.
Knowledge of northern relationship rules equally applies to Nenets of Kharampur or
Tarko-Sale, as well as to the settlers, or starozhily, who do not separate themselves from
Yamal either by the right of birth on this land or by the right of imprinting their romantic feelings into this land.
• Our main treasure is people this is what Governor says. Northerners have a special spirit, northern spirit. Alexey, Yamal Regional Government
, Northerners are open and good-soul people, who aim to support each other. i The harsh environmental conditions, limitations of transportation, and the severity of climate, all play role in forming such a character and the type of relationships between the people. I should say that this also extends to the
64 I relations between the organizations, or companies, too, as well as with the local indigenous people and local communities. Joint resolution of issues, reciprocity (vzaimovyruchkd) - this is something truly northern. Oleg, Oil Company
| Trust, reliability - this is the mentality, which is based on the conditions ' people find themselves in. In the North it is the notion of your brother, neighbor living next to you. Therefore, you see here that you have to be supportive, then circles of friends, colleagues, and just people around you. There is not enough sun and this sun stays within people (smiling). Contemporary life supposes hectic environment, quick movement, everything is busy and hurrying. Here in the north you don't have that hectic , idea - everyone is walking, not running. For example Nenets do not open immediately, they watch people first, and then when they get to know you, they will then trust you. You don't have to say much after that -just say 1 your last name, and this is how they will receive you, after they get to know , you - how you are. So if they know you have worked here, people know you, and then they would say - oh, I know this is our kind of person (nash chelovek). Tatyana, Gas Company.
The reason for it is that one person, an individual; it is nothing in the North. Very difficult to survive. Only when interacting with one another - people, animals, and nature - you can't force it to the freezing temperatures or struggle with it for too long. Here in the North, people are, gracious (dobroporyadochnye), responsive, open, and the basis for it is the place which we live. Even in the Soviet times when people would come for major construction projects, they were amazed about people who lived here centuries or decades here and stayed being that way. Those people who were not able to fit into this Northern culture they would go away, they would leave. Many people would leave because they would not fit - how come, I should take care not only about myself, but also of my neighbor so he is fine and all right. This was nonsense to some people. It is now, when things are changing with the rising importance of money. Social infrastructure is much better, so people who have money, can bring heating systems to their homes, other things. People are becoming independent of nature. It impacts ! significantly on their attitude. But at the same time in comparison to other | regions, North is still different and maintains this northern relationships s attitude. Tatyana V. Native local, YTD Representative.
Partnerships that start from respect and awareness, which are very important in Northern relationships are destined for success. On the contrary, lack of either one of these attributes inside the decision-making process will most likely result in failure.
65 The third facet of northern relationships is exchange or gift-giving. Thompson captures this important facet of Russian Northern culture, translated well into the dealings between local residents. Borrowing from Bourdieu (1983), he argues that gift-giving is completely 'deprimitivized' and serves as an important social driver in Russian culture
'at large' and even more so in the North, which, I argue, is an equally truthful statement in Yamal:
s In this regard, the notion of "generalized reciprocity" is particularly useful for characterizing the importance of exchange among settlers and for explaining its perpetual quality. Generalized reciprocity describes practices of giving that are on the surface unconditional but that nevertheless set up an expectation of return, albeit delayed, and are presented in a non- commensurate form (Thompson 2008: 32)
It is impossible to imagine engagement with Northern people without a gift. What I am referring to is not about blunt money or any direct way of giving just anything that will require the other person to repay or give something in return. Instead, it takes a variety of forms, such as help, support (even moral or physical - to carry heavy sacks, for example), favors, ideas, and contributions of work that may or may not be returned, depending on the particularities of a situation. What makes the whole idea of gift-giving so viable is the actual 'feeling' or 'experience' that things have been done in the right way, which remains with both parties of exchange. Therefore, reciprocity maintains an amazing viability and strength in Northern communities and creates a special environment for decision-making and negotiations.
66 The Key Parties of Agreement-making
My encounter with the stakeholders in Russia took a significant amount of time. As the reader can imagine, gaining a foothold in the door of strategic assets managers, politicians and decision-makers from all sides was really a tough quest for a fieldworker, even a Russian one. In order to understand the model of interaction and the essence of decision-making and agreement-making in Yamal and the Purovsky District, it is essential to outline the main players, or the key parties, involved in the process. The key parties I was able to identify in general terms are:
Corporations,
Government,
NGO "Yamal to Descendants" (almost always, and especially, when Native
interests are involved),
Local communities (whether Native or not).
Corporations
There are many companies, with their oil and gas licensed fields currently operating in the Purovsky District alone. The number of active projects in 2009 was well over 100. It is, therefore, impossible to provide a detailed outlook of each of them, and some level of reasonable generalization or typology will have to be introduced. While doing the fieldwork, I came to understand at least three types of organizations distinguished by the type of activity and the form of ownership that play important roles and have significant impacts on the agreement-making process, in their own unique ways. These are:
67 1. State-owned license owners developing oil and gas,
2. Private license owners, doing the same types of activities; and
3. Subcontractors that are brought in by both 1 and 2.
Such a schematic 'typology' implies that state-owned and private companies have different internal cultures, which became clear while working with both types in the field. State-owned companies are generally large-size, vertically integrated holdings with immense capabilities, both financial and administrative. Their culture and attitude is, therefore, manifested and is derived from this very fact. For example, for some of the projects run by the state-owned companies, like Gazprom, Lukoil, and Rosneft' the companies build new towns, with full infrastructure. Gubkinsky, Muravlenko, Noyabr'sk
—northern towns with populations from 25 to 100 thousand people each were created and are based almost solely on the resource industry operating in the area. The main logic for dealing with local issues is, as one of the managers told me, 'social responsibility in the territories of presence' (Osipov, fieldwork notes, 2008).
Private companies are smaller in size and capabilities, but at the same time, they are often more 'local', aware, and flexible, then the 'giants'. Their interests are mainly the same - having licensed oil or gas fields, and developing these fields for profit. If the company is local, it is much better versed in understanding the communities and the interests they have at stake on the tundra. A private business is obviously more flexible in its immediate decisions than larger state-owned corporations, and may either match the financial capacity of larger corporations, or have fewer resources to invest locally.
68 Subcontractors are present everywhere. These are hired third parties that carry out specific working tasks on oil and gas development projects: suppliers, parts manufacturers, shift workers, and so on. Subcontractors are affiliated with the developing companies, and are widely used by both private and state-owned corporations.
Sometimes subcontractors are local, but very often they are hired and bring their equipment and people to the tundra on behalf of the companies. The form of ownership in the case of subcontractors is largely private.
A Retrospective View
According to Britannica and the Etymology Dictionary, the word 'corporation' means
'organization of persons and material resources' that historically comes from the Latin word corpus - the 'body'. Without going into the analysis of corporations, it is important for us to understand one important implication for the context in which we analyze them now.
Historians and anthropologists agree (Skezkine 1994, Schweitzer 2000, 2001) that prior to the Soviet State, Yamal and its dwellers were free in executing their natural customs, ways of life, and activities traditional to their culture and people. The Speransky Statute of 1822 went so far as to set aside lands inhabited by the travelling nomads as reserved lands for their very existence and prohibited their use by other citizens of the Empire
(Kryazhkov 1999, Ustav 1822).
It is only after the establishment of the Soviet regime, with its rigid all-encompassing control that the government paid particular attention to the North in general, and Yamal
69 native and old settler inhabitants and their further destiny and subsequent development, in particular. The large-scale industrial development of Yamal began in the late 1960s- early 1970s when the first oil and gas parties and development gained a footing in the
North. However, these first oil and gas parties were not the corporations that operate in
Yamal today.
There was only one developer - the state itself, or more precisely, the USSR Ministry of
Fuel and Energy that was responsible for developing natural resources and selling them to the dwellers of larger cities, and to currency-paying Western clients. The ministry was an empire within an empire, with its own university, budget, organizational capacities ranging from exploration parties to the pipeline systems, and refineries. In other words, the whole objective and the very motivation for the process was not mercantile-driven in itself for the institutional developers of these resources. Instead, it was both, the working task and romantic feeling of mastering the North, getting the mainland heated and lighted with the gas and oil, and the governmental and Communist party requests to be duly fulfilled.
In many cases, the motivation for individuals was Northern benefits and higher salaries - a discussion addressed elsewhere (Thompson 2008). The whole infrastructure, the towns and roads, was also driven by this very objective set forth by the state. In such a situation, the geological parties, oilers, construction and shift workers were essentially perceived as agents of the state, and acted as such.
70 . Both the towns and the enterprises are sometime the same age. So that ' incoming people altogether started building the town. Social responsibility of the company - you can't actually divide it from the local community. ; Oleg, Oil Company, personal interview.
They clearly were 'modernizing' -building roads, constructing pipelines, establishing electricity nets, building cities and bridges on the permafrost - often for the first time in the world. In other words, more attention was paid to the process and the end result, rather than nuances of local communities and cultures, already transformed Northern communities significantly by the Soviet state into habitual forms of collective farms
(kolkhoz and sovkhoz). Their view was from the angle of the 'state people', people who, in addition to oil and gas development and transport, created the infrastructure for others, 'heat the country', create jobs, housing, schools, and finally, 'master the North'
(osvoW sever).
Everything changed with the fall of the USSR and privatization. This is when corporations started to appear first in the form of former enterprises being privatized by the top management and later acquired by the state. Since the resource industry was claimed to be a strategic asset, the general rules of the free market have to be applied to these assets selectively and under special control of the state. For the new masters of the
North - the people who settled or worked in Yamal during Soviet times, the choice was clear. One option was to leave the North, now lacking state support, investment and benefits, and return to the mainland. The other was to adapt, and corporations became one of the forms of adaptations for many - whether in the form of employment with larger - and still state-owned - corporations (now the mercantile-driven business became a much clearer objective of economic activities associated with oil and gas development);
71 or the formation of private, and especially local corporations that received investment support from the Yamal region.
Currently, the Purovsky District is a key site location for a number of companies. The two major ones are subsidiaries of the largest Russian oil and gas corporations, which names I have to preserve for the confidentiality and ethics reasons. Throughout this section I will call them the Gas Company and the Oil Company. To introduce the organizations in more detail, let me provide a brief outlook regarding what the companies are and what their operations in Purovsky look like.
The Oil Company
The Oil Companyis a daughter subsidiary, (i.e. a local integral part actually developing the crude oil) of Russia-wide state-owned oil development holding. Like many of the newly formed Russian industrial corporations, the Oil Company grew from a Soviet era state-owned asset within the USSR, and then from Russia's Oil and Gas Ministry.
It was founded in the 1986 and it was the time when the company started. And since that time the company is operating in Purovsky district. Then it , became a daughter of the main holding, later on, when the company was , acquired. Since then it is a leading subsidiary, which develops a lion's share I of oil for the mother company. Oleg, Oil Company, personal interview.
After a number of acquisitions, reorganizations, and buyouts that took place during the last two decades and were related to the 'strategic assets' debate described in the earlier chapters, the company finally landed as a primary subsidiary of the state-owned multi- billion dollar vertically integrated oil and petro-holding. The holding that the Oil
72 Company belongs to, has a nation-wide presence and is headquartered in Moscow, where all key decisions are made.
The actual on-the-ground crude oil development is performed by 100% owned daughter companies that hold licenses for the subsoil use. Purovsky is home to one of these daughter companies exploring and developing crude oil from the licensed fields, both old and new. The Oil Company was founded during perestroika times in 1986, and has been present in Purovsky for more than twenty years, actively developing its licensed lands, as well as actively engaging itself in the local affairs and into the agreement making process that started in the 1990s.
The Oil Company maintains high volume reserves that constitute about 69% of the holding reserves, and it is working on four licensed fields located in the Purovsky
District - Komsomol'skoe, Kharampurskoe, Tarasovskoe and Barsukovskoe. These fields are located in the vicinity of native settlements or camps that the company has arranged deals with, facilitated by both YTD and the municipal government of the
District.
All oil and gas fields have a direct link to the Transneft and Gazprom transport systems.
The company infrastructure also includes a railroad going between Purpe and Surgut that
is solely used by the Oil Company for natural resource shipment. Annual development volume of the daughter company alone is between eight and nine million barrels of crude
oil and close to four billion cubic meters of natural gas.
73 In my view, oil and gas will not end in 100 years from now, so I would not [ even think of it [ending]. I think we will just find it deeper, but there will be ! oil and gas here. There is plenty of it. ; Oil Company Executive, personal interview.
People-wise, vertically integrated business means that there are a lot of employees coming from outside the region, as well as rotating inside the company. The impacts of outside people inflow are significant. General Directors of the subsidiary change every one to two years, and many company associates are contractors. Almost all decisions have to be approved by the central office. At the same time, the company maintains the
Soviet style state-oriented responsibility towards the local social needs that have their interplay in massive investment projects and the institute of shevstvou.
As in all big companies, the entire environment in the Oil Company is built around policies and procedures that guide all employees in their actions, providing much less flexibility in any ad hoc activities. At the start of my project I experienced this immense hierarchy myself. Agreements with management personnel to participate in the film shooting and in interviews with the office of the company in Purovsky, were negotiated directly with the headquarters in Moscow, to which I submitted detailed explanations and reasons why I wanted to have those meetings and conversations. I had little trouble in securing an agreement, provided that the filming crew told the Oil Company that the Gas
Company had already agreed, which implied the choice of being underrepresented in the project. So it happened, and I had all the opportunities to explore the logic and decision making processes from within the organization. It was much later, when informal
See Chapter V for detailed analysis of shevstvo.
74 relations were built with Oil Company managers that the communication flow and rapport with these individuals became natural.
The Gas Company
The Gas Company is another vertically integrated, but private holding specializing in gas development and gas processing refinery services, while keeping oil as a secondary business. Its daughter company that operates on behalf of the holding in the Purovsky
District was founded in 1994 as a small private business, with direct participation from the locals of Yamal; it has since grown into a large resource enterprise.
The first project started in 1995 with the Vostochnoe-Tarkosalinskoe field, and now the
Gas Company Purovsky subsidiary is developing between 15 and 19 billion cubic meters of natural gas and gas condensate from Khancheyskoe and Vostochno-Tarkosalinskoe.
Both fields are located in close vicinity to the Tarko-Sale settlement (40 to 90 kilometers).
The company was created by those people who were in the geological I parties, so they were not like the developers, oilers, who would come from I the south, from Samotlor. And this created a unique atmosphere. We have been here for quite a long time. The actual development - we started it from ! the scratch, for the first time. So, we were actually aware of all the nuances ! with Nenets settlements. We believe that if you are positive and approaching another person in a good way, it is very rare that you will meet hostility in ; response. Of course, there have been try-s and mistakes, however, we've made it to this model and it works well. It will definitely develop further and we already think about it now. ! CEO, Gas company, personal interview.
• It was 1994, the operations started from developing Vostochnoe gas field - from setting up the operations to developing it. Then to these operations were added other licensed field and are being added currently. From the ! very first steps, gas program was developed using the grant from YANAO Administration, they were providing support to the young Yamal-based
75 ; companies. Purovsky municipality certainly supported us as well, as i mediators and assistant in working with the local indigenous groups. It was • well understood, because the resource business is the key foundation of the Purovsky economy. And as a result, the ties between the company, the i municipality, and the region are quite tight. The very development of | Purovsky is based on the resource development - it is the heart of energy ' business in Yamal and also heart of Russian energy sector. Purovsky is ] interested in organized and well-managed business in the region and the I companies are also paying back to the municipality with the same [ constructive attitude. There are Agreements between the company and the • Purovsky region, support for social programs. It is also going farther - to the i cooperation in health services, education, construction activities and capital I projects, everything you have seen in the far north, capital projects are well j supported by these ties.
j Tatyana, Gas Company, personal interview.
The company is also active in the processing business and just completed construction of large gas condensate processing plant that produces close to three million tons of condensate annually. The main argument is the environment within which the company operates is very local in its attitudes, people, and awareness of the local situation.
To speak a bit of pathos - 'temporaries'/'short-timers' (vremenschiki) have already left. There are only people left in the North who will stay and will live here in the future. Let's be honest, we are an open company and our main goal is to earn money. Good, constructive relations with the local communities are in the long term interests of the company and align with ' our strategy. Our shareholders and investment climate depends on the | environment, its peacefulness and the absence of conflicts. CEO, Gas Company, personal interview.
One of the main ideas captured in this dialog for me, was the concept of vremenschiki -
'temporaries' or 'careless newcomers' in Russian. The understanding that lies beneath the notion of vremenschiki comes from the 1970s, and refers to those who do not really
care about anything during their shift or limited period in the North. The key is 'time',
'temporary' (vremya, vremennyi). By limiting their time in the North, vremenschiki
76 pulled themselves away from the life of local people. What is even more important is that those places themselves, apart from the local environment, are viewed as something completely alien and considered only in consumptionist and, thus, irresponsible terms.
The only way for a person or company to avoid this terrible label in the region is to show respect and execute such actions, that show these individuals or companies do care about the future of both the people and the environment. The main task is to give a clear message of long-term term commitment in actions.
Government
Among all key stakeholders of the decision-making and negotiations process, I would describe the role of government as the most important one. It was not the government that came to the North with Cossacks to trade, but it was the government that sent more of them, once the North became better known. It was not the government that started fur trading, but it was the government that intensified the scale of it and levied a tribute to be collected. And finally, it was the government that placed a hold on interfering with the nomadic people, and it was also the government coming to 'master the North' and develop its natural resources quite carelessly, at least in the beginning. Retrospectively, there are many potential faces to the actions that a government can do - both positive and negative.
Soon after the fall of the USSR, and the time when the new regime of so-called
'democracy' came to being, things have changed dramatically. New legislation introduced several levels of power and self-governance, many of which exist unchanged to this day. From Autonomous Districts (like YANAO itself) to ancient Roman-style
77 elected municipal authorities and local representative legislative bodies; today, the government exists on several levels in Yamal.
First of all it is Russian federal government and Russian federal parliament,
which both set the main rules of the game in the country; they create and pass
legislation that impacts everybody. To make the argument practical - for
example the Law on Subsoil, The Water Code - two documents that impose
specific conditions and licensing procedures for regulating any use of water
and land for mining or subsoil resource development, as well as other
resource related federal laws, and institutions within federal administration
which execute them. The Ministry of Oil and Gas, as another example,
regulates who comes to Yamal to do oil and gas development, and how they
will develop these resources.
Secondly, it is the Yamal itself, as a region - the Governor, Administration
and Yamal Parliament, are all able to impact implementation of the federal
laws in region-specific situations, or even pass their own legislation, which
does not directly conflict with the federal laws. For example, they passed and
implemented a Reindeer Herding Law which provides clear guidelines for
protecting or compensating reindeer herders for the land in which they
perform these activities within the region.
Finally, it is the level of the municipal government - at both District and
Local levels, for example the Purovsky District and Kharampur Settlement
78 depend largely on financial and political decisions from higher level
governments, but at the same time, may have significant say in, and often gain
footing in, what happens on the ground in practical implementation of all the
laws and regulations - both regional and federal.
Another facet is that the idea of government and power in Yamal does not exclude
Nenets, Zyryane, Khanty or others. In other words, speaking of government and power, one may well see this as Native government, or a government that is not detached from the interests of local indigenous people, in many respects. The role of the state in this particular facet has also been significant through education and other means in the Soviet period.
What interested me most was the regional and municipal view that dictates the on-the- ground engagement of the companies with the land and people - right after the license for resource development is provided to the company at the federal level. Who is government in Yamal? What do they do and how do they account for the interests of the local people?
Yamal regional government is not firm in its attitude to resource development. There are different views and positions. The Yamal government also actively absorbs the Native viewpoint in a way that is unequivocal - there is the Department for Native People
Affairs within the Governor's Administration being led by Lidiya Velio, an indigenous lady, who is one of the most active politicians and member of the YTD NGO, at the same time. All, however, agree that the three goals have to be realized through the policy at the
79 regional level - an ecologically sound framework for any development; support for indigenous people and provision of opportunities for them to conduct their traditional economic activities - from reindeer herding to hunting, fishing and gathering; and on to the support and development of social infrastructure that is very expensive in the North.
All levels of executive and administrative power see their main role as mediators, which initially contradicted my assumption that the government will align completely with the companies in pushing their interest—as happened in a number of well-documented
Australian and Canadian cases (Bielawski 2003, O'Faircheallaigh 2002, 2006a, 2006b).
The leitmotif of the relationships [between the government, local indigenous communities, and the companies] is always sustainable social • and economical development of the Yamal region. The fact that the key to the Northern policy is preservation and reinforcement of indigenous people and their traditional culture and economic activities is not just words. This is why when we say our region is developing, when Yamal peninsula district is planned for massive resource development projects15, we understand that the resource base is enormous, and the region will be developed significantly. We need to make sure that this unique culture does not just go away, disappearing. The civilization will always have an impact, will be stressing this way of life, does not matter how strongly you resist and protect it, and so our task as administration is to be a liaison, and intermediary between the traditional culture of the indigenous, local people and the companies chasing , their revenues and profits. To be a buffer zone. And in this respect, the main , goal is to protect and maintain traditional economic activities and crafts intact in the daily life. As well as maintaining their culture, the culture of people who live here for centuries. Second moment is ecology. Now we are speaking a lot about it and 1 we also provide structural guidance to address environmental and ecological security. Because the ecosystem in Yamal is so unique, the natural treasures and their value are immense here. And I mean the biological resources, not oil and gas. So our task is to protect them. In cooperation with the j companies we work in these directions. And lastly, it is far north. A huge social infrastructure is in place. i Hospitals, enterprises, schools, it is a very demanding asset to maintain and it costs a lot in the North. So, this is one of the key trends in cooperation with the business. People who live here need to know and be sure, that this
Which later resulted in PM Putin visiting Yamal and holding a meeting together with the top management of 15 largest global resource corporations.
80 , infrastructure is operational, hospitals are working, schools are taking care ; of their children and so on. And this is where the Agreements come into } play. We sign those with the businesses and they support budgets of the social infrastructure in Yamal. Alexey, YANAO Government official, personal interview
Lidiya Velio provided a Native politician's view on the relationships between the key stakeholders in the agreement-making process:
It would be difficult to create such an atmosphere if we did not have our ' regional law system as well as principal/general agreements between the Governor of the region with all the companies, Russian oil and gas > companies, which are working in the territory of the YANAO. So, this is the ! first constituent. It is first of all legal system, laws that were passed at the regional level and at the municipal level. Another significant constituent is the level of independent authority of the municipal level government... in ( order to come to an agreement, to find compromise in this most complicated questions, the public hearings are conducted.... Next constituent is wide 1 awareness, public information dissemination... And finally, it is a wider channel of social connection via TV, media, which can be disclosed to people. If this is a positive experience, what exactly was positive about it? What is the content. Because people are watching, people are listening. And this is the position of the municipality, the district, position of the YANAO administration. What kind of principles we use while working with these issues in YANAO?... It is also important to note, that our President, Government is voicing the ecological and environmental issues. President also voiced the principles of partnership with the local indigenous people. He emphasized that the companies have to be in dialog, they have to be participating in social issues of the regions. Lidiya Velio, YANAO Government official, personal interview.
Naturally, deriving from the regional legislative and executive opportunities that account for the interests of the three parties - government, corporations and the local communities it is essential to know the view of the municipal government. The municipal level is the most important in the actual execution of agreements, once they are reached.
Yamal regional administration representatives, whom I was able to informally speak about the engagement models and how levels of power are distributed in the decision making process, provided the scheme where clear delineation exists in the whole
81 approach; where regional administration acts as the institute of executive power, while the district level administration is a municipality-level power.
In other words, the district municipalities do not report to the regional administration - because they represent different types (and levels) of authority. At the same time, under certain laws, some functions are delegated to the municipal level by the YANAO
Administration and for those they report, within the framework of those delegated powers, directly to Salekhard capital. Speaking simply, YANAO Administration is more of a political authority, while district administration is more applied and practical, so that all the requirements and recommendations voiced by the people living in a particular territory should be addressed there.
At the municipal level, the main player in Purovsky is Dmitry Kobylkin, who is the head of District Administration. He is a bright and relatively young man in his late thirties or early forties, who worked as Director General of one of the developing oil companies in the past.
82 Figure 7. Dmitry Kobylkin, Head of Purovsky District Photo from author's documentary film.
In Dmitry Kobylkin's view, the whole process is carried on based on results, achieved by the previous head of district - Anatoly Ostryagin, who established the framework of relationships for all three parties, with a deep understanding of local realities and communities at stake. Their view is very close to the view of YTD associates, which may seem counter to the whole arrangement of habitual pairing government-business:
The main basis of the relationships is founded on the results of the previous Head's work. We keep the trend and things move on positively. In the past, when helicopters appeared in the camps, people would hide their children, now they are running to greet. There is no business in tundra. Our main priority is to protect the traditions of the local people. What is it? First of all, it is language and the way of life. For the way of life you have to perform activities and do what your predecessors were doing. That's why we strive to invest resources into jobs in traditional economy sector - yes, often just granting money, without profits or returns. At first it was 100% investment into construction in the local indigenous settlements, now it is 80%
83 construction and 20% investing in people - education, equipment, floating bases, trading posts. Let's take fish processing plant - at the beginning it was minus 5 million rubles, then minus 3 million rubles, and our task is to heat the "zero" balance, so whatever they produce recovers the costs. It is unlikely it will be profitable - Northern economy is expensive. When I Purovsky people become rich, then we will have profits... With the • reindeer, I think the reindeer fields are already exhausted and most likely we will need to move on to the Finnish system, corals and trading posts. I Dmitry Kobylkin, Purovsky District Head, personal interview.
The Role of the NGO: "Yamal-to-Descendants!lb"
There are three types of decision-making stakeholders, who form a part of the agreement-
and decision-making process related to the resource development at the regional level
and at the level of the Purovsky District. "Yamal-to-Descendants" serves in both cases -
at the regional level via its headquarters and at the district level via its branches.
The Context
Non-governmental organizations have triggered a lot of interest in the social sciences,
especially in the Western hemisphere, where this movement was initiated and later
spread around the world together with the US-led export of democracy. In his review of
what a NGO is, Clark (1995) notes that the main feature which these public institutions
entail is that they "nearly always act in counterpoint with governmental actors" (1995:
507). As the Purovsky experience shows, this may well not be the case. One important
commonality with Clark's view on NGO's is that indeed Yamal public bodies claim a
certain legitimacy for their causes by virtue of popular representation (Clark 1995: 508).
Direct translation from the Russian title of the organization: Yamal - Potomkam! Further in the text I utilize both the full name and an abbreviation YTD.
84 Clark further argues that the effectiveness of NGOs as tools to address publicly-
important agendas derives from focusing on a related set of issues or one single issue
from which all resources and support are brought about and gain as much volunteer
support from their members and members of the general public whose interests the
NGO's represent, unlike the state agencies or corporations with fewer paid on-staff
individuals (Clark 1995: 508-511). Research in Spain on relationships between business
and public NGOs shows the other side of the continuum, when parties are unable to
engage each other in the decision-making process, thus failing to achieve their mutual
goals, ending in conflicts and tense discussions bringing little if no result. Valor and
Merino call such situations 'withdrawal-conflict dynamics' between the business and
NGOs (Valor and Merino 2009: 32). The main problem in such conflicting situations is
lack of a common language, attention to one's interests, and disengagement or gate
keeping of parties from the decision-making process.
Specifics of Russian public movement space and NGO environment have also been
addressed in a variety of ways by the recent works of Sundstrome (2005), Holland
(2004), Cook and Vinogradova (2006), Crotty (2009) and many others17. Major
conclusions that the authors reach are that 'groups themselves often lack the will or
ability - irrespective of their structure or endowment of overseas funding - to actively
participate in civil society', as summarized by Crotty (2009: 85).
An exhaustive review of literature on Russian NGO and civil society space is given in Jo Crotty (2009), which I leave inquisitive readers to refer to.
85 The sound facet or legacy of NGOs and social movements in Russia that clearly has its roots in the Soviet era was the fact that some of the memberships in organizations were not 'voluntary, but assumed', which resulted in public disinterest in regard to participating in any social movement or non-governmental body (Crotty 2009: 87). Gray and Anderson also speak of social movements in the context of anthropological research they have done in Taimyr and Chukotka respectively, often arriving at similar conclusions—distrust of elites and weak organizational influences (Gray 2005, Anderson
2002, Ziker 2002).
Another front of NGOs that exist in the Russian Federation cover specifically indigenous
NGOs, united under the umbrella of RAIPON - an abbreviation for Russian Association of the Numerically Small Indigenous People of the North, of which 'Yamal to
Descendants' is a key member. The association unites several dozen regionally focused activist groups and movements, largely concerned with lobbying interests of locally attached and federally recognized small nations, carrying out traditional lifestyles and residing on historically determined territories in Siberia and the Far North. There are
strong and very active ties that connect indigenous and similar organizations in neighboring regions, as well as to the larger RAIPON.
The legal agenda is registering high on the radar of the native NGOs. The dilemma that is
currently taking shape is that new laws and codes passed by the Federal Parliament are
starting to limit the already given rights for land and waters, while regional legislation,
86 on the contrary, becomes well-organized and provides significant support to traditional economic activities.
Yamal to Descendants rises in sharp contradiction to the conclusions reached by the explorers of the NGO environment in Russia. By the typology offered in Cook and
Vinogradova (2006), YTD is clearly a Grass Roots Organization, with only significant deviation from further descriptions of this type of NGO - 'cliquish', very hierarchical, and focused on single issues. Instead, the organization has served the region on a wide range of issues as early as the late 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s.
My first encounter with "Yamal-to-Descendants" was somewhat formal. I was listening to a speech, delivered by one of the organization leaders to the public in Salekhard. The workshop was ambitiously called: 'Strategies for Northern Development.' One of the workshop participants, a prominent doctor from Nadym mentioned to me: "it's unlikely you will find this organization of any use to your project. It has ambitions but really isn't that influential." What made me think otherwise was the status of the person delivering
the speech and of the second speaker. These were Khotyako Ezyngi and Sergey
Kharyuchi—the two most influential Nenets men in Yamal.
Ezyngi - one of the first leaders of the YTD, now Indigenous Affairs Advisor to the local
Gazprom subsidiary, spoke passionately about how reindeer herders understand their
country's energy needs. Yet he also mentioned that it is impossible to ignore the harm the
industry is causing. Kharyuchi continued that Yamal needs to provide more
compensations and account for the needs of indigenous people through laws that YTD
87 and Yamal Parliament were able to pass that support local people's rights to harvest and hunt in a traditional way.
As it turned out later, "Yamal to Descendants!" is, in fact, the most influential contemporary Yamal NGO. YTD was born in the early 1990s and since then was lead by prominent Nenets activist figures such as Ezyngi, Kharyuchi, and now Evay - all of whom have been politically elite representatives to the Parliaments or Soviets from as early as the last quarter of the 20l century. Unlike many public entities initiated with the direct involvement of the state, "Yamal to Descendants!" has truly been a grass roots organization that creation coincided with the hardest times of national economic crisis of the 1990s, right before, during and immediately after the fall of the Soviet state.
Regional Level
Economic hardships on the edge between the 1980s and 1990s impacted the entire population of the USSR. In the North, the impact has also been quite visible, provided the state has been taking extremely good care of these regions during the Master the
North campaign of the 1960s and 1970s. Many supplies have been cut and agricultural enterprises supporting people's activities of reindeer herding, fishing and hunting started dissolving with shortages of financing and failure of logistics chains.
' When there was a breakdown of the country and noone would care about the , indigenous people, the indigenous intelligentsia thought to themselves: We are fine here in the cities and villages, we will be able to survive, but what J about our tundra relatives? Kolhozes and sovkhozes were falling apart, there were problems with getting bread and basic goods items on time. Tundra i settlements and reindeer brigades were left alone, no one would care about
88 them. This was the main objective behind creating YTD - to make sure we survive. YTD Board Member, personal interview.
First, activities were far from placing political demands or fighting for rights under land claims, or nationality-driven ideas. The pioneers in self-organizations were activists of the indigenous people in the neighboring region, who formed their non-governmental association "Spasenie Yugry"18 in 1989. And after seeing what the neighbors were doing, it was decided that this idea needed to be implemented in Yamal as well (Gostyukhina
2005).
Khanty and Mansee created "Yugra Rescue". We do not have to rescue anyone just yet. Our culture is alive. We needed to find another name for our I organization. And it was proposed by Leontiy Taragupta. He said: - Perhaps, we should create "Yamal-to-Descendants", so that we save our Yamal to those who come after us at least in the way it is now. (Syuazi, as quoted in Gostyukhina 2005).
At that time, YTD was in its infancy, with activists running around asking for assistance from the government, municipalities, and enterprises. Regional and local administrations supported the idea, although with a significant degree of skepticism, often saying "these days, everyone wants to be a boss, a leader. Let's give them power and create commission on native affairs. Will see how they do things on their own, find the oil and stoves for heating chums" (Tatyana, YTD Board Member, personal interview). At the
same time, along with the skepticism, came support and understanding that their mission is not personal but societal and public-oriented. As a result, YTD actively participated in developing the first Yamal-wide multi-year regional socio-economic policy, where
Yugra Rescue (rus.).
89 interests of all major social and native groups were accounted for and supported by the regional and state authorities.
j 'Yamal to Descendants' has really been a 'grassroots' NGO organization. It was organized by the activists from all of the major groups who cared about the land of Yamal, when the new times came [1991]. There were Nenets, Khanty, Russians, Zyryane and others - all were there. Now organization is becoming more and more title nations-oriented [e.g. Nenets]. However, certainly it does provide support for us as well I YTD Activist, Salekhard, personal interview.
Now, almost 20 years after the inception of the organization, it is clearly the major actor
on the stage of both decision-making around resource development and the strongest
supporter of local people and traditional economy projects in Yamal. The organization now has fully operational branches in all districts, and all major towns across Yamal. The
first leaders of the organization have advanced to high-level political and executive positions in administration and federal institutions, and continue to actively promote and
fight for the interests of the local people through passing laws and creating policies that
correspond to the idea of traditional economy and the sustainable environmental
development of the region.
Sergey Kharyuchi - one of the former YTD leaders is now Speaker of the YANAO
Parliament. YTD plays an enormous role across all the YANAO, with branch offices in
all key areas from southern parts of the region to the northernmost ones. YTD leaders
usually also serve in other positions, either with the public or government at the local or
regional level that provides them with several influential means of communication and
networking. Many women have been actively involved in the organization from its very
inception. Governmental officials in Salekhard confirm the importance of the player:
90 We are working with this organization for a long time. And I told you once that there are things at the district level, so imagine that this organization is j consolidating the opinion of people living in a particular district or local territory - the native people. And what they are trying to do is to make sure this opinion is heard at the highest possible level - it is a non-governmental , organization, and it is really trendy to work with NGOs, therefore there are certain pluses in this form of cooperation. YTD is a representative body, they have an office in Moscow, they have direct route to Federal Parliament, there is Sergey Kharyuchi, so there are certain tools this organization can 1 use. They indeed play an important role in tri-sided agreements signed in Yamal with respect to the native people' interests. 1 YANAO Government official, personal interview.
To put YTD into a larger context, there are strong and very active ties that connect YTD to similar organizations in neighboring regions as well as to the largest umbrella NGO,
RAIPON.According to YTD leadership, YTD took an active part in creating RAIPON and assisted organizationally during the early years of RAIPON's existence (Osipov fieldnotes 2008). The joint meetings are held and give representatives from other opportunity to come and share their problems and practices. During the fieldwork I was an observer at several of those practice-sharing meetings.
The strongest ties extended to the "Yugra Rescue" - analogous NGO organization from the neighbouring Khanty-Mansee Autonomous Region, "Yasavey", located in Nenets
Autonomous Region, as well as Taimyr and Tyumen'-based organizations. YTD is active both nationally and internationally in reindeer councils, as well as a variety of Arctic people congresses and unions, to seek and learn more about potential practices, and to share a lot of their own information and knowledge.
91 Municipal Level
Returning to the on-the-ground activities, the role of YTD at the district level in
Purovsky is quite specific. They hold tightly on to the interests of tundra and settlement populations, initiate and manage the agreements with the incoming companies or new projects initiated by the companies in the area. The organization is also closely monitoring all existing operations, pipelines, and oil and gas field sites and carries control on all alerting reports received from the tundra brigades or families living nomadic lifestyles and carrying out their activities across the entire region.
Purovsky District Branch of NGO Yamal to Descendants was founded at the initiative from local communities and native people of this land. The driving factor was that during the Soviet time, up to 1989, Government's goal was at any cost and by whatever means to extract oil and gas from the land in ! order to develop not Yamal, but the entire country - Russia. They were forgetting that native people live on this land. The native people saw quite clearly that their rights and interests are infringed. And this was the main goal - to protect the lifestyle, culture, and the lands - fishing, hunting, and grazing grounds, for those people who live and are actively involved into the tundra life. Maria Klimova, YTD Purovsky Branch Leader, personal interview.
The influence that is carried by YTD is based on the very fact that this organization is formed entirely of locals and their relatives living on the tundra, and therefore it creates the critical mass of action behind the spoken words, which YTD may employ if there is a necessity. The tone of conversations in Purovsky; however, is much more gentle now than it used to be years ago. Close personal ties with administration and companies, developed over the years and supported by the facilitating role of the government that greatly assisted in reaching significant progress for actually influencing the very core of resource development decision-making process.
92 The capabilities that YTD developed in the region, as well as an understanding and timeframe from both the companies and local administration makes Yamal an exemplary case for the neighboring region of Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where conflicting situations have arisen out of the lack of regional legislation and understanding from the companies, as well as little previous experience in forming partnerships:
In the neighboring regions, for example, in YANAO or KhMAO, there are ' no such conflicts. I know for sure, because I have been travelling to Yamal many times during the last years, and can tell: there are a lot of things to learn from them, both in terms of interaction and agreement-making with large companies and in style of relationships and the attitude towards the local people. Yes, neighbours have many issues and conflict situations. But they solve problems or attempts to solve them. Everybody understands that it is not only problems apprear with oil and gas companies, but also j improvement of the social and economic situation in the region. Vasiliy Peskov, Head of NGO "Yasavey" (2005)
The changing nature of ownership, privatization, and restructuring of the national economy resulted in the rise of a new understanding in approaching both business and politics, which emerged under very new conditions. The newly formed framework, based on learning from mistakes made in the past and on tough negotiations and legal support from both the regional and municipal governments in the end created a new political order with leaders more receptive to the different points of view. Altogether, this created a critical mass for changes in attitudes towards new forms of partnership, participation and decision-making at the ground level.
Kharampur: Locals, Obschinas, and the Joint Stock Companies
A local case in decision-making over energy resources, the Kharampur settlement, in
Anderson's words, 'can speak to the larger setting' (Anderson 2000: 2). Having started as a small trading post inl932 on the Kharampurovskaya tundra about 60 kilometers
93 from Tarko-Sale, this settlement went through all the changes that have happened to many rural areas in the Purovsky District, in the Yamal region, and in much wider territories of the former Russian Empire during its many reformations, challenges, and twists of 20th century history. Rich in varieties of tundra-forest environments with lakes and rivers, the settlement is nested on the shores of the Kharampur River. Kharampur comes from two Nenets words kh 'arv, kal (larch) and pur, pyul19, which together form a poetic name "Larch on the Loud River".
Similarly, with respect to smaller and later larger tundra settlements across the Soviet
North, developments were first related to building small elementary schools, houses of culture, and some basic infrastructure. Nenets began coming to stay in Kharampur for parts of seasons, for trade, and for shopping. In 1935 Kharampur became a small local political center where a local representative Council (Verkhne-Purovsky Natsional'nyi
Sovet Raboche-Krestyanskikh Deputatov) or Village Council (sel 'sovei) was created:
During the time when local Councils (soviety) were created, the major problem was to find those who could work there. Newcomers would be unaware of the North and its nuances, while among Nenets there were few i literate people at that time. So the solution in Kharampur was to have a Nenets Council Chair and Russian as a Party Secretary. It was a good j practice to create local executives and politicians (mestnye kadry). The first Chair of the Verkhne-Purovsky Counsil was Akoli Velio. (Polina Turutina, i Nenets Elder, courtesy of Larisa Aivasedo private archive).
Based on these trading posts, so-called 'nationality settlements' (national'nyeposelki) where the majority of assigned population was Native were created. Following the general flow of countrywide rural policy, Kharampur became a nationality settlement in
Translates from Nenets as 'loud river sound'. 20 Assigned means that the actual population of these settlements is much smaller provided most of the people live out in the tundra either seasonally, or throughout the year, like Ivan Velio's brigade. At the same time they are assigned to the "Kharampurovskaya".
94 1937. The Soviet administration gradually created collectivized agricultural enterprises, known as collective farms (kolkhoz), in the beginning and cooperative enterprises later on (sovkhozes).
Kharampur became the base for a kolkhoz named after Stalin in the beginning of the
1940s. Such an economic form, typical across the country, had one important difference compared to the mainland's regular agricultural enterprises. The key economic activities were centered around hunting for precious furs and fishing—the main profit areas—as well as reindeer herding, and local harvesting and gathering—activities quite traditional to the tundra population. With significantly declining demand for furs after the 1980s the
fur trade dramatically declined; however, other traditional activities remain intact until today, with steeply rising fishing and processing activities, replacing the fur trade.
The story of Kharampur and its inhabitants is tightly connected to the history and the life
of the country in all major aspects: from the faceless collectivization to WWII times,
when recruits from all over the Soviet Union served the country in defeating Nazi
Germany. For example, Entaka Aivasedo was one of the WWII participants from
Kharampur and his name is memorialized on the settlement's main street sign.
Kharampur made significant sacrifices in sending warm clothing and other winter-
relevant equipment, including sleds to the Northern Front during the war. At the same
time, creativity, simplicity, practicality and gentle northern humor have always been the
highlights of tundra life, reflected in many storytelling episodes. One of the stories
95 recorded from Elders during the war time tells of a worker of the Red Chum who told tundra dwellers about a radio message he received. It was about a victory salute held in
Moscow to celebrate the liberation of Kharkov - a large city in Soviet Ukraine - from months of Nazi occupation.
Local people would ask the worker to explain what salute is, to which he I responded: 1 - It is when they fire gunshots. And what or who are they firing at? To the air. . - Why would they want to waste the gunpowder? i This simple and direct question posed a significant difficulty to the worker to explain. After some time, an elder stoop up and said: I know why. We had a doctor staying with us, it was the beginning of spring, he could not travel any more because of the thawing, and he used to live a long time with us. The ice went away, and doctor left on the boat. He was a good man and it was a sad thing that he was leaving. And so we kept talking about him and decided: let's do something so he knows that we will remember him and talk about him? And we took our rifles and fired in the air. He also fired twice, and it was like we spoke to each other. Perhaps people in Moscow also fire in the air so that all people know about the victory and are all happy about it. It is not wasting gunpowder. It's a pity we cannot hear those salutes here in tundra, but you told us about it, and we are happy too (Brodnev 1965: 36, handwritten archive, quoted in Brekhuntsov and Bityukov 2007: 76).
It would be wrong to apply the marker 'locals' only to the Nenets people in Kharampur.
Among the locals, considered already 'native' by the Nenets, there are also significant numbers of those who had migrated from other regions of the USSR and devoted their lives to the community. Northern romantic feelings, the tranquility—not the oil or money—attracted people from Ukraine and inner Russia as well. Another reason was northern 'assignments' (raspredelenie) - a practice where graduates of colleges and universities in the Soviet Union were 'assigned' to do some work for the state without
Proto-image of House of Culture well depicted by Bruce Grant in his book.
96 choosing where they would go before moving off on their own with their careers
placed many people in service of the public needs of northern communities in the areas of health, library, and social work. Some people who were done with their assignments chose to leave, while others found it fulfilling to stay and become locals in the Arctic
Yamal.
I am Western Ukrainian by birth and came to the North on the assignment i after completing the college degree. Beautiful northern nature, slow life flow, kindness of people - it was attractive. I often traveled to the camps and tundra and after I got married and came here again with my wife, we t decided to put down roots (pustit' korni) here in the village. We came to [ Kharampur in 1985. It was a small village, probably about 15 old grey houses. There was forestry officer, retail person, health worker, and a library, in which I was employed, and a meteorological station. At first we had to do a lot of private agriculture activities - we would use greenhouse to plant potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers - everything is growing here. Even marshmellon we tried in that greenhouse, but it came out small. Igor Kis', Kharampur local, Private archive ofLarisa Aivasedo
By 1959, the village had 70 permanent households with a population of 350 people, of which the overwhelming majority were Nenets - a significant number of people settled in the village coming out of tundra and nomad life. Nomadic population settlement attempts were followed by enlargement policies, where smaller so-called less perspective
(besperspektivnye) villages with kolkhozes were coupled with the largest ones22.
Kharampur could not escape its fate and was directly hit by this policy.
22 Quite importantly this was the policy introduced across the country - one called 'the killer of the village' in many regions across the former USSR. Massive numbers of viable, but smaller sized villages, kolkhozes and sovkhozes were enlarged (ukrupneny), thus providing a greater degree of control and state investment by the Soviet government, while significantly increasing out-migration and reducing the local livelihood with daily economic activities and options of millions of regular people across the entire country.
97 Figure 8. Old house with erected chum nearby. Kharampur, 2008. Photo by author.
In October 1961, the Kharampur-based "kolkhoz named after Stalin" ended its official
story and was administratively acquired by the neighboring "Verkhne-Purovskiy kolkhoz", with all the major economic activities moving there. The impact of this was
economically devastating, and people started either moving away to a new place, or
started staying longer on, or completely returning to, the tundra. In the 1980s and 1990s
the overall picture worsened and the locals had almost disappeared from Kharampur:
At that time you could see the empty houses with broken windows in Kharampur (Igor Kis', Kharampur local, Courtesy of private archive of Larisa Aivasedo).
1 It was 80s, 90s when I was going to school, and we would always pass through Kharampur on our way from Khalyasavey. The life here was really declining. Only old grey houses were left and they already were empty. Many people had left village for tundra and nobody was there - probably 2- 3 families? We would come here on transit, look at it and would go further. (Larisa Aivasedo, Kharampur local).
The new epoch in Kharampur history, similar to many other places across the country,
started during the 1990s, when the Purovsky District reorganized the program to
98 revitalize the nationality settlements, and started paying more attention to the inhabitants of the tundra. It was the time when the first economic activity was started based on the new laws on clan territories and common pool lands, under the Law for Protecting the
Rights of Numerically Small Northern Indigenous People. Economic activities and new market laws gave birth to the first nationality obschina "Verkunat" that initiated a local fish processing mini-plant.
And finally, it was during the very end of the 1990s and the beginning of the new century when the active agreement-making with the locally working oil companies became routine. This was the time when the model of interaction between industry, communities and their lobbying groups, and the government had finally been developed and started effectively working. Since 2001, Kharampur has seen construction of a newly equipped spacious brick school, several streets of log and brick houses for those wanting to stay in the village, and the creation of full infrastructure from plumbing and heating to a grocery store, a bread-making mini-plant, and a fish processing plant.
The foundation of the contemporary Kharampur economy is traditional hunting, fishing and trade. Almost all community members are also shareholders and staff members of the Open Joint Stock Company "Agricultural Community Kharampurovskaya", which was initially a natsional 'naia obschina. The main problem with purely obschina status in legal terms was the fact that by law, nationality obschina could only produce what it can consume, thus leaving it outside of the economic activities concerning trade with the end- products they were making. This awkward situation was turned around by the decision to transform the form of ownership from obschinas to open joint stock companies. By doing
99 so, municipal administration took formal control of the operations of the legal entity on the one hand (keeping about 60% of the stock in their hands), but on the other hand, created the situation in which investment started coming to the enterprises and fishermen were able to trade the end result of their activities to the buyers outside the community.
Figure 9. Taking fish out of the sadok. Ivan Velio brigade, 2008. Photo from author's documentary film.
The main activities of Kharampurovskaya include fishing, hunting, as well as wild berry
and mushroom picking and processing. However fancy and modern it sounds, in fact,
many if not a majority of Yamal native people still prefer being nomads—either
seasonally or year-round. They live in traditional households - chums. For Purovsky
District Nenets, it is not just a beautiful element of summertime camping, festivals or
100 cultural events. Many families continue to migrate to the tundra and forests throughout their clan's territories and prefer living in chums, although many have a house or apartment with central heating, plumbing and hot water in Kharampur as an alternative.
Brigades usually consist of relatives fishing on their own ancestral lands and working in tundra camps (stoybische).
We live out in the forest, in tundra, and catch fish. In the winter and in the summer -year round you can say. We only go to Kharampur when we need something from the store, buy some flour (Kharampurovskaya fisherman, Ivan Velio brigade, fieldnotes Osipov 2008).
Ivan Velio's family lives in the camp that is also a home for two other families. The main activity is fishing and working in the Kharampurovskaya obschina (the joint stock company). When talking to people it is obvious that those legal and organizational terms with which the formal 'enterprise' works on do not bother people at all. The main thing for them is that there is work to be done —the work is completely traditional, year-round
—and there is a demand for the end-products, and at the end of the day they have good wages based on the fish they bring to the market. The brigade catches fish and when the catch is big enough for putting into refrigerators the fish are transported to the trading post.
101 Activities go year-round with some inter-seasonal weather interruptions and time of kaslanie, when Nenets change camps and migrate with the reindeer from the summer to winter camp. While fathers and brothers are hard working, women and children are responsible for demanding household and camp maintenance. In Soviet times, the camp dwellers were also paid wages for the work they performed to prepare meals and assist the men in their activities. Now the pay goes towards the end result and returned to the trading post - the market economy impact.
The trading post "Kar-nat" is located just a few kilometers down the river from
Kharampur and from the brigade camp. Saying a few kilometers, does not mean it's a five minute ride. The river keeps curving while you are watching the sky and the deep
102 waters with rare eagles flying high above. It takes probably closer to an hour to travel by water to reach the shore that is home to the trading post. When the large catch is transported, Ivan usually calls in the obschina director, and he comes on a big refrigerator truck to the closest shore where there is access to the concrete plates of the small
Northern road nearby. Smaller catches are transported on motorboats directly to the trading post lift—a large steel square deck that moves along the two railroad tracks, taking the sacks up to the 30 meter high shore edge.
I —— ^--V.:V
Figure II. Sergey Bystrov. CEO JSC Obschina Kharampurovskaya. Karnat trading post, 2008. Photo from author's documentary film.
The trading post also has an interesting story to tell. Prior to the 1990s there was nothing
in that place. The post was created by the Oil Company, building it from scratch. There
was a small fish processing point, refrigerators, a store, and a hotel for fishermen coming
to turn in their catches. Kar-nat started from a small trading post in 1998 with two small
103 buildings and two small refrigerators for the purposes of collecting some fish from the local population. The main idea was to increase the volume offish production from the territory where local people lived. Given the turbulent times, there was a significant period, when nothing was going on.
When the company was leaving in the 1990s, it decided to make a gift of the post to the
Kharampur settlement. Since then the trading post has served as a base for the
Kharampurovskaya obschina trade with the brigade camps. Nenets deliver their catch anytime during the day or night. Fresh fish are processed and put into the large refrigerators to freeze. The previous two small refrigerators were two tons each; they now have 12-13 ton capacities and the quick freeze camera, which is a source of pride for the whole community.
According to Sergey Bystrov, CEO of "Kharampurovskaya", through the agreements with neighboring companies, the enterprise is provided with funding for equipment, such as new boat motors and nets necessary throughout the season. You would not think of
Sergey as a real CEO (although by title he is indeed a chief executive officer). With reserved, calm movements, dressed in working clothes this young man seems like a regular fisherman or hunter, rather than a manager. As he says "it was the demand of time, not my will, somebody had to do this" to become a director for the
Kharampurovskaya obschina enterprise. And once you see him in Salekhard or Tarko-
Sale at the round table with an oil or gas company, you can tell he is not made for suits, but for outdoor life.
104 Trading post is located in a unique and convenient place. We are right in the middle of all roads from camps around us. In the summer the entry to the post is easy - people come any time during day and night. In the fall we have low waters here and in the spring the ice is first gone also right here, at , the river turn. We have an elevator to lift the fish from the river level right to ' the refrigerators. So, you don't have to carry heavy sacks. The lion share of the products is sold to the Purovsky fishing factory i which is located in district centre Tarko-Sale - primarily to cover demand i within Purovsky district. And the remaining products we sell to the external buyers from large Siberian cities - Omsk or Tyumen'. Now people started I working really well, there is a motivation, good salaries for regular 1 fishermen and every year we significantly raise volumes and so the trading post is expanding its facilities and services. Fish is delivered by Nenets and we have about 8 camps of different I size that bring their catch here. The nearest is about 20 kilometers away and the most distant one is about 100 kilometers by the river. The nearest is Medvezhka and the remote one is Khadutey, another small post and just off I Khadutey there is Kazymkin camp. This is the distant one They not only give us money. They also are very good neighbors. Upon our request they give us vehicles, people. For example, they can help , with transporting. Today they will give us a crane and other heavy equipment. We have some equipment for fish processing which broke and they are sending us mechanics, who will help us with rectifications and welding. Sergey, CEO of JSC "Kharampurovskaya", fieldnotes Osipov 2008.
People come to Karnat everyday during the fishing season. Sitting on the shore and speaking with Sergey we heard the noise of the motorboat. This was my first opportunity to observe the work of the elevator—a handy instrument helping to save a lot of time and effort by bringing up the heavy sacks offish. Nenets from the nearby camp came to turn sacks full offish in. A trading officer makes sure they loaded everything, just like he does 24 hours a day during the summer season, when fishing is done with nets and the catch may be really large.
In 60-70 kilometers from Tarko-Sale there is lake Kholeto, in which, according to the locals, there is so much fish, that no fence will be able to ' keep it in. When you lay down to sleep near that lake, the fish makes the
105 I sound of stormy sea, which prevents you from sleeping. (Brekhuntsov and j Bitygov 2007)
I heard the same stories told to me by the Nenets and Russian locals in Kharampur, referring to the lakes in which you do not have to catch fish, but just to put the fishing rod in. Contemporary market conditions do not yet allow the JSC "Kharampurovskaya" to be a fully profitable enterprise. Their products do not bring a lot of revenue and profit; this is why state subsidies and assistance from neighboring companies play a significant role. The local view is centered on the understanding that economic viability of the agricultural activities at large and especially in the northern communities have always been questionable. People on the tundra say 'we do not make money; we produce products for eating and living'. Since Soviet times, demand for products from the North was highly regulated.
Except for furs, which peak time has already passed, other goods the tundra can produce such as meat, fish, and craft products, were not profitable. Brekhunov and Bityugov
(2007) note that during the 1940s and 1950s the fishing and other local agricultural activities were not profitable, and many of the locals had a difficult time relying on wage work, which motivated people to keep privately owned reindeer and remain on the tundra. It also reflected the general idea of the Bolshevik economy with its widely known cinical proverb 'it does not mean we should not have poor people, we just have to make sure we do not have rich people'.
The current situation is certainly different; however, there is a general understanding shared among the locals and their activists, as well as government and corporations, that
106 Nenets and other northern native people, in their vast majority, are not yet ready to run their own rational, profit-making businesses. The main reason is due to the cultural environment that for centuries told Nenets to take only what was needed for their livelihooda (Maria Klimova, personal interview, 2007).
Agreement-making Model in Purovsky
The first end-to-end analysis of the workflow, end product model, and multiple actors in and of the agreement making, were undertaken by. Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh (2008), who generalized the relationship model that came to existence in Cape York, Australia. He followed the decision-making process from beginning to the end, in the context of
Australian institutional framework and collective actions available to local residents.
O'Faircheallaigh argues that, in the absence of agreements between the industry and communities, public participation may become a hostage of i) a company's good will, ii) willingness of the government to either become an arbiter (ideal situation) or support one of the sides - usually industry (worst situation), and iii) capabilities of the community to generate enough leadership and resources for protest and other activities aimed at building alliances on the public front to force companies into dialog, or go to the courts.
All of these processes are entirely in the political sphere, and very few are in the judicial or contractual sphere of the continuum.
107 PROCESS FLOW NO AGREEMENT (NATIVE/LOCAL GROUP - COMPANY)
JUDICIAL CONTRACTUAL POLITICAL (Wider relationship with the state - service provision, land claims, etc )
•LITIGATE, OBJECT, ETC- LOBBY/POLITICAL PRESSURE
_g •#_
ABORIGINAL^ „ „ f MEnIA 1 -INPUT TO DECISIONS ( COURTS.-', ElAs. j' Legislator! regulations
SPECIFIC CONDITIONS /ENVIRONMENTAL\ /Cc.^cMioMeN FOR DEVELOPMENT I GROUPS - )*+(TRADEUNIONS^
RESOURCE,"', DNGOING REGULATION-
Figure 12. Agreement process flow with no contract in place'23
He further concludes that agreements in place benefit both parties in the way that political clout is replaced by the negotiations and agreement terms which are being enforced by and committed to by the law. The involvement of the state in the role of intermediary is the most important and sometimes the key element in compromise- making. The legal framework is certainly important; however, political willingness and motivated participation of these three main parties triangle, community-industry- government, becomes a basis for successful co-existence.
Drawn by author using data and process flow pictures from: O'Faircheallaigh 2008.
108 PROCESS FLOW WITH AGREEMENT (NATIVE/LOCAL GROUP - COMPANY)
JUDICIAL CONTRACTUAL POLITICAL (Wider relationship with the state - service provision, land claims, etc ) . _ ..- — _ LITIGATE OBJECT CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT «p» mm I ! I LOBBY POLITICAL PRESSURE MEDIA j w "1 ( • 1 » J i Jm/omuai/ MINING, Jf ABORIGINAL \ -INPUT TO DECISIONS-H G0VERiMEM COMPANY I GROUP / rf» COURTSj — — f^/ENVIRONMENTAtN EIAS*«i I GROUPS,** J Legislat|or| regulations \ ( TRADE UNIONS .j SPECIFIC CONDITIONSFOR DEVELOPMENT
-ONGOING REGULATIONS. MINERAL EXTRACTION
Figure 13. Agreement process flow with a contract in place
Realistically, in the circumstances of agreements in place, there are several means that become available to local/indigenous groups in addition to the previous model. Namely, the agreement legally binds the company to provide or negotiate with the locals in case any changes to the initially agreed resource [project scope, or if new fields, or lands are needed in the process of the project lifecycle. The shift to the contractual sphere enhances the very ability to litigate and pressure resource companies politically.
At the same time, companies also have a clear vision of their involvement and are able to benefit from having a clearer understanding of the environment on the ground. The
government, in its turn, does not have to deal with unplanned actions of social unrest and
is able to guide the talks and issues in a settled manner having a legal contract as
framework for further arrangements over conflicting issues, if those rise between the
1 Drawn by author using data and process flow pictures from: O'Faircheallaigh 2008
109 parties. Therefore, at the principal level, the situation with an agreement is much more beneficial than a situation without it - for all parties involved.
Taking such an agreement-making model as a starting point, I may, therefore, similarly explicate decision-making and agreement-making processes that have taken shape over the last several years in Yamal, and more precisely, in the Purovsky District. What I have found provides clear support to the key argument of O'Faircheallaigh in the Russian context - which is the intermediary role of the state government - and adds a number of important revisions to the institutional framework of the process.
AGREEMENT PROCESS FLOW IN YAMAL (NATIVE/LOCAL GROUP - COMPANY)
POLITICAL JUDICIAL CONTRACTUAL (Wider relationship with the state - service provision, land claims, etc.)
-REPRESENT LOBBY REGULATIONS OBJECT CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT— — — * ! LOBBY/POLITICAL PRESSURE I i I v • V FEDERAL i '•> j_ /REGULAR MEDIA/S COURTS. INPUT J YAMAL / RESOURCE T NNATIV E NGO - TO ., "r^i GREEN GROUPS, J YAMAt& ! s EIA DECISIONS *l GOVERNMENT! COMPANY I (YTD) : I V ETC, .• PARLIAMENTS <*LAND USER' GROUP! GROUP N ' p. ( NATIVE MEDIA \
SPECIFIC CONDITIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT
ONGOING FEDERAL REGULATIONS ONGOING REGIONAL REGULATIONS
AGREEMENT
RESOURCE EXTRACTION
Figure 14. Agreement-making process flow in Yamal (Regional level). Drawn by author based on own fieldwork data.
One of the key differences is contributed by the role that is played by the Native NGO
"Yamal-to-Descendants". Its contribution and authority is prominent at both the regional
110 level - in the Yamal capital, Salekhard - and at the municipal level, where strong branches of YD exist across Yamal. One of the most active branches is also in place in
Purovsky. Therefore, it creates a unique situation, where not a single community or clan is lobbying the interests of individuals it is comprised of, but of a larger organization that monitors all incoming requests and concerns through its on-the-ground branches, and addresses these requests with both industry and government leadership for resolution.
An institutional-level difference is also significant. Although the instrument of independent environmental assessment (IEA) is replaced in Yamal by the "project requirements" collected from the locals on the tundra for each major project, there is a much more influential decision-making toolkit available to Nenets and other indigenous peoples in the region. Through their strong representation and leadership in Yamal
Parliament and Yamal Government, Nenets have direct access to the legislature and often use it to lobby for laws that address their interests. Trough this kind of access, Nenets and other local people gain regional laws protecting the environment, the land, reindeer and traditional economic activities such as fishing and hunting.
At this point, Yamal has laws protecting virtually all aspects of nomadic cultural interests
- from water, land, environmental protection; to laws on reindeer herding and laws that are supportive of traditional economic activities. Access to Federal Parliament is ensured through elected representatives of the region sitting in both chambers of the federal
Parliament: State Duma and the Council of Federation. Land and subsurface rights; however, remain the properly of the state - like everywhere else in Russia.
Ill 1 [YTD] is consolidating the opinion of people living in a particular district or local territory - the native people. And what they are trying to do is to make , sure this opinion is heard at the highest possible level - it is a non- \ governmental organization... They have an office in Moscow, they have ; direct route to Federal Parliament, there is Sergey Kharyuchi, so there are ' certain tools this organization can use. They indeed play an important role in i the agreements signed in Yamal with respect to the native people's interests. I Last year, there was a regular Agreement and there was a specific I Agreement which was signed with YTD, so that there are funds which were allocated specifically in order to support native people...It is more about being flexible of working with variety of parties - they can address things , with Committee of Federal Parliament, or they can work with municipal 1 head - it does not really matter. I would say they are pushing forward and protecting the interests of the local people quite objectively and actively, consolidating their opinion. Yamal Government Representative, personal interview.
The agreement model itself works on three levels: regional, municipal, and local. The most important is the regional level - the Governor's office. I deliberately take out the federal/national level, because the subsoil licenses are granted at auctions in Moscow and serve as a basis for negotiations between the Yamal Governor's office and the company
HQ (Oil Company analyst, personal communication, Osipov field notes 2006). In other words, there is no room for negotiation, agreement, or decision-making over the license terms that define very generally what the proposed territory can be, and how many hydrocarbons are anticipated to be developed and within which time period. However, many things within the licensed territory can be modified based on 'on-the-ground conditions', including negotiations and public hearings with the communities and nomadic families impacted.
At the very first step, the Yamal capital, Salekhard, ensures that the company which wants to be working in the region has all the necessary documents, licenses, and project
112 conditions. Then specific requirements and feedback from the local communities, including native communities being impacted are sought. The overall process is managed by the Department for Numerically Small Peoples of the North, incorporated as a fully fledged part of the Yamal Regional Government and led by a prominent Native politician, Lydia Velio. These requirements are then incorporated into a major
Agreement between the Yamal and the Company. Requirements are collected with direct involvement of the NGO "Yamal-to-Descendants" that seeks on-the-ground comments and feedback from individuals, families, and reindeer herding communities (Fieldnotes,
Osipov 2007-2008).
After the conditions have been collected and approved, the deal-making takes place between the representatives of the Yamal and the Company, which both form a special commission, sometimes travelling back and forth between Salekhard and Moscow
(where the company headquarters are). Such a commission has guaranteed representation from YTD. After arranging the strategic conditions, the deal is submitted for final comments to all responsible departments within the Yamal government, including the
Native Affairs Department. Negotiations then take place on the basis of the commission.
After the strategic agreement is achieved, including the budget items, the deal then needs the Governor's signature. The actual decision, based on the conditions, already approved
'at large', is made between the two - the Governor and the CEO of the company willing to enter the region (President of YTD, personal communication 2007). In the words of a
Yamal administration representative: 'both sides have to be ready to the deal. I would not
113 say it is the only reason for Agreements, but one which is quite important' (Yamal
Government Representative, personal interview, 2008).
Once a 'political' deal has been concluded, it is transferred to the 'practical' level - the municipal district. Districts in Yamal - such as Purovsky and others, then negotiate a direct arrangement with the local branch of that company operating in their District. This is when a NGO becomes, figuratively speaking, a 'show stopper' party to the agreement.
Administration of the Purovsky District has a special commission which is 1 responsible for management of lands provided for oil and gas development. ! And I have to say that none of the companies working here, even if ' everyone else signed the approval, but the YTD signature is absent, they stop the process. Why? Because we go and ask local population and review their opinions. This is one of the main tasks for the members of the YTD , board. We travel to the settlements and tundra camps and ask people. If , people agree, they would have their conditions for agreeing. If they disagree, i the process has to stop and deal has to be nurtured, so everyone is ready.... We had a recent example. Vankorneft', which builds a pipeline, the local people refused. However, after some time, they were able to find a mutually acceptable deal, so I think the work will start again. Now it is a communication phase. So we communicate with the management, which has just been changed, of Vankorneft' Maria Klimova, NGO YTD Purovsky Branch Leader, personal interview.
"Yamal-to-Descendants" is approached from four sides: i) Regional government at the political level negotiations - to ensure the proper representation of the crucial Northern political stakeholders; ii) the company, which is highly recommended to approach the
Native NGO as a key stakeholder and the main local political actor on the ground; iii) local communities that will be impacted or are nearby the prospected licensed areas, and; iv) the municipal government that represents the local population as a whole and also propels the use of agreement-making via utilization of a NGO as one of the main tools in
114 the process of achieving solutions to social and economic agenda issues by wisely
'making to partner' the key public and key economic parties.
AGREEMENT PROCESS FLOW IN PUROVSKY DISTRICT (MUNICIPALITY - NATIVE/LOCAL GROUP - COMPANY)
MUNICIPAL "** GOVERNMEN}T REQUEST FOR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
REQUEST NGO (YTD)jf\ - FOR PUBLIC - PUROVSKY -1 INVOLVEMENT C BRANCH* J * • NATIVE7LQCAL\ OIL/GAS J\j COMMUNITY, I COMPANYjfJ*~ C LAND USER / 1 *•< |- SPECIFIC CONDITIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT - ,* 4 [AGREEMENT 1
RESOURCE l - EXTRACTION ~- *.
Figure 15. Agreement-making process flow in Purovsky District (District level) Drawn by author based on own fieldwork data.
Provided the principal agreement is in place, it is, nevertheless crucially important to build the right bridges on the ground. All four major stakeholders understand the importance in building partnerships and have their own interests in the process. The very essence of the agreement-making process has been captured by the Head of the Purovsky
District:
The main constituent of our interaction is human factor. It is very effective. A company comes to me and I usually send them to Maria (Leader of NGO YTD Purovsky Branch). They have all their time to negotiate and come to an agreement. Once they've reached a mutually acceptable deal, they come to me. At this point, we all sign an agreement, in which interests of the local
115 and native people have been identified and addressed. And this is an approach which does not raise any further questions, really. Dmitry Kobylkin, Purovsky District Head, personal interview, 2008.
Compensations and benefits are negotiated at the municipal level. What is more interesting is that companies are not obliged to provide any extras since there is no legal requirement for it. Business pays enormous taxes already, and has an Agreement with
Yamal at the regional level. The total number of companies in Purovsky is several dozen and annual aggregated figures for investment into local communities under these agreements equal dozens of millions of dollars annually, to say the least.
There are two forms of agreements negotiated and signed at the municipal level. One type is the most common; this is when four parties are on equal sides of the agreement:
1. NGO "Yamal-to-Descendants",
2. Local community or, in legal terms, the Land User (for example, JSC "Obschina
Kharampurovskaya"),
3. The Company; and
4. The Purovsky District Municipality.
Less common, but also practiced is the three-sided agreements, where YTD acts on behalf of a particular community, group or local people representative.
In his analysis of the environmental provisions of the 'negotiated agreements',
O'Faircheallaigh correctly notes that the reason why many of the agreement making processes and contents stay largely unexamined is not only their recent and, figuratively speaking, 'newly-born' nature, but rather 'the common practice of including
116 confidentiality provisions that prevent parties to agreements from divulging their contents'(2005: 631).
The difference that one finds between the agreement-making processes and their perceptions by the parties involved in the Western business environment and in Russia, rests on the mutual understanding of 'northern relationships'. In other words, it is the
"spirit of the law", or more precisely the larger feeling for "respect, appreciation of the local people" or "fair conduct, fair deal", which is important, rather than formal reliance on multipage documents and specific paragraphs within them, constituting the nature of the "letter of the law" approach (Osipov, interviews and fieldnotes, 2007-2008).
When the project impacts specific places they look into other options. If there is a cemetery, for example, each family has those places on the land, which is passed on from generation to generation, and each youngster is taught to respect them. And if there is a road or anything else planned, local people would say 'no, this place should not be touched' and companies respect that. Nothing is done there. Sergey Aivasedo, personal interview 2008.
I do not know who thinks what, but I think there is compromise now, in place. Our opinion is considered seriously. So, if the dwellers of Medvezhka camp identified some spot on the map, which is untouchable, there will be no work done there. And I mean it. Larisa Aivasedo, local of Kharampur,personal interview 2008.
1 You have the locals and municipality propose their needs and they naturally ( start asking for something in return for the project. And this is how Agreement procedure starts its way. We say, okay, this is how much we provide to address your needs to address your economical compensations and the assistance programs. So if they do not like something - this is time to mitigate project impacts. Public hearings and serious things, so you will have locals asking serious smart questions, pushing to the business being responsible for the community. They are taken into the account. We put them all into the recommendation list, and the municipal administration moves in while locals (indigenous) are monitoring that their recommendations are accounted for. Oleg, Oil Company, personal interview 2008.
117 Administration is actually regulating these agreements and their content, a very normal role. In addition to the Agreements we also take responsibility 1 to build, for example, year-round roads. We do many things beyond Agreements because we feel it is important to be part of the community. It is | much wider than just signing and fulfilling the conditions of signed J Agreement. | Tatyana, Gas Company, personal interview 2008.
Environmental protection details as specific provisions often lack in the Agreement texts, many of which are quite short in volume and constitute the commitment taking, rather than detailed description of the potential routes for action. A sense-making process is a continuous flow supported by the state and enforced by the proactive position that local communities and the YTD take to monitor and control the projects and their operations in the future.
This practice certainly has both benefits and shortcomings. Obviously it would be quite reasonable and safer to have all the commitments outlined in the agreement. However, it
should be well understood that the reach and breadth of the legal system in Yamal and the legacy of Russia Empire and Soviet-time approaches were not to marginalize but to
'enhance' and 'develop' the northern nations, while maintaining their traditional
economic activities, is a unique facet that does not have any direct and long-standing parallels in other countries.
It is not surprising that the change which is brought about by the companies is mitigated by the sense-making process utilizing several key messages. The most important message
comes from the 'state interest' and makes sense based on patriotic rhetoric and feeling
118 that has been an important part of the Russian, Soviet, and now democratic education systems. Tundroviki (local name for tundra dwellers) have been continuously called by their peers 'one of the biggest patriots of their country' (Ezyngi interview and personal communication, 2007; Evay interview 2008; Aivasedo, personal communication, 2008), as they give up their lands for the societal good, with clear understanding that Russia needs resources. This rhetoric is "talked into existence" by the very actors of this change.
What is also important, is that Nenets clearly understand and make use of the positive sides of the engagement with the resource industry, where "everyone understands that incoming oil and gas companies does not mean problems, but also significant improvement in social and economic situation" (Peskov 2001). One of the success factors allowing Nenets in YANAO to effectively explore the venue of agreement- making is high social mobility, which many Nenets leaders enjoy. For example, Maria
Klimova, like many other municipal- and regional-level Nenets politicians serves multiple roles from Advisor to State Parliament Senator, to Assistant to the Purovsky
District Head. This unique situation is a typical social mobility feature, found throughout
Yamal decision-making circles from the Native side. There are more forms of interaction and co-existence, as well as peculiar forms of partnership, that have been developed over the years in the Purovsky District. These I would like to further explore in their local context in the next sections.
119 Chapter V. Peculiarities of Agreement-making and Self- Governance in the Local Context
Political Peculiarities
Political and legal peculiarities of the Purovsky District decision-making environment are determined, to a large extent, by the situation that has been created during the last 70 years - from the time when the Soviet regime introduced somewhat artificial nationality- based self-government policies. Historically, this tendency has been visible since the time of the Vernadsky Statute of 1825, and even in earlier documents (Statute 1822,
Kryazhkov 1999), indicating the semi-independent status of the nomadic peoples in the vast territories of Siberia in general, and in Yamal in particular (Slezkine 1994).
The Yamal Charter - the document that establishes the fundamental legal rules and
conditions at the regional level and distinguishes Yamal as an entity - lists all indigenous people traditionally living on the territories (including those covered by the Purovsky
District). As early as the 1930s Nenets and other indigenous people were given either unspoken, but very often legal rights to be elected as municipal heads and chiefs of local
councils (or Soviets in Soviet legal practice) of the people deputies - analogs of parliaments in the USSR. Later, starting from the early 1990s, with the changing nature
of environmental law and the electoral system, special nationality-oriented mandates
were set to specifically represent local indigenous people at the municipal level, as well
as regional level parliaments, and executive branches of state administration in Yamal.
120 Yamru (1999) lists the privileges of the Nenets in Yamal, noting three delegated mandates for the ballot that can only be claimed by a representative of one of the local nations - Nenets, Selkup or Khanty. As a result, Purovsky Nenets, as well as other districts, now have at least three generations of politicians who actively participated in state affairs since before WWII. It creates a unique situation, where lobby or NGO groups targeting native interests have links to all levels of power, represented by their local kin. At the federal level there are fewer opportunities for nationality-based representation; however, it could be well argued that once political and legal activities reach a certain threshold there is potential for more federal representation of active politicians from the North, allied on common 'northern' problems, superseding their ethnic backgrounds.
It would be difficult to create such an atmosphere if we did not have our regional law system as well as principal/general agreements between the Governor of the region with all the companies, Russian oil and gas companies, which are working in the territory of the YANAO. So, this is the first constituent. It is first of all legal system, laws that were passed at the regional level and at the municipal level. And it is very good that for example Novatek has internal policy which defines and details principles of , interaction with the local indigenous peoples of the North. It is important. Another significant constituent is the level of independent authority of the municipal level government in forming the dialog between the companies and the native people is public hearing, which are conducted by the municipal governments. So, in order to come to an agreement, to find } compromise in these most complicated questions, these public hearings are ' conducted, and companies, like Novatek, are actively using these forms of dialog 1 Lidiya Velio, Vice-Governor, Osipov field notes.
There are several other measures that have their direct legacy in the Soviet nationality- focused ways of creating state endorsed governance accounting for local kadry. The
YANAO Statute since the 1990s directly states: Chair or one of the Deputy Chairs of the
121 YANAO Parliament has to be elected from the persons of indigenous descent", and where one of articles states that the Governor's Deputy has to be representative of the indigenous population of the Okrug" (Yamru 1999).
The impact of these developments and legacies on legal and political life for all four parties of decision-making process cannot be underestimated. The double-edged sword of politics provides enormous opportunities to influence the overall flow of the dealings and approach to the relations with Nenets and other local groups, while the very presence of their leaders in the center of law-making and decision-making environments makes them vulnerable to the overall agendas that exists in the northern strategic regions, preventing these people from having much of an outspoken attitude. At the same time,
Yamal enjoys these norms being implemented in their very essence - Chair of Yamal
Parliament is Sergey Kharyuchi and First Vice-Governor is Lidiya Velio - both representatives of the local native people.
The history of solid political representation is coming from early Soviet times, when the first representative assemblies (Soviets) were formed. For example, in Purovsky Soviet consisting of 25 delegates, or members of the local Soviet analogue of parliament, 12 were Nenets tundroviki, 12 were Russians and 1 Komi-Zyryanin (Brekhuntsov and
Bityukov 2007: 79-80). Close attention to the education of the local population by USSR in 1930-1990 has given rise to native elites who now manage Yamal both at the regional level, as well as at municipal and local levels, sometimes even representing the Region at the federal level (a number of Nenets activists have been elected to the Federal
Parliament of the Russian Federation, have served and continue to serve there). These
122 opportunities have provided the native population with a significant capacity to exercise their interests, as well as to lobby and protect their lands and people's culture at all levels
of both executive and legislative branches of power. A majority of local municipalities
also have very strong representation, or are led by the Nenets in YANAO.
The legacy outlined in the preceding paragraphs, goes down to the municipal and local
levels, both legal and executive branches of administration have significant number of predominantly Nenets individuals who are actively involved in the decision-making process over local issues. One of my informants and hosts in Purovsky - Sergey
Aivasedo, was first a representative of YTD in dealings with the companies and the state.
His career has now taken him to the Purovsky Parliament. The same career, with more
executive flavour has also been developed by Maria Klimova, now serving her term as an
elected Head of the Municipality Village Kharampur. The 'enabling environment' for
Native politicians is well-understood, and sometimes even directly supported, by the
contemporary regional and municipal administration:
I want local leaders to become professional in politics and decision-making, this is why I completely support people like Maria [Klimova] to become ' municipal heads. These people have to lead the way, they are local, they > know their kin, and they know problems and solutions, which we can reach together. Dmitry Kobylkin, Head of Purovsky District, personal interview.
It would be wrong to paint a completely harmonious picture without mentioning conflict
among key stakeholders. Some researchers also note that legacies of the Soviet era
created somewhat irrational and quite disturbing inequalities among the local dwellers
(Yamru 2003). One of the immediate problems is the division between the tundra and
settlement peoples, clearly voiced in the legislation and a cause of major concern to the
123 Nenets.
The issue lies in the fact that the tundra population is fully covered by the Northern benefits and special legal regime established by the state to support the numerically small people of the North, under the major Law on Rights of Numerically Small Northern
Peoples of the Russian Federation. Examples of benefits may include: the right to freely fish and hunt on the territories of traditional livelihood; social grants and benefits; and alternative army service. However, those Nenets living in the settlements and cities lose some of the rights that, according to Yamru, create an artificial situation when members of the same family or clan are treated differently by the state.
Peculiar legacies remaining from Soviet times have found their way to survive in modern
Russia as well. At the same time, some of them have given a very logical and even harmonious way into the decision-making environment based on market conditions and capitalist/economic approaches to decision-making. Some of the key forms that successfully operate in the Purovsky District will be explored further in this chapter.
Shevtsvo
One of the most peculiar forms of partnership between the local people, industry and the government is shevstvo. The closest concept that may explain the very idea of shevstvo to a Western reader is corporate social responsibility (CSR) - a form of interaction between the business and society actively emergent in the last two decades across North America and Europe. There are; however, several critical differences that set shevstvo apart from
124 any other form of industrial engagement with local communities or society at large in the context of Yamal, and more precisely, in Tarko Sale and the Kharampur settlements of the Purovsky District. This account is not the first that mentions shevstvo (Humphrey
1989), or, in terms of Stammler and Wilson, 'patronage' (Stammler and Wilson 2006).
However, no one, to the best of my knowledge, has tried to understand the roots and implications of this important institutionalized form of public engagement in the context of northern industrial development frontier in Russia in the last ten years, marking the turning point from Soviet practices to the new Russian economic and social reality.
Typical understandings of patronage found in the Siberian anthropology literature have to do with a very simple and, at times, quite cynical forms of direct compensating; for the lands or disturbance caused by the oil and gas industry in Siberia. Most of the examples found in the literature cite the situation in the early 1990s when it really was not the time for best case scenarios across the entire country (Forbes 1995, 1999a, Novikova 1997,
Stammler and Gray 2002, Vitebsky 1990, Pika and Bogoiavlenski 1995). To summarize the argument, I would like to offer a passage from Wilson, who captured the essence of the issue:
"social investment" in local communities has fostered a culture of dependency on oil company patronage, which is in some way an extension of the relationship with the Soviet state, who used to support the local communities via the state-run enterprises, with additional social support for indigenous communities (e.g. transportation, provision of fishing equipment, boarding schools education for children). Much is expected from large, rich institutions with headquarters external to region, be they the Soviet Empire or a rich oil company. These local expectations have resulted historically and today in a loss of local initiative to solve problems independently. (Stammler and Wilson 2006: 18)
125 The question is - whether this situation is, in fact, that negative, and what are the root causes and impacts of it for present-day communities and their dealings with the main decision-making parties? How important is shevstvo to the state, the companies and locals, and how do they view this relationship in the past, now, and perhaps going forward? Is this really just a remnant - a carcass - left from Soviet times that will fade away, or there are forms of effective partnership building to create enabling environments for all parties involved?
In the West, the idea of corporate social responsibility has been known since the time
Henry Ford said his famous words about changing the nature of the contract between the society and the business. In fact, the former Soviet model of industrial enterprise clearly had an element of what is now known as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Stammler and Wilson capture and use Humphrey's explication of Soviet economy as a "total social institution" (Humphrey 1995: 7), where the major enterprise in the community is responsible for many aspects of social life (Stammler and Wilson 2006: 17).
Raising the flag of un-sustainability and dependency, this critique - quite correct in its applications to certain field situations found across the vast territories of the Russian
Arctic - overlooks, at the same time, a number of recent and past developments that have been successfully utilized by the communities to adapt and manage changes related to the presence of industry. The loaded term 'patronage' can be viewed, in this sense, from two divergent perspectives - one being purely from Soviet times, documented in the anthropological literature, and one that has emerged in the recent decade, based on the
126 Soviet legacy - and even more so, I would argue, on Northern relationships, however significantly different in content and context. I would like to explore the latter one in a bit more detail by providing an outline of the current situation with field examples and views from all key stakeholder parties, including Native views. The individual views may not (and should not) completely agree on what shevstvo is, however, the trend of a new emergent form of shevstvo, quite unique in its various implications for the North, is worth paying attention to.
Wilson and colleagues correctly note that much of the idea of shevstvo began during
Soviet times. The essence of shevstvo was both regionally-oriented, due to the complete lack of any infrastructure beyond industrial development, as well as socially-determined, being part of the social policy of the state towards the local (both native, and non-native) populations. Both industry and state officials agree on the extent to which it was presented historically:
At that time, each enterprise was given, or attached to, a certain podshefnoe , organization - school, kindergarten, other socially-oriented organization. So that enterprise had to support, fund, and maintain the podshefnoe organization. For example support sport activities, or in social terms i (sotsialka), then children-oriented or health-oriented organizations, then there were even agricultural entities - sovkhozes and kolkhozes, that could also become podshefnaia organization. i Oil Company Executive, personal interview. i , Shevstvo has several forms. We have shevstvo over some of the Naval fleet ships. Black Sea Fleet Naval ships. About the companies... I know they are taking sotsialjnuyu nagruzku (social duty). Almost all of them do take that. Urengoy, Nadym. Yes, it is all working, there are hospitals, schools, sport centers, et cetera... It is more of a burden from the Soviet time, the legacy. I But in fact, a lot of it is existing and doing quite well. Social infrastructure is very expensive. Alexey, Yamal Regional Administration, personal interview.
127 To clarify the situation, the same environment was created in many places across the
North including entire cities, with large city-forming (gradoobrazuyushchie) enterprises like Noril'sk with a giant nickel plant, or Magnitogorsk with iron and steel factories in
Russia, and Gubkinskiy or Nadym - the latter often called 'Gazprom-city' in Yamal.
The new era of market economy has thrown many of the prior social developments of the state strategy of mastering the North at the mercy of the new owners. Privatized enterprises became commercial institutions that had quite different agendas. At the same time, the largest assets remained under state control, thus providing the opportunity for slow transfer and re-usage of the practices.
.. .at the end - with introduction of the market economy - it [shevstvo dynamics - I.O.] resulted in just directly putting these externally supported (dotatsionnye) socio-cultural institutions (ob 'ekty sotskul 't byta) to the budgets of the companies. As a result, these social entities became the actual internal assets of the companies. Oil Company Executive, personal interview.
Some of the newly-formed private enterprises in Yamal have a different perspective, based on their tabula rasa, 'no legacy' attitude to the environment in which they have operated since the mid-1990s. In this respect, the idea of shevstvo was reintroduced to them under a different umbrella and started changing quite significantly.
Shevtsvo - the word isn't correct. It is incorrect idea, and the word is too simple. Neighborhood - yes, cooperation - yes, shevstvo - this is someone 1 strong taking care of a weaker. I do not see anything weak in Nenets, in local indigenous people. Because, you can see, they have been here, and as 1 they say to us - you have come here. I don't necessarily agree with the I "coming here idea" because there are already generations, there are sons and grandsons, who were born and raised here, and this is also our land. But in
128 I general, if we speak of the firstcomers generation, I do not think I know ! much about this word. I Tatyana, Gas Company, personal interview.
In the last decade the idea of shevstvo in the Purovsky District of Yamal has transformed in a number of ways. First of all, it became a completely voluntary enterprise. No one is actually obliged by either law or local regulations to engage in s/zevs/vo/patronage. Some companies avoid this kind of engagement on purpose due to all the taxes they pay and regional and municipal agreements they service, where multitudes of obligations are already taken care of. Generally, I recall discussions about the avoidance with regard to small companies that had just started their operations in Purovsky District (Osipov, fieldnotes 2008). Larger companies see shevstvo as an important driver for building good relationships with the communities, local nomadic families, as well as the municipalities.
It is absolutely cooperation-driven topic, the actual moment of relationship building between the business and society, in our case. Enterprise is taking extra duty to support this or that social entity in the form of podshefnaia assistance. This is completely good-will based (dobrovol'no). The motif behind it is to help, bring some value to the community. Part of it is endowments or charity (blagotvoriteljnost'), we provide financial assistance. But it is well-monitored, we make sure this is all task-oriented investment (tselevaya programma). So, we do not give money to anyone for the sake of giving it. Municipality and YTD than report at the end of the year to us so we could see where the funds went. Oil Company Executive, personal interview.
Second, a clear differentiation between the private and state-owned companies is visible in the entire approach to the shevstvo and its content. Large state-controlled enterprises have been willingly, and in some ways habitually, providing rich support since 2000; this support covers virtually all spheres of community life - from plumbing and school construction to roads, motor boats, nets, et cetera. The private companies, on the contrary, lead the way in addressing economical ways communities may address their
129 traditional activities, like the market economy, jobs, processing, and capacity-building all together. Both approaches complement each other in a great many ways.
Third, the shift from simple shevstvo on social infrastructure has significantly diverted to the economically sound projects, once infrastructure-driven projects were completed over the last decade. The District Administration is taking an active part in mediating the
industry and communities, while addressing larger needs of the region as well. Decision making on the governmental end is simplified by the District Head, Dmitry Kobylkin in the following way:
| We support native people and communities in their negotiations with the I companies. To take shevstvo as an example -1 strongly believe that it is a , most efficient method than simple money-giving, benefits-giving to only j those families that live on the industry licensed territories. It is a way to idle time and alcoholism. You do not have to work - money are coming in anyway. Dmitry Kobylkin, Head of Purovsky District, personal interview.
Dmitry Kobylkin's point is widely discussed among the local people and YTD
leadership. Many times in the past, the companies—especially private—tended to provide direct address-based individual assistance to particular families in a variety of
forms. Natalya Novikova (1996) explored this topic relative to the neighboring Khanty-
Mansi Region. The implication of individual assistance often resulted in cases of unfair
resource distribution, when immediately adjacent communities or families received
resources, while families and communities next to these ones were also impacted, but
were either excluded (Mark Nuttall, Alaska Pipeline Case, personal communication,
September 2007) or given second-tier attention by the industry (Beliawski 2003).
130 The views of the state officials and the local communities come together on this issue. In fact, Maria Klimova and other Nenets stressed a number of times that they do not need fish, but the fishing rod. The contemporary shevstvo approach gives this opportunity by addressing the issues that are important for the entire District Native population, settlements, and families. Therefore, the companies are indeed brought in to solve those issues on a much larger scale rather than providing gifts and New Year greetings or paying occasional courtesy visits to the tundra camps.
1 We selected and walk the path of shevstvo - building infrastructure, 1 'making fishing rods', not just giving fish. District is divided into 4 parts: North, South, West, and East and, depending on where the main fields are for oil or gas company, we ask the company to take shevstvo, or assign them I to be shefs, for this or that national settlement (natsional'nyiposelok), or assist obschinas in their working and resource base. Dmitry Kobylkin, Head of Purovsky District, personal interview.
Certainly it is good will, the reason behind particular attachments is the place where we operate, or our projects are located. We have a number of license fields there around Kharampur, that's why attachment is to Kharampur. Why would you need to attach Gazprom to this place or give them shevstvo, when it is our license territory? Territorially it is close. For example, we are taking the new oilrig somewhere, and we look at the neighboring settlements. So the attachment is very natural - setting up the production and development as well as neighboring relationship-building through the shevstvo practices. Oil Company Executive, personal interview.
i As I said today, we invest in the projects, in the initiatives that create, or ' reinforce the environment in which traditional economic activities will continue flourishing. And secondly, thinking of the development, I think that the companies should develop and likewise, the business of the native people should also develop. Create some sort of antagonism is not in our interests. CEO ofGaz Company, personal interview.
131 On the one hand, the shevstvo style that is currently in place in Purovsky is voluntary for incoming industries, yet it is strongly expected by both local authorities and local communities, that serious business coming to Purovskaya tundra be willing and able to share and participate as full-fledged partners in the life of the society. To look at shevstvo from the eyes of corporate social responsibility provides a stunning parallel, where the whole engagement between the society and business, as well as the state as an important mediator serves "as a vehicle for re-gaining public trust and confidence in the wake of public reaction to corporate irresponsibility" of the 1990s, proving that Henry Ford's words about the changing nature of the contract between the industry and society are
indeed true (Newell 2008: 1065).
On the other hand, communities not only gain access to extra resources or 'easy money'
- the whole region gains additional capacity to address a variety of infrastructural,
economic, and social problems otherwise hanging on the shoulders of communities and
settlements, as well as NGOs and state authorities themselves. The Nenets of Purovskaya
tundra look at shevstvo as a debt-paying arrangement by the business to the environment
that was disturbed, and is still being disturbed by industry's operations. They also look at
it as an opportunity for Nenets and locals to address their daily problems. It is shevstvo
that creates the sense of industry being conducted in the North for the northerners; it is
that exact sense-making exercise, which is a prerequisite for social life of economic
institutions (Weick 1995).
Public engagement results in companies involving key stakeholders in the decision
making process, from local municipalities to community and NGO leaders. To take an
132 example from the literature, corporate players, such as Shell, being pioneers of CSR and utilizing the strategy since as early as 1997, admit that having NGOs helps to 'keep companies moving forward' as well as maintain the transparency of the financial flow put by the companies to the host countries, their governments, and local initiatives
(Schouten and Remmee 2006: 373). Further exploration regarding the cases of CSR initiatives maintained by companies, Schouten and Remmee claim the CSR should be a sense-making tool that companies use to achieve order and maintain retrospective understanding of their actions, as an organization linked to the environment (i.e. the much debated 'corporate citizen' concept), with language being the primary driver and means to the end of the process.
Altogether, the approach constitutes the sign of a significant shift from Soviet ideology and a change in the ideology of business that now understands quite clearly that the
'environmental concerns and social problems will not blow away' and they will not be a burden (Schouten and Remmee 2006: 368). Rational justification is certainly still profit and business-oriented; however, not to the extent of excluding the society or using it in a parasitic fashion: the recognition that 'the operating environment is better for companies when countries develop to the benefit of all people' (Shell policy advisor, quoted in
Schouten and Remmee 2006: 373).
Emergent Forms of Participation
When it comes to the decision-making the most interesting questions arise as to whether it is really a decision-making process where everybody is involved or just a poster child?
133 Can participants, for example, local communities say "no", and what happens if they really do object to the proposed development? Are decisions shaped publicly or do key stakeholders shape them privately? What are particular forms of participation in the decision-making process, and does public awareness make them more accountable and open for people? These questions informed my inquiry when I was exploring the actual on-the-ground activities that local stakeholders were engaged on a daily basis.
Forms of public participation reported by the Arctic anthropologists from Russia
(Ecopravo 2005, Fondahl and Sirina 2006, Forbes 2006, Kryukov et al. 2004) generally note there is little outcome. The aim of the hearings is largely understood by companies as informing the public of their projects, rather than truly consulting with local people
(including indigenous) and local ecology teams. It was, therefore, an important task for me to find and understand those emergent forms, available to local people at the time of my field project. Participation in actual decision-making takes several forms; some of them more advanced and methodologically elaborate, while others were just truly emerging.
Beyond the agreements, there are at least three distinct forms of participation that local communities, companies, and governments utilize while interacting regarding the industrial development projects proposed to be established on the territory of the
Purovsky District. The new projects include entirely new licensed territories to be developed for oil and gas extraction, or transport, as well as widening existing licensed territories by the companies already operating in Purovsky.
134 Native Affairs Officers
The 'Native Affairs Officer' is an effective institution that was introduced as early as the mid-1990s. It has played, and continues to play, an important role of linking companies' local subsidiaries and their on-the-ground projects to the consultation process with the local land users and reindeer Nenets herding on the tundra in the territories potentially affected by the future development. The history of this role dates back to 1994-1995, when the first Native Affairs Officer appeared in Yamal enterprises.
i We used to have that role at the level of Vice-President of the subsidiary. But then, it became Native Affairs Officer. So, if there are any questions to be decided with the local people, we send him in. He is Nenets. For example, if somewhere in tundra or settlement nearby our projects, there is complaint against the company - there is a phone call, for example. One of our subcontractors is doing something wrong, we immediately send the ' officer in, so he collects all information, asks questions and liaises with the local people inquiring what's wrong, what's the situation. So, the person is acting as our representative who would verify the situation and then make necessary arrangements and take actions to resolve the situation quickly. Since the end of 1997 at least. The level of VP was unnecessary, as we figured, so the role eventually became Native Affairs Officer. Such a person has to exist in the company structure. The level of effectiveness of that person may vary, but in any case, there are situations where you can clearly see the value of someone speaking in the same terms with people around the 1 company operations. He also channels native interests and position of local people to us. Oil Company Executive, personal interview.
As a rule, Native Affairs Officers are Nenets themselves and they have very strong
connections (often with double positions) to both the community and the YTD NGO.
This creates the possibility for important insider information channels about many
initiatives that are being discussed at the corporate level. I have interviewed a number of
Native Affair Officers working for different companies in Purovsky. Native Affairs
135 Officers have a double-edged and sometimes very difficult role to perform, but they are most often employed by a particular company, and receive their salary from it.
Making sure the project goes on and is not challenged by local protests is, in fact, their main task. It is also important for a Native Affairs Officer to locate sites or places that reindeer herders mark as "no trespassing" - containing burials and other places of importance to the local tradition. It is also important to mark the routes for kaslanie and to make sure, if a major disturbance is planned, to accommodate the herder's passing points into the project requirements. Mapping the local standpoint and delivering the message back to the industry becomes one of the keys to the success of the role. Being
Nenets and liaising with fellows-tundroviki provides the nomadic people and local families with a clear understanding of what may happen on their lands. People are able to raise their voice to the NGO or municipal leadership, in case of significant concerns.
He is going to the stoibische, looking at the requests that the company receives locally, communication and networking regarding the company affairs in the localities. Taking all tasks for negotiations with the native groups. What is good is that we have a number of people that work for us in this role. And you certainly understand the difference when someone is j talking your own language? It is much deeper understanding of the needs : and challenges, as well as understanding of the whole situation. It is quite relevant practice and we have been using it for a long time. Tatyana, Gaz Company, personal interview.
In many ways, a Native Affairs Officer (NAR) translates and brokers relationships between the industry and locals by making sense of what is going to happen on both sides of the continuum. The most efficient NARs are those employed by both the company and YTD (there are numerous cases for such an arrangement). In the latter case, such a person would be a direct link between the CEO of a subsidiary or local oil/gas
136 company and the leader of YTD local branch. The link works to resolve any outstanding issues that local dwellers encounter with respect to both the company and its subcontractors (the source of a majority of problems).
I am with the Gaz Company since March in this role, when they started exploratory activities to enlarge the license territory and develop new extractive points. There are two brigades that live on tundra there - 2n and ' 3rd Reindeer Brigades, and also 7th and 12th Brigades of the Purovsky ' sovkhoz. In addition there are 4 elderly families residing on tundra in the ' adjacent lands. I was invited to work directly with all of them and liaise with I them... We just finished the process public review. People are cautious... > When I was leaving in August I asked brigadier - guys, so there are no , questions, tell me what are the places for "no trespassing". They showed me ! those on the map, so I marked them [for the company]. Native Affairs Officer, Gaz Company. Personal interview.
The opinions of a Native Affairs Officer are considered by both the company and the locals, to the extent that this does not directly conflict with the key stakeholder objectives. At times, a certain rivalry between the NARs and the representatives of YTD occurs, and in this case political dimensions of the relationship between the company and
YTD prevail in the discussion. A central topic that NARs, companies, and YTD deal with is public opinion and feedback from the local people that take several forms of
'public hearings'.
Public Hearings
Hidden beneath the negotiation process is a rich array of activities that are generally called public hearings (obschestvenye slushaniya). Public hearings do not necessarily take forms identical to European or North American practice (for example a step-by-step process starting from an official invitation to the public to come, listen, and debate a
137 proposed project). The concept includes a variety of ways and approaches, the main goal being to both inform the communities and public, as well as to receive their feedback, which later is implemented to alter the proposed project, based on public opinion.
What pinpoints an external observer like me is the fact of relative inactivity of general public in resolution of socially important issues. Some of the reasons include the legacy of Soviet times when fear of being detained for public action was significant, or an inability to change things, regardless of the efforts put in was a halting obstacle (Crotty
2009). In my view, however, much of that only scratches the surface. Deep inside the logic of public participation in Yamal, and perhaps, throughought Russia, lies the concept of what I would call 'delegated representation'.
Hunters, fishermen, and reindeer herders do not talk much in public, neither do they like doing it. Instead, they know there are local kin whom they all respect - uvazhaemye lyudi, or 'respected people', and those respected people immediately get elected onto the board of NGO "Yamal to Descendants" or get to represent local communities and nomadic families, because people see them as capable of enabling change or forming new opportunities. These representatives in turn, inform and, in a way, construct the very image for, and on behalf of, the local dwellers to the external parties.
'Delegated representation' is built on trust, something difficult to capture or measure, but still ingrained in the very essence of actions and support, leaders, like Maria
Klimova, receive. At the same time, the whole process works both ways, where respected
138 people gain more responsibility, while local people always turn to them to solve their daily problems. 'They [people] even ask me if I could give them an apartment' shared
Sevgey Aivasedo once, after being elected to the District Legal Assembly as one of the active members of YTD, who fought for the Nenets' interests and the relations between local communities and oil companies for years. It is this kind of simple trust and at the same time delegation of authority that makes public participation a powerful tool.
Public hearings are held by state authorities, corporations, NGO YTD or by all of those entities together. Usually, the initiative comes from the companies and municipal authorities that organize the process closely involving YTD. The NGO is often 'hired', so to speak, to conduct surveys of opinions in tundra camps, sometimes in parallel with a corporation's own NAR or independently of it (if such a role is not present in the company).
The methodology for public hearings in Russia was not existent before the early 2000s and is still under major design across the country. One example of the advantages and disadvantages of the current procedure for public hearings is the Kovykta gas pipeline project, which Technical Requirements of the line Kovykta - Irkutsk (about 650 km) have been presented at open hearings in Irkutsk.
During the public hearings - maps, schemes, and PPTs on project have been t absent, representatives of the developing company came with the advertisement and marketing materials... Little attention has been given to j the actual discussion of working plan of the Kovykta development and building of the pipeline... at the same time, the forum has been very 1 representative consisting of local 83 experts and businessmen. The hearings j resulted in constructive dialog and the developer accepted the need to
139 I reformulate some of the TR sections.Given this is a new procedure we have | started developing methodology for conducting such ; public hearings." (Ecopravo 2005).
Yamal-specific methodology for public hearings is also still evolving. The most common procedure that was employed when I was doing the fieldwork part of my research was public opinion surveys, conducted by YTD and company NARs for smaller projects - those not involving major pipelines or giant operations taking out large portions of
tundra. The third and most influential way of involving the public was done for larger
projects. For those projects, public hearings were held at the municipal headquarters or in
the settlements most impacted by the proposed development. YTD was and is the key
element of the process, in any case. During the final half of the last decade, no project
would go forward without Maria Klimova's signature, representing approval of the
Purovsky Branch of YTD of it. The potential weak point is still that public hearings were
not required for every single project being proposed, and surveys were sometimes
substituted for the nominal hearings process, at least until the end of 2008.
The substitution is not always a negative factor, provided the companies do hold working
meetings with the activist groups that maintain daily connections with all the
communities and tundra people via mobile phones, satellite communication and via
frequent travelling. This way, delegated representation serves as an excellent basis for
opening up the process of involvement for more opportunities for locals, to have their
voices represented by their leaders like Sergey Kharyuchi, Maria Klimova, and many
others.
140 Further improvement of the methodology of public hearings took place in 2009. As my key contact from the Oil Company management told me:
From 2009, all projects, all of them have to be conducted with prior public hearings. The hearings are announced in the local newspapers, everyone is notified and the municipal or local administration is providing space for the public hearings. Our specialists would come there and explain what kind of project is on the table, how many people will be working there, all the situation. What are the reasons for the projects? And at this stage you have the locals and municipality propose their needs and they naturally start asking for something in return for the project. And this is how Agreement f procedure starts its way. We say, okay, this is how much we provide to I address your needs to address your economical compensations and the assistance programs. So if they do not like something - this is time to mitigate project impacts. Public hearings are serious things, so you will have locals asking serious and smart questions, pushing the business being responsible for the community. Oil Company Executive, personal communication.
The process is constantly evolving. It is so fluid and constantly developing that even during the time of my two years of active presence and travel in Yamal, I saw many things were already changing: for example, the term CSR (corporate social responsibility) started to be widely used, often in parallel with shevstvo. Another development was that Purovsky Nenets and YTD leadership started seriously considering small business enterprises for their own communities, deviating from the traditional orientation on reindeer, fishing, hunting, and gathering.
The legal framework for public hearings is also actively evolving. Since the 1990s, when there was no such notion in the law and practice of the Arctic communities, now companies are put under significant legal pressure to include the opinions of the local
141 inhabitants, as well as compensate damage - not only in the North, which has very a special status in the country, but also in many other places across Russia. The only problem that prevents wide spread applications of these practices is disengagement of the general public and reliance on individual activists or non-governmental groups that come in to assist once problems take place. What is really needed are active 'change agents' - leaders, to use the legal framework and execute the change, as is the case in Purovsky.
Round Tables
Third, and perhaps the most effective way to address problems of the communities in relation to the operations of an individual company, are working meetings called 'round tables' (kruglyi stol) that developed over the last several years and are now utilized by all major companies working in the district. Both of my target corporations - the state- controlled Oil Company and the private Gas Company had round table meetings already for two to three years prior to my fieldwork. I was invited to participate in those round tables by YTD leadership. Maria told me that I will not understand the decision-making process if I do not see and experience those types of meetings myself.
Round tables are organized by individual companies one or more times a year; these are really a decision-making milestone points, which foster very active discussion and resolution of issues. They also are an important chain in the agreement-making process, since all agreements last for one year and then are renewed for the next year. Such practice allows Purovsky communities to shift their priorities annually, and also allows them to change the financials with dropping currency exchange and inflation, so that the sums and funding stay at the same or better level in comparison to the last year. These
142 two reasons are the key in not signing multi-year Agreements (Maria Klimova, personal communication, December 2007).
Once the date is determined, the company consults with the Purovsky District Head and the Leader of YTD, as well as leaders of the neighboring communities and Yamal
Administration Native Affairs Department in Salekhard, in case the parties want to send somebody in as well. Parties come, usually either at the company headquarters in the
Tarko-Sale or Gubkinsky settlements, or they take place at the District Administration building on the main street of Tarko-Sale. All buildings are A-class glass and stone office facilities with excellent infrastructure—a fact that greatly amazed me when I first saw the corporate, administrative, and public schools and kindergarten buildings across Purovsky
District settlements and towns.
143 '
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Figure 16. Maria Klimova with an assistant drafting a letter before Oil Company round table. Photo by author.
The round tables usually have a Chair or Facilitator, who is hired by the company, or a chairman, selected from the audience, who leads the discussion. The agenda usually consists of the regular-type quick facts of company operations during the previous time period, their plans, usually aired by the CEO, and then general discussion breaks - from
issues of local presence and subcontractors, to municipal issues, native affairs,
environmental concerns and solutions, jobs, et cetera. The atmosphere is working and
realistic - sometimes critical and sometimes very partnership-oriented. The discussion is
focused on particular problems and solutions that companies and local resident face.
', Company Expert: I can also add that policy of oil spills. Do you have any . specific vendors that you attract to solve the oil spills and their impacts? i Who do you invite to solve this and how quickly to you react? CEO: This is the question right? Okay. We have a special procedure for ' quick localization and impact resolution for the oil spills, we also require from the subcontractors, their measures for realization of recovery for the
144 i spills impact. At the same time, we also use methods of rehabilitation and j land re-cultivation for the events like this. We only contract with the licensed entities which have special licenses. We will be definitely expanding this front of work in our engagement with the territory. I Maria Klimova: May I ask a question? Facilitator: Yes, please. Maria Klimova: I have a question. To this date it became obvious for everyone, that oil spills have major and probably the main impact on the indigenous communities and people. You know we address our municipality with these issues, the a commission is quickly formed and we go and take action to the locality in which such an event took place and work locally j together. The question is: do you control, or, for example on the territory of j Kharampurovskaya tundra, works one of yours - X-Geophysics Company. ! CEO: Our subcontractor? Maria Klimova: Yes, your subcontractor. So do you control their activities? I And indeed, are you responsible for their actions? i CEO: The company policy is definitely to watch and we have specific standards for inviting any subcontractor to work on our projects. So yes, certainly Maria Klimova: Okay, thanks. Facilitator: Interestingly, as we see this part of the session went on quite peacefully... Maria Klimova, laughing (others laughing, too): I gave my word [to District Head]25. i CEO: I have to say, that I agree with the Kobylkin in that he noted that the problems exist and we see them. We have been working on them in the past and currently, and I have to say that we indeed pay a lot of attention to this, so that we need to demonstrate this seriousness. We are prepared to invest more and more into these activities, so I am sure that consolidated sums and programs are targeted at environmental security and I should say again we are transparent in this respect to the society. The problems you raise will be addressed and we will prepare more initiatives. Facilitator: Structure of the organization is ready for doing business? And \ somewhere in the main resource locations we can... do with we give you.. j and you give us, but this is really more of a organizational question. CEO: This question is really important. The thing is would put some attention, and today we receive letters and we react to them, we make sure t our substructures aware of these. I attach territories to these. 1 Company Expert: I would like to also note that municipality also works « towards the
25 Later, Maria shared with me that last year the discussion was so heated and emotional, and the criticism she raised was so sharp, that she had to leave the meeting without finishing it, as a sign of protest - utilizing a somewhat of an engage and abandon tactic. Knowing her principal position, in this case, she was approached by the company earlier via District Head who requested that Maria not leave or make emotional statements, and in response quaranteed that solutions will be offered after discussion is finished, so that decisions can be made.
145 Facilitator: Ok if there are no questions, let's move to Maria Klimova: May I? Tell me please, Tazovskaya oilrig. Is there a waste polygon? , CEO: We are constructing it. Maria Klimova: I have a request. As a leader of the Kharampur settlement, I think Kharampur is not only, figuratively speaking, the business card of the Purovsky district, it is also a business card of the oil company. Why I am saying it? Because indeed, I think that thanks to the oil company the I settlement started its new life. Now we proudly invite and host our guests, but we also have some problems, we need to sit together again and discuss some of the questions we have three of us, between you, municipality head, and me, right? s CEO: I looked at these issues; sure, we can resolve these things in a regular working format. Maria Klimova: Yes, so it is not just words, but let's discuss it in detail, all right? CEO: Yes. •• Maria Klimova: Not only the waste but also some liquid wastes and other ( things which become important as we go. So that we do not transport the I waste 120 kilometers away from the settlement, but you know, there are many oil development sites around Kharampur, - Kharampurovskoe, Itaratskoe they are located exactly on the territories of local indigenous people, families, which are now forced to live in Kharampur. This is why I have this request. Facilitator: Let's please raise this question later in the agenda, when we have time for it specifically. Now it is a different block of issues we are trying to address, please. Maria Klimova: Okay.
This was not the most heated discussion during the round table; indeed, often they become really tense, especially when the real problems that impact people are being discussed and when the company is being pushed, both by the local government as well as YTD leadership to compensate or give back for those problems by providing sustainable growth solutions in the economic sphere. Another issue that negotiations face is little understanding of Northern problems and the practical lives in which local people live by the facilitators or incoming Moscow-based specialists.
146 During the meetings, Native Affairs Representatives are proposed and accepted as
company staff members - an additional liaison co-reporting to both company and NGO, budgets and specific projects are discussed, problems are voiced and solutions are
developed. Companies and municipalities invite experts - environmentalists, oil
scientists, and other stakeholders who are knowledgeable in the issues being discussed.
During the discussion, parties changed hats - as I have noted earlier and indeed, when
necessary, both problems for the entire region and problems of particular localities are
solved.
Saying "No"
The ultimate value of any public participation, in my view, is not only informing local
people about the project, receiving their feedback and altering the process, based on the
concerns raised by the community. The essence of participation and the viability of any
public involvement and decision-making process is in the ability to say "no". In other
words, when compromise is reached on some issues and cannot be reached on others,
what happens? This was one of the main questions I asked my Nenets, corporate, and
government informants during the fieldwork. And it was the most difficult question for
them to answer.
Looking back to what I have learned in the Purovsky District, all the people I have met
and spoke with, I now see the question itself—'can you say no' is quite unsettling for a
Northerner. Culturally and politically speaking, 'no' is too direct and uninformed, even
more - disrespectful. It goes counter to the awareness of people of the needs of their
fellow kin, as well as the local authorities to which they often come for help. Northern
147 relationships are based on respect and mutual benefit. Therefore, seeking compromise naturally becomes a center of the whole process that participation is built around.
Nevertheless, the view of Kharampur and Tarko-Sale locals, companies, and governments varies.
When I spoke with Kharampur locals who used to liaise with both oil and gas companies, either at the YTD meetings or being part of the process, the typical response would still be quite cautious and compromise-oriented. Klavdiya Aivasedo shared her knowledge of the Medvezhka camp, where a number of fishermen and reindeer families live on their traditional territories, when the industry entered the picture in the last few years.
, Let's take the example of Medvezhka camp people. Initially they did not want those activities to take place. They have put together some sort of actions and conditions were formulated right away. And then there was commission and public was dealing with this project, or issue. And I remember, and I really liked it, that all the men from the camp said, "We do not want our Head of District to have problems, this is program for the country". You will definitely find Nenets being patriotic people. More so of all Russia and then their small Motherland in Yamal. It is the same for them. I do not know who thinks what, but I think there is compromise now, in place. Our opinion is considered seriously. So, if the dwellers of Medvezhka identified some spots on the map, which are untouchable or "no trespassing", there will be no work done there. And I mean it. i Larisa Aivasedo, Kharampur local and member of YTD, personal interview.
The actual reality is often much more complex than a naiVe question I used to ask, whether they can say "no". Obviously, the local people have a variety of ties, and one of them is the Northern relationship ties that dictate them to take care of their neighbors, too. In the eyes of the locals, if a company is positively engaging with both the community, the municipality, and via YTD with them, such a company naturally falls
148 into the sense-making justification of being a good neighbor to both the locals and locals accounting for some of the wishes oilers or gas companies may have, on a mutual basis.
' There was a case, when oilers really needed a road to be built. And when ; they took their proposal to the people and said - this is how we plan the road ! to be routed, the locals said - look here are the burial sites - they somehow ! were there. They took the company guys with them and showed so that the ; burial is not disturbed. The road was built away from that place. This case j was like 5-6 years ago. Now people understand that it is really important for | the economic situation in Russia. They understand. And on the other hand, it ! is not like 'we came here and took over the territory' - like it was in the • beginning. No, now it is like, let's go guys, we will show you - this is not j for us, not for you, but for Russia, for the district, for the community and for [ at the end for Kharampur or other settlement. And people say - if it is really [ needed - it is possible. They now see how every settlement now has a brick, I spacious school, day care facility, they see life is changing for them too. ', Communication, mobiles came to the North. It is so convenient, really, people go kaslayut 30 kilometers away and can be contacted, if needed. Sergey Aivasedo, personal interview.
The view from YTD is certainly more concrete, because the very job the NGO does is to protect the interests of those communities or tundra families that for some reason do not like to be disturbed with respect to their traditional activities. Maria Klimova gave me an example for Vankorneft, a large oil company that put through a proposal for a giant pipeline. The immediate answer to the proposal was a firm 'no'.
The local people refused. However, after some time, they were able to find a mutually acceptable deal, so I think the work will start again. Now it is a communication phase. So we communicate with the management, which has 1 just been changed, of Vankorneft'. If long time ago, our elders were not ; literate - someone would come, promise something, sign and then leave, where would you find them after that? Now we have educated young i generation living on tundra. And today oil and gas companies will not just ' promise something and leave. They know that these young men would write somewhere. We have Governor of Yamal, who is monitoring the situation very attentively, and first of all it is our District Head Dmitry Kobylkin, and myself- a leader of YTD NGO, who would all stand up and defend the s interests of the people of our Purovsky district. Maria Klimova, YTD Purovsky Branch Leader, personal interview.
149 In situations when the economic interests clash, the views will be quite divergent.
When we have to do operations on their grazing grounds and something like that -1 think of it differently. The scope of the development is so small comparing to the lands around, that what we occupy physically on the land is, figuratively speaking, a water drop in the ocean. Usually, the rigs stay in places where locals do not really transit through on their reindeer migration routes. In our places, it is more in the forests, so I would not say the sites are so numerically significant or have any impact on this. May be there are some very rare cases and there is a law on using reindeer grounds or economically viable grounds. So there are compensations calculations in that law, if this happens, these lost lands, in case of impact, are legally calculated and paid out to the community impacted. This is a separate story, but yes, everything is according to the law Oil Company executive, personal interview.
The daily routine of negotiating northern resource frontier constitutes of divergent interests that have to be reconciled for the citizens of the same country, and where
Northern relations and mutual respect and mutual development play crucial roles. Most of the time, the actual interests of the local communities are indeed being accounted for. I have witnessed that myself many times by listening to the key decision-makers during their meetings, reading multi-million dollar agreements which are solely devoted to the local communities economic and social development and sitting around the fire with locals and government officials discussing options and decisions. The very nature of divergent interests in some situations means that the compensations, based on the law come in, pipeline passages are built (if no re-routing is possible), and when there are untouchable sites, they are kept as such and no work is done there, to which I received a clear confirmation from both the local communities, governmental officials and the companies' representatives.
150 Where economic interests are at stake - pastures or routes of kaslanie, rivers to be dumped or lakes to be impacted - this is where the negotiations and tensions appear.
Communities and tundra families and brigades do say "no". However, the spirit of the process is taking time and no pushing. Life is more complex in Purovsky, than black and white. This was the lesson I had to learn after seeing how people, government, and industry interact in determining the last northern resource frontiers. On the one side of this frontier are reindeer, chums, fish, lakes, and tundra. On the other side there are pipelines, roads, schools, houses, and economic prosperity and infrastructure for all - locals, regions, Russia, and ultimately Europe; which buys and consumes almost all the gas Yamal develops.
The Role of Leadership
Annie Pye stresses that 'conceptualizing leadership presents a challenge which is akin to capturing the eternal qualities of 'the moon on the water': you know it when you see it, but it absolutely defies capture' (Pye 2005: 33). Leadership analysis encompasses an entire range of social sciences from psychology to business, and from rural to women's studies addressing topics from typology of leadership styles (Feinberg 2002) to nuances of community leadership and analysis of perspective by female leaders and their leadership experiences (Elliot and Stead 2008, Palmer 2007, Schweigert 2007).
Anthropology has also addressed leadership quite heavily both in the past and in recent times. From the 'brokers' of Eric Wolf (1965) to symbolic representations of Marshall
Sahlin's (1963) 'big-men' and 'chiefs', on to Viktor Turner's ritual of leadership and
151 initiation (Turner 1969), and most up-to-date studies of industrial leadership and organizational culture (Jones 2006) - they all paid significant attention to the internal dynamics and details of leading people in a group. My task here is much more modest in the terms of depth and content of the analysis that I would like to employ. I want to simply show the particular role that leadership has played and is still playing in Purovsky in relation to the agreement-making practices and models of interaction established by the communities, companies, and government.
Leadership in Purovsky emerged not in a way that was particularly traditional for the local culture of Nenets, Khanty, or Selkups dispersed across the tundra with family- or clan-based groups routing south-north with their reindeer. The newly emerged forms of
'office leadership' were largely connected to the very state of change that required taking extra responsibility and care for the land, the people, and the political engagement with the outside forces previously non-existent in the Arctic. My view, therefore, is centered on a very specific type of leadership - one that was actually formed as an adaptation to rapid changes associated with industrial presence, and previously not necessary, or even perhaps not known to the locals in its contemporary form.
Traditional to Russia is the role of centralized power which is one of the key drivers of social order. Participation and decision-making outcomes are greatly influenced by the key leaders within each of the stakeholder parties. Northern relationships require construction of meaning and ties that go well beyond 'rational' and, at the end, exemplify notions such as 'fair deal', 'good neighbor', 'respected person', and 'responsible enterprise' taking care of its presence on the tundra. Regardless of the importance
152 assigned to the institutional and legal frameworks in which decision-making takes place
- without the 'change agent', 'that of prime mover that creates change' (Weick and
Quinn 1999: 373) any change is hardly possible.
Palmer confirms through cases in Indonesia that 'leadership may be both a product and a determinant of community collective action and hence may form a dynamic process of feedback in the ability of communities to organize' (Palmer 2007: 398). Leadership becomes the main trigger to the emergence of participation as an innovative practice working on the ground. We can analyze leadership from at least three viewpoints - government, corporation, and local community leaders - and give each of them an equal voice of their own for representative purposes.
For the community leadership, represented by Maria Klimova, the situation is both unique and unusual for several reasons. Women in leadership have become common in
Yamal. I have seen several District Branches of YTD successfully led by women. The
Executive Board of YTD is also quite representative in this sense, where women take an active part in both managing the organizations as well as engaging in negotiations, monitoring activities, and policy-making. Returning to my fieldwork site, Maria has been a successful leader in at least three dimensions (another effective adaptation practice of community leadership in Yamal, where leading persons usually have several hats to wear, depending on context and situation that they find themselves in). On the one hand,
Maria is leading Yamal's strongest branch of YTD - the Purovsky Branch of YTD. Her duties revolve around negotiating with industry and state administration on behalf of all local communities and families living on the tundra. The reputation earned by her
153 through the years, both in the community and among the industry leaders, allows her to take quite an independent position during negotiations, which I observed during several round tables and informal meetings. On the other hand, in line with Dmitry Kobylkin's view of emergent local and indigenous leaders, in 2008 she was elected as Head of
Kharampur Village that is also a base for Kharampurovskaya obschina - an agricultural enterprise with a variety of economic activities. The third dimension is also a political one as she is serving as Aide to Head of District on Native Affairs and Aide to the federal senator from Yamal - Dmitry Ostryagin, a prominent figure in the Purovsky and Yamal political environment, one of the founders of the agreement-making model I have outlined in the earlier chapter. Overall, it provides a wide array of capabilities to influence the decision-making process and impact the agreements with arguments ranging from local to federal-level authorities. The key role of YTD leadership is to always keep the train of agreement-making going, pushing forward the message of its importance to both the government and to the companies, while monitoring the companies in their activities on the tundra.
Maria's own view of leadership is simple and straightforward:
I think it is a lucky coincidence, comparing to the heads of other municipal settlements/villages, that I am the head of the Kharampur village council as well as the leader of the YTD branch in Purovsky district. But I have to note, that Purovsky branch is considered one of the strongest among the , native NGOs of Yamal and Russia. And of course it is not a merit of one person, it is always teamwork. We have a very educated and active team - this is one thing, and secondly these are most respected people in the « communities - they are all voted and selected, just like me, annually. And people trust us with their lives and not only theirs but also their children's, j grandchildren's and grand grandchildren's. It is our place of residence. We have nowhere else to go. And this is why we do all we can so we are not j ashamed to look in the people's eyes. Maria Klimova, YTD Purovsky Branch Leader, personal interview.
154 The corporate leadership presents a more challenging topic to outline. Overall, the
executives I worked with are much more closed and cautious in their views and agendas
- both in private and state-controlled corporations. They operate in an environment that
is far from friendly, and thus, not only do they have to explore and manage their relations
with their shareholders, state and fiscal authorities; they also have to make their point
with the region in which they work (territoriya prosutstviya —in their own terms, Osipov
fieldnotes), the local communities and their activists and leaders—like Maria and her
team. Walking this thin ice is a demanding exercise.
Corporate executives - for both oil and gas companies - working in the Purovsky District
are certainly ones hired by the corporations and, in this respect, they have limited ability
to make decisions beyond the approved budgets they have. Many if not all investments or projects have to be first approved by their Moscow-based headquarters. In this respect, it
makes a lot of sense for both the YTD and community leaders, as well as other local players to exercise direct relationships with the Moscow-based executives who are
ultimate decision-makers, while maintaining positive and constructive relations with
territorial extractive branches working directly in the district.
An important nuance that creates quite a different picture for corporate leaders and their
engagement with the local authorities and people is that they often change by rotation. In
this respect, establishing a practice that is then followed by the incoming successors is
something which is ultimately happening in Purovsky, and where little deviation occurs
once the principle agreement-making process is put in place.
155 j Actually, the process have been existing for so many years now, so I should say that it would not matter much today, if a leader changes on each side. The whole principles have been set and solidified with the practice. If tomorrow, we have another Director General in our company, the whole ! process of interaction with the society will stay identical. Mentality is already formed. How many years it's been formed and how long was the ; way? Since Yamal was created as a region, probably. Since oil and gas companies came here. Oil Company Executive, Personal interview.
Finally, the 'middleman' and, perhaps, the key role, coupled with YTD, as I found out during the process of fieldwork in the region, belongs to the state authorities - Purovsky
Administration, in our case as well as the major political trend established by both the
Yamal Parliament and the Yamal Government at the larger scale of the continuum. The very establishment of the agreement-making model was first introduced in Purovsky and the driver for the model were two people - Maria Klimova and Anatoly Ostryagin, former District Head who had previously worked for many years in the oil industry himself.
Anatoly Ostryagin's name came up many times during the fieldwork research, as a major reference point for creation of the agreement-making model in Purovsky District. As an experienced oiler himself, masterful in managing corporate finances, his background gave this person an essential outlook on how emerging young oil and gas companies operating in challenging and completely capital-driven and profit-driven environments of the post-Soviet Russian economy can be shifted in their consumption-oriented attitude of the rough 90s to the socially responsible model of the first decade of 21st century. With
156 significant support and lobbying presence of YTD, he made companies turn their faces to the communities.
j The trigger was the words of Anatoly Ostryagin, who used to be a I Municipality, District Head here, and once he said, it is time to return our 1 debts to this people and to this land. Simply we started give back, pay j attention to the situation. This was the beginning. Oleg Kozlov, First Deputy Head, Purovsky District. Personal interview.
; At this time we are continuing what Anatoly Ostryagin has started here. We , think it [agreement-making] is an efficient way to collaborate with companies and protect the interests of the local population and traditional 1 lifestyle of the native people who live here. Dmitry Kobylkin, Head, Purovsky District, Personal interview.
I Before 2000, participation in decision-making or any kind of agreements - were not the case. With Anatoly Ostryagin coming to power as the head of municipality of Purovsky District - and used to be former CEO of PuNefteGazGeologiya, a person who was no new to actually knowing what i kind of impacts and negative consequences there were to the land of the native people, he gathered all the corporate executives, all general directors from oil and gas companies. Why it was easy for him to do this? Because he , knew them all, he used to work with them. Also he knew financial situation of each of the corporations, as well as their profits. This man turned the faces of all these general directors to the Northern native people. Maria Klimova, YTD Purovsky District Branch, personal interview.
During my fieldwork, both in Moscow and in Yamal, I was not able to reach Ostryagin himself- it was quite difficult as he now sits in Moscow, high in the corridors of Russian
federal politics. I was, however, able to reach a significant number of his immediate team members, with whom he worked closely while leading the district. Maria Klimova,
Dmitry Kobylkin, Oleg Kozlov and many other people who gave their interviews worked with Ostryagin on a daily basis. Maria Klimova's relationship with Ostryagin goes back to the 2000, when the political moment of successful relationship building was inked on the shores of the Kharampur River, marking the birth of the model that would soon
evolve across the region.
157 i Returning to history, in September 2000, Anatoly Ostryagin and I, representing YTD NGO, met with President of the Oil Company. Anatoly Ostryagin persuaded him to come and see Kharampur - the settlement which is near their license fields, where native nomad people live and how * the village - old houses and everything - look like. This was the start of our cooperation - between Administration, Kharampur, and "Yamal-to- Descendants" Maria Klimova, YTD Purovsky District Branch, personal interview.
The change in paradigm did not happen in just one day. One of the YTD board members recalled the late 1990s, when the activists would take district heads to the tundra on frequent visits and attempted to show the problems and issues of the local population in the new market conditions. In my view, the shift would have happened anyway - during the last five years, the model started working almost across the entire Yamal and even in adjacent regions, such as Khanty-Mansee Autonomous Region (KhMAO). It was just the time when a particular person played a leading role together with the local communities and industry.
158 Figure 17. Maria Klimova nearby new school building in Kharampur. Photo by author.
The process of change in attitude started even earlier than 2000. It was the time when the understanding was right there, during Ostryagin times. Ostryagin discovered this to himself, because initially, these people from resource industry they had very little understanding about indigenous people needs, aims, what do they want? Jobs are there, education is there, benefits are there, what do they want? When he travelled to tundra he saw indeed : how important it is to make sure to maintain what is traditional way of life for these people. The roots which keep them as a nation, as a people. This was important. He understood this and then he went on to see what can be i done in order for these people to live a descent lifestyle, like other citizens, ; and at the same time, maintain their traditions and activities. This was the reason for all these experiments with chum-like houses, et cetera and other things, in for example Kharampur, which after all ended up to be a bit too expensive in terms of infrastructure, although some of it is compensated by the company or municipality. Then they finally came to the log houses with traditional and very efficient stove heating, which was way , much efficient. It turned out to be more ecologically friendly, efficient, and j economic. May be because there wasn't enough impact from new « construction technologies - like with electric energy-efficient heating systems like now. But it will come in its own time i YTD Board Member, Salekhard, personal interview.
159 Leaders constitute the crucial element in the success of participation initiatives. Cronin supports this view in the Native American context by indicating that "propensity towards collaboration is also closely tied to tribal leadership" (2007: 537). It does not mean that nothing would happen if there were no X person in place. The change in paradigm or approach to situations, adapted by the local dwellers to their situation will take place sooner or later. Instead, leadership and personal charisma become the catalysts for change.
As I saw from my experience in the Purovsky District, economic 'rationality' is not always a main element in decision-making and leadership that are coupled in the process of making agreements around energy assets in the Yamal. As a matter of fact, Kornov and Thissen see 'rational choice' not a as a center of the decision-making process, but rather a periphery, because it is 'not a cognitive activity starting with fixed objectives resulting in the best way to achieve these, but rather an open interactive process in which problems, solutions, and preferences along with problem and solution perceptions develop' (2000: 195). I find that the actual flow of decision-making that is accompanied by a number of participation forms is greatly dependant on values and larger contexts of
leaders in the North, as well as their knowledge of the local situation.
160 Chapter VI. Challenges of Co-existence
Locals and Industry: Everyday challenges
Sitting in the Yamal-to-Descendants office in Tarko-Sale has been an experience of its own. An elderly lady waiting to see Maria Klimova or one of her colleagues looks at me cautiously as I do not look like a Nenets, yet I am here in the YTD office like her, together with a couple of other people. Finally, she is called in by one of Maria's deputies. They smile at each other and start a conversation in quick Nenets. It is a time for me to see Maria too, as we are going to the big roundtable with the Oil Company tomorrow, where many of the concerns of daily visitors to YTD office —similar to this lady—have, will be discussed.
Elders and hunters, women with children and rural residents, visiting their relatives in the settlement, would come in to share their problems and find assistance from the organization. Rural people's encounters with industry is often chaotic and based on a variety of on-the-ground experiences dealing with rapid and - at times - abruptly quick change. For example, going on kaslanie on a habitual route, or coming back to the camp, and finding metal parts or tracks of the geological party - whether fresh or previously left by the workers; or seeing 4x4 vehicles sweeping across the tundra in an unauthorized hunting venture from a nearby servicemen base which belongs to an oil or gas company or their respective subcontractor.
161 Such situations arising from contacts with expanding industry projects and their service side are often brought to the attention of YTD and then gradually transformed by the responsible YTD staff members into a sensible picture of the energy industry coming in with specific projects, outlines of public hearings, and explanations of risks and benefits to the local residents. Notwithstanding the positive developments, the situation is far from idyllic. Although common ground between Nenets and resource companies has been found, and a majority of the problems are quickly resolved or are under resolution to the benefit of the involved parties, industrial development of the northern lands - forest and tundra - inevitably impacts Yamal nature.
The negative consequences of oil and gas development in the high latitude territories in general, and in the Yamal region in particular, have been central to many research projects at the end of 1980s and throughout 1990s and 2000s. Volumes of article collections and book chapters provided a comparative cross-Arctic view of industrial development and its immediate impacts on land contamination, ecological disasters and human health and nutrition (Smith and McCarter 1997, Anderson 2001). Specific case studies (Pika and Bogoiavlenskii 1995, Espiritu 1997, Golovnev and Oscherenko 1999) outlined particular local impacts of industrial development - construction and problematic maintenance or abandonment of the oil and gas industry infrastructure, fire damage and spills, increases in migrant populations impacting the tundra and wildlife and variety of other negative impacts from human health and demography on to conflicts and concerns around reindeer pasture lands, traffic impact on tundra grazing grounds, and so on (Forbes 1995, 1999). Later studies conducted in
162 Yamal during the first decade of the 21s century kept the focus on detailed pictures of everyday challenges associated with the industrial development (Stammler 2005, Tuisku
2002).
Of course, it is not like everything is perfect; there are negative sides as j well. For example in Kharampur -1 can tell as I live here permanently - \ there are a lot of oil rigs around and almost all the wild berries are gone. For j example in Khalyasavey [another Purovsky tundra community], where you i do not have so many rigs, they have more berries. Another thing is moving I around on tundra. You cannot do it the way Nenets used to do it -just come • out and move wherever you feel it's right to go. There is no such opportunity anymore. You have to look first - there is a rig there and there is j a road out there or something else. ' Kharampur local, fieldnotes Osipov 2008..
I have also found several other issues in place. One of them was the problem of wild dogs. This 'friend of human' in an old Russian saying (sobaka - drug cheloveka) often represents a critical problem for domesticated reindeer. By themselves, dogs are not a problem as long as they are taken care of in the industry service base camps, in settlements, or in oil or gas production facilities to which they belong. It is when the workers go away and leave the dogs behind that the real problem appears. Abandoned dogs start adapting to the environment and to the situation they find themselves in by forming groups and hunting for food. Naturally, the reindeer - both wild and domesticated - are immediately put on the radar screen of their hunting endeavours, and the problem sometime becomes quite urgent. Wild dogs also threaten people in the nearby small villages and camps and even in the larger settlements like Tarko-Sale. I have witnessed several heated discussions, brought to the attention of the industry executive management by YTD leaders, about taking care of dogs or not allowing them
163 at all because of the threat they potentially pose to the reindeer on the tundra and the people in the settlements.
Another pressing issue is unauthorized hunters and vehicles on the tundra. Historically, this ugly 'tradition' of unauthorized hunting comes from Soviet times when Communist party leaders or people on business travel were often taken to the woods and steppes for hunting or fishing for recreation. In Yamal, this topic is featured routinely in many discussions and has to do—again and again—with those classical 'outsiders' or
'newcomers' of various ethnic backgrounds who care little of what they leave behind after a short stay. Hunting is a double threat, when 4-wheel heavy vehicles are used that disturb the reindeer pasture tundra lands and lichens. Slowly but surely, this problem is being addressed by involvement of both political lobbying and everyday monitoring by the companies and YTD. Regulations and fines are increasing and are put into the Yamal
Regional and Purovsky District legislation. Pass control and monitoring, via YTD NGO and Native Affairs Officers, are engaged to solve this common Northern problem.
Land reclamation for the tundra territories conducted by industry is also a significant challenge. Although the gas and oil industry per se does not need much land - an oil rig or a gas pump station is not even come close compared to the size of the massive Alberta oil sands open-pit excavations. However, it is the supply roads, the infrastructure— including modular base camps for the shift workers, and the pipelines—especially oil pipelines carrying the inherent risk of oil spills—which represent a major environmental and reindeer migration issue. The regulations regarding land reclamation are strict;
164 however, these activities have not always been given proper attention during the Soviet times, when the main focus was on just getting the oil and gas pumped out and delivered to the end buyer.
Reclamation is being given much more attention now by some of the companies - for example, the Oil Company of my research project. But the number and the size of the enterprises creates a situation when larger companies are indeed able to take care of their environmental duties, while smaller companies and subcontractors often are not. The gas industry poses another threat: burning gas rigs that create high-temperature fires, so called 'summer spots' on the tundra, with evergreen grass and trees (with their leaves year-round, even in the freezing cold of the polar winter). To summarize the situation on a big picture scale, it is worth using Wilson Rowe's conclusion, fair to any strategic hydrocarbon assets across the globe, that "there is overall low priority assigned... to environmental issues, particularly when environmental concerns would interfere with other pressing political-economic interests" (Wilson Rowe 2009: 207).
In many of the above everyday situations, YTD serves as a people ombudsman and resolves issues that are mostly related to the companies' subcontractors. The reason is because the main oil and gas companies and their workforce are well aware of the Yamal nuances since they have been working there for a long time. Problems appear when significant amounts of work are being subcontracted to outside firms that come to do specific packages of work on a shift basis. Their employees often have much less understanding of the localities and the Northern culture. It often creates conflicts that are then resolved at the company leadership and YTD level. Some cases go to courts and
165 prosecutors' offices. Other cases are resolved by passing new legislation at the municipal level that increases the land leasing rates for the companies not in compliance with the environmental regulations (Roman Yando, Deputy Head of Tazovsky District, personal communication, 2008). This elucidates the fact that law enforcement has also had a considerable effect when exercised properly.
Unlike corporations working locally and knowing all the nuances of Northern operations, their subcontractors, being brought from outside for short-term assignments, (usually involving shift workers), do not always appreciate local nuances. An example from the
Tazovsky District is indicative for most Yamal cases of the sort:
As part of the long-term relationship between municipality of Tazovsky , district and oil and gas companies we have been determined to get rid of 1 faulty subcontractors, who are unable to manage their affairs duly and environmentally friendly. Only those subcontractors who are ecologically- oriented stay with the long-term development projects in the district Roman Yando, Deputy Head of Tazovsky District, personal interview.
In Yamal, the dichotomy between things that are 'short-term' and 'long-term' becomes very clear and sometimes even divisive. Most of the arguments used by Nenets, and now more often companies, are centered around long-term issues, which manifest
commitment, seriousness, sustainability, and a good basis for the relationships. All
companies that want to work in Yamal have to show their commitment to future
generations, to the next stages of Yamal history.
Projects and people have to be 'for long' to be duly regarded. 'Short-term' is often
attributed to the negative—from the times when people would come in shifts, carelessly,
166 and then leave once projects were completed—and is, therefore, not respected. Time in the North flows much more slowly, life is generally not hectic, everything takes time. My personal experience confirms this too. Only after one year of meeting with people and talking to them again and again, did I begin to be regarded as someone doing serious things there by the regular locals.
> Today, the major problem is protecting our environment, our nature. It is the most painful thing to the Native people. Firstly, it is unreasonable, unaware behavior of the subcontractors and daughter companies, which bring dogs, weapons, try to fish, hunt. They should not do it. The reason of their being here is different. They come to the shift work. Those people - Russians - who were born here would never do any harm to the nature here. And the shift workers - they just came, earn their wages and left. They do not need this North. And this is why we made a list of rules, called "Memorandum of conduct by shift worker on the license field". Those companies that we work with - the large ones - they all have this Memo in place. So, before they start their work, they have an orientation - how an individual should behave. And certainly, there are unreasonable individuals, who drive their 4x4 vehicles on tundra. And you know our tundra is very fragile. And for those facts, the soul of Native people is hurt. And the first people who see the violations - the nomads, ones who live on tundra. And they come to me and say, Maria Leonidovna, nearby our camp we have seen someone driving near our chums, near our camp using SUVs or 4x4s. And naturally, we create a commission and we go and make sure we find out and deal with it. And how many there are those we have not seen, or identified? Maria Klimova, personal interview, 2008.
During the last few years a number of measures have been designed to prevent these things from happening. First, is the introduction of pass and permits control that does not allow trucks and vehicles to stop and wander around taiga and tundra side roads.
167 Figure 18 Road construction site near Tarko-Sale. Photo by author.
Second, is the introduction of monitoring officers; these officers are usually Nenets hired by the companies for the specific goal of monitoring the field sites and pipelines. Third, is the active advocating on the side of the YD NGO; provided the authority and reputation of the organization, its offices are regularly visited by the locals and their relatives who live on the tundra or in forests, and the people report all problems to the
NGO offices across the district and Yamal as a whole. This facilitates taking the issues for resolution to the companies and their subcontractors right away.
' When the case is clear and we know who is responsible, the executives at the corporations take a very smart position. They complete their arrangements with the person and within 3 days such an individual would be gone to where he came from. So that others see what happens with those violating. I think this is correct. Maria Klimova, personal interview 2008.
168 Political, Legal & Economic challenges
For an outsider, the intertwined political, economic and legal challenges regular people face in the Purovsky District, and in Yamal, come together at the simple point of attempting to earn money from their traditional activities - fishing or reindeer meat production. This is exactly the crossroads of all three challenges noted in the section's title. The conflict between the nominal incentives to help, subsidize, and assist the
Numerically Small Indigenous People of the North (as the official title refers to Nenets) the real life of regulations represent a significant challenge.
First of all, it is the challenge of obschina - a community. Obschina has been analyzed in detail by a number of anthropologists of Yamal (Tuisku 2002, Stammler 2005, Gray
2001, Forbes 1999) and I do not intend to repeat this analysis here. Instead, I would like to look at how obschina legislation creates a twist in economic terms, which Nenets and the Yamal Government have to tackle and resolve in the newly formed market economy.
In short, obschina is a legal entity that an extended family or settlement population, or just a group of local Native people can form and register, to legally execute economic activities of their traditional lifestyle on the land in the eyes of the state. The challenge comes from the legal status of obschina in economic terms:
! Obschinas are usually registered as non-for-profit organizations. Therefore its financial balance is motivated to stay at the zero level or a minus (non- profitable) level. In this case, obschina receives a yearly check from the government to support its activities, technical and other needs. When obschina shows above zero or profitable balance, authorities may cut off the ; paycheck support which many do not want to lose as a stable and relatively 1 reliable source of income. Mikhail, Representative of Yamal Administration, 1 Salekhard, September 2007.
169 The above point brings in another closely connected challenge of benefits and quotas.
Nenets and other title nationalities of Yamal are allowed quotas for fishing and hunting for their own purposes under the loosely defined umbrella of 'maintaining traditional lifestyle'. At the same time any fishing or hunting that exceeds the amount needed for personal use—if not prohibited directly—considered to be legally incorrect, or uncovered. Larger scale, or profit-driven fishing and hunting, can only be done in the framework of an agricultural enterprise. In other words, individual hunters and fishermen cannot legally do commercial hunting and fishing for profit.
The other side of the quota system is a competition for better land on the side of the state with its Agro-Industry Unities (AIUs) - similar to "Kharampurovskaya", which is the same type of obschina, but formally working for government owned enterprises—the long-term descendants of sovkhos or kolkhoz—collective farms of the Soviet era. AIUs pay small but reliable salaries to their herders and in addition to the AlU-owned herds, people also own private herds, while obschinas, compared to AIUs, looks like a private enterprise. Quotas for fish and game are determined at the Council that mainly consists of AIU Directors who provide first-class locations and quantities to the AIUs and second-class chances and quotes to the private obschinas (YTD Salekhard leadership,
Personal communication, Salekhard, September 2007).
To overcome this conflict of interest the Purovsky District decided to reestablish obschinas as open joint stock companies (JSCs). However, as Sergey Aivasedo noted to me, obschinas in Purovsky own only 40% of the shares, while the rest is owned by the
170 County Administration. Even with this disadvantaged format, JSCs create much more work, which provides the communities with clear motivation to move on with work and private business to earn more profit per share.
Next is the challenge of local supply for the companies. Potentially, corporations working in Yamal could have been using reindeer and fish for food supply for their factories and base camps in the region. Legally, however, this fish and reindeer meat will need to have a number of sanitation certificates, which, again, provides an additional bureaucratic challenge to individual, or small "traditional economy" entrepreneurs in
Yamal.
Many of the challenges that Yamal and Purovsky District locals face have their root causes in the abrupt collapse of the economic, social, and legal systems which existed in the North in Soviet times. Economic reforms of the 1990s - disastrous in the beginning with salaries not paid for months and years - somewhat softened in the first decade of
21st century. Still, they have not fully replaced the infrastructural chain of developed in
Soviet times. State authorities and legislative institutions are on the lookout for the best organizational, economic, and legal systems at present.
Part of the cause for the inability to solve local problems quickly lies in the budgetary reform that took place during early 2000. This reform initiated by Putin took away from regions the lion's share of tax revenues that they previously enjoyed and clearly differentiated the municipal, regional and federals budgets and their interrelations. The
171 main point of the reform was to centralize the federal budget and give more control to the central financial and political authorities in Moscow. On the one hand, it brought more opportunities for the state to manage crisis situations and regions, which are far from rich. On the other hand, the reform hit hard the capabilities of Northern regions to invest parts of their budget in infrastructure, expensive subsidies, and socio-economic projects inside the regions. According to some Russian business analyses, this alone triggered a significant rise in the corporate social responsibility debate and closer cooperation between the regional authorities and industry, which always operates locally (Expert-
Sibir 2007, Alyakrinskaya and Dokuchaev 2009).
Because of the lack of budget financing for projects, SCR topic came high on agenda. Here, far away from the capital, this notion - corporate social , responsibility - which is remote and incomprehensive in a regular situation, started gaining factual forms and content. For example, agreements on socio-economical cooperation and partnership between the companies and regional administrations. (Expert Sibir' 2007)
One of the central political challenges that I would like to finish this chapter with, is the connection between the political party, United Russia, and all the key processes which take place in both the realm of civil society, represented by YTD as well as municipal and regional governments and the companies at the time I was doing my research26. The role of United Russia, the nation-wide party with the cute Russian Bear in the logo and a membership encompassing almost all governors and government officials with the powerful charisma of Vladimir Putin as a party leader, cannot be underestimated.
26 Recently, the popularity of being involved with a political party such as United Russia has started fading away. This view is supported by both popular opinion of the people, as well as some of my Yamal administration informants. It is not as important as it was during the election times, when Medvedev replaced Putin on the presidential stage in 2008.
172 The popularity of the party during 2007-2008, the two years during which I was doing active fieldwork in the region, was immense in the country. Contextualization of the
United Russia influence on the Purovsky District politics was no less significant. The
YTD example is a good reference in this respect. Typically, YTD represents obschinas, families and local Native groups in their negotiations with the companies about the projects coming to the territories. During the election campaign of 2007-2008 most of the
YTD leadership, including its president, deputies, and Branch leadership became United
Russia party members.
Photo from author's documentary film.
Main slogan says: "United District - United Russia" (rus.).
173 There are at least two implications of this event, one of them posing a true potential (but not current or intact yet) challenge. On the one hand, it is easier to negotiate with both the companies and the government (given many of the staff members are also active members of United Russia), thus achieving results for the communities. On the other hand—and this may pose another potential challenge to the locals in their negotiations with industry—is the fact that now decisions have to be balanced even more carefully, and in line with the mainstream politics of United Russia, which are formed at the central and regional level.
Finally, if there is a challenge, there is often a solution. Anthropologists have noted
(Ziker 2002, Anderson 2000, Thompson 2008) that the Soviet-style agricultural system overarching hunters, gatherers, fishermen and reindeer herders has been to a large extent
successfully replaced with 'informal and non-market forms of cooperation, being instituted in the vacuum left by the dismantling of the Soviet economy and lack of capitalist development' (Ziker 2002: 159). It is the 'traditional Northern economy' and
'northern relationships' that can be viewed as effective adaptations and forms of resilience in Yamal, which my case clearly shows as well.
There are more challenges for Yamal will face in the years to come: the largest in decades is the program Industrial Ural - Polar Ural is already in the construction phase.
This massive development project will involve new railways, highways, and pipelines being built from Southern Ural to Arctic Ural, with clusters of industry - mines, oil and gas rigs along the way. It will significantly impact the Uralskiy District of Yamal
174 adjacent to the Northern tip of the mountain chain. The project will undoubtedly change the face of the oldest mountains on Earth. More fields will be developed both in the
Purovsky District as well as across the larger Yamal region - in the Tazovsky and
Yamalskii Districts. All of these challenges are coming to Yamal today and are of concern to all of the decision-makers I have spoken with. The only difference between the projects they will develop now, compared to the projects that were developed in the
1970-80, is the mistakes they have learned from in Purovsky, which all parties are determined to avoid. Whether they are successful in their determination - we will only see along the way.
175 Conclusion
Petra Rethmann writes in her Tundra Passages: 'ethnographies are often expected to come to an end by way of a well-defined and concrete conclusion, but the life they are supposed to describe moves on' (Rethmann 2001: 175). Indeed, when I was leaving my field site with the hope of bringing the massive amount of information I gathered into a hopefully structured thesis, making sense to a reader that have never been to Tarko-Sale or Kharampur, the lives of people I observed and talked with were actively going on.
Many of my key informants and friends continued their paths in the similar fashion, as described in the above chapters. Some of the executives in Gaz Company, whom I worked with, were transferred to Moscow headquarters for higher positions within the company. Dmitry Kobylkin—the Head of Purovsky District—who greatly assisted in this project and brought me in for several important meetings and interviews, recently became, perhaps, the youngest Governor of Yamal in the history of contemporary
Russia28. Maria Klimova - the leader of NGO Yamal to Descendants Purovsky Branch continues her fight for saving Purovsky land, water, and reindeer and continues her efforts in bring benefits to her people. She is currently working on a project to create a large tourist zone around Kharampur for those who appreciate the North and indigenous settings.
Looking back at my question for the project and my search for finding and analyzing the model of interaction between industry, government, and local communities in Yamal, I
176 see that the challenge was worth it. What I have found and documented, were a number of unique and efficient local and regional adaptation strategies grounded in legal, economic, and social environment with inherent obstacles and challenges. These adaptation strategies are not only utilized by the local people: Nenets, Khanty and
Selkups of the Purovsky District; but also actively used by government officials, and the oil and gas corporations working in Yamal and the Purovsky District.
Northern relationships, shevstvo, the principle of fair arrangement, and corporate social responsibility, all intertwined with each other in many ways, have given a way to unique on-the-ground models of agreement-making and decision-making in which industry, authorities, and local communities all engage to cooperate and form effective partnerships and peaceful relations with each other. What I also found important is the equal show of voices and views of all parties involved. I wanted to hear the voices of companies and government officials at the regional and local levels as much as I wanted to hear Nenets and their story, in order to better understand the situation and provide a bigger picture and more informed analysis.
My goal here was to make sure that Yamal is not only seen as a homogeneous region— much like the Yamal peninsula, supplying gas to the rest of the world and fighting with numerous problems rooted in industrial development and its impact on local people, the environment, and wildlife (all of which are true). Instead, my goal was to show exactly how local people deal with these challenges, how they explain the changes for themselves, tackle them and what institutions and grass roots forms of adaptation and
177 influence locals use to change the situation and gain momentum to form partnership and cooperation models with the state and industry. It would also be wrong to conclude that all Nenets are against industrial development. The local communities are not homogeneous in their aspirations and needs. Many Nenets told me during conversations about culture around tea "if our grandfathers had access to snow machines and guns surely they would use it", "we are not frozen culture". Whenever there is an opportunity to trade a sled for a snowmobiles, a bow for a gun, or a radio for a mobile phone - people take this advantage and see improvement in their capacity to hunt, communicate, and live with a lamp using a generator just outside the chum-teepee.
I do not say today and I do not say tomorrow, but there will be a time when Native people and heads of corporations will be equal partners. It is very • likely that we will take on some of the service work performed for the companies, but what is most important that we will be equals and we will speak with each other as equals. Native people have never been entrepreneurs - they always took what is necessary for feeding their families. This time dictates its own rules and we are compelled not to stop, but also move forward. There will be our guys that will come to work in the corporations, and may be some day we will have our own oil and gas companies. Maria Klimova, Head of Kharampur municipality, Personal interview.
During my fieldwork I came across a number of new paradigms and research frontiers.
The emergence of anthropology of extractive industries—to which this account is a contribution—is one of them. The Arctic resources are being quickly developed. There will be more political and business attention to the Arctic, and more projects and companies coming to Russian, Canadian, American, and Nordic high latitudes in the following years. They will bring significant impacts on the land, people, and local economy. It is clear that there will be more research attempts to understand the dynamics
178 of resource development and change which comes along with it for the Arctic communities across the circumpolar world.
There are several new venues of research that I have detected while doing the fieldwork.
One of them is the question of title indigenous groups (those officially recognized in the
Statute of Yamal) in the region. Traditionally, from Soviet classification, Yamal hosts three title groups of local numerically small indigenous people of the North - Nenets,
Khanty, and Selkups. Komi-Zyryane (izvatas), who are close to Komi-Izhemtsy just across the Ural mountains, live in Yamal and carry semi-nomadic life with reindeer.
However, they do not enjoy the benefits of being a title nationality in the region. Their ancestral lands lie over the Arctic Urals on both sides of the range. Russian Orthodox by
faith, these are one of the rare instances of pravoslavnye kochevniki (orthodox nomads) in Arctic Siberia. Komi-Izvatas are very likely to be the ones impacted most seriously by the Industrial Ural - Polar Ural program. Their frontier line seems to be squeezing this unique group between the mountains and the newly proposed railroad, which will
definitely require proactive actions on their side to counter the situation.
Another avenue of research is the unique situation that was created by the local
communities in the Tazovsky District adjacent to the Purovsky District from the North.
Families and groups of Nenets from Tazovsky organized a union of entrepreneurial joint
stock companies directed at independent traditional reindeer-oriented economic
operations. Nenets on the Tazovsky tundra are just starting their history of interaction
with industry and are actively learning from the Purovsky YTD Branch how to deal
effectively with oil and gas companies before they even come into the district.
179 Next, and perhaps one of the most recent and immediate need for research, is the ongoing plans for development of the Yamal Peninsula, voiced at the federal level and closely monitored and managed by Vladimir Putin himself. The Yamal Peninsula holds the majority of already confirmed undeveloped gas deposits in Russia that will form the base
for Gazprom expansion in the next 50 years. All of these frontier projects will intersect with the lives of people and reindeer. There are no simple answers on how to tackle these problems. Industry and communities have their own views, mediated by the state
authorities.
The trend toward negotiating resource development with the local indigenous
communities is a clear one across the entire Arctic. It would, therefore, be a natural step
forward to extend this research into an analysis and comparison, looking at the ways of
potential application of the Yamal agreement-making model to another Arctic or
Subarctic resource development setting. Comparison as such would be beneficial to
understand how, for example, Canadian experience of the Ft. McKay First Nation, or
another location nearby the oilsands development sites, gas and oil fields, and major
pipelines, like McKenzie Gas Pipeline negotiation processes compare with the flow and
agreement-making models across the ocean. I would base such an analysis on exploring
legislative framework, activist groups, and adaptation strategies utilized by the
counterparts to reach their objectives and come to an acceptable conclusion.
Putting Yamal into a larger Arctic perspective of hydrocarbon development, it is
important to understand the two fundemantal differences which Nenets themselves find
important in comparison to the similar situations in North America. "Yamal to
180 Descendants" is well aware of the dynamics in land claims and resource development in
North America and they are also keen to know more about Saami experience. Moreover, several of my informants from "Yamal to Descendants" leadership travelled to Canada,
US, and Alaska for exchanging experiences and opinions with North American local groups.
In Nenets view, in North America, the whole idea is based on land ownership or land claims. In Russia land is always in state's hands and hydrocarbons below the surface are considered to be country's strategic security asset. This situation creates a fundamentally different legal environment, which, therefore, cannot be compared. Secondly, the main trend in North America is incorporation of Native people and their economic activities following resource development into the mainstream economy by providing service jobs and establishing joint ventures, which ultimately results in loss or detireoration of pre- development lifestyle, where daily occupations are linked to the language and traditional activities associated with the environment. Nenets do not want to merge into the mainstream economy and they have clear support on that from Yamal regional and district governments. Nenets deliberately choose to continue living in traditional economy - reindeer herding, fishing, and hunting - as main year-round activities.
Summing up, Purovsky District and the Yamal Nenets Autonomous Region, were able to develop i) a model of interaction, based on several adaptation strategies and informal
Northern relationships that are effective enough to address the agendas and needs of the parties involved, and ii) a willingness to listen to each other on their way to co-existence
181 and neighborhood in Yamal. With Dmitry Kobylkin, now being Governor of Yamal, it is very likely that these practices of agreement will be applied and decision-making to be rolled out to all the engagements between industry, districts, and local communities across the entire region, similarly to Purovsky District. The future is always an open- ended question.
At the end of my fieldwork in the Purovsky District, when both filming and collection of all information from key stakeholders on the decision-making process was done, I needed to complete the write-up of my results. However, several people - local Nenets and Salekhard-based friends asked me: "What are you going to do now, when you are done?", "Will you come back?", "Are you going to become an expert on Yamal?".
Despite the fact, that I was really far from 'being done' at that point, these questions were posed to me in a very direct and friendly way and made me think again of the role of anthropologist and relationships with communities we work in and the people we work with.
My view on anthropology and anthropologists in relationship to the people we visit,
coincides with Jean Briggs's view, where she writes of herself:
' Jean Briggs is Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at the Memorial University of the Newfoundland. She has been a student of Inuit life (emphasis added) since 1960 and has spent six years in the North, mostly in i the Canadian Arctic (Schweitzer, Biesle, and Hitchcock 2000: 477).
182 It was fundamental for me to establish important informal and friendly relationships with
Yamal locals, who were 'given a reciprocal value and appreciation' (Keskitalo 1994: 11) through the joint project of filming the topic of my research for all the three parties of decision-making (government, corporations and local communities) with direct support from YTD. Yet, I would never call myself 'an expert on Yamal', nor do I believe anyone who studies this massive and heterogeneous region one and half the size of the Yukon for however many years may claim him or herself as an expert. To be an expert on Yamal, one has to put down roots there and live and work in Yamal permanently. It means, in comparison with us - guests -to be a. Yamalan (yamal'tsem), so locals can call you zemlyak (fellow-countryman). Nevertheless, it does not prevent all of us from appreciating this unique and beautiful land its people, reindeer, and the everlasting traditions of 'Northern relationships' at the end of the earth.
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200 Supplement 1. Sample Field Questionnaire
1. What is your view on the history of relationships between the industry (oil and gas) in Purovsky District - what is the basis back then and now?
2. Has anything changed if looking at these relationships 20 years back, 15 years back, 10 year back, 5 years back and now? What exactly, could you give example?
3. Do you know instances when communities, administration of District and particular companies were able to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, can you remember an example?
4. Have you heard of any public hearings or involvement of the local people in the decision-making over an oil or gas project here in the District?
5. Have you heard of ecological review or assessment conducted in association with a project proposal on oil or gas field/project?
6. Can you tell about Kharampur and what is happening there - retrospectively as well as currently. How was before, what happened, how it is now? Companies, individuals, time?
7. How does working model of agreement-making works at the Yamal regional level, in your view?
8. How does model of agreement-making between industry-communities- government work at the Purovsky District level?
9. Do people really participate in making decisions on incoming proposal for oil and gas projects, pipeline routes, etc.? Example?
10. Can people say "no"? What happens if they say "no"? Can you give an example?
11. What are the forms which local people can use to participate in decision-making over resource projects proposed or working on their traditional territory?
12. Is Kharampur case a single one or you know of other cases? What are they?
13. How did the model of interaction which works in Kharampur appear? Who was in the beginning of it?
14. What is the role of Administration in the decision- and agreement-making process?
201 15. What is the role of Yamal-to-Descendants! NGO in the the decision- and agreement-making process?
16. What are the perspectives of the relationships between the companies, government and local communities in Yamal in 5, 10 years from now? What is your view?
17. What is the economy of these relationships? How does local economy look like currently?
18. Do local people - Nenets and others - have enterpreneural capacity to enter the market together with companies, for example as subcontractors?
19. What are the benefits of partnership and con-existence?
20. What are the challenges of partnership and co-existence? Ecological, social, other which are associated with the industrial development?
202 Supplement 2. Fieldwork Ethics Statement & Sample Approval
UNIVERSITY or ALBERTA
Arts, Science <£ Law Research Ethics Board (ASL REB) Certificate of REB Approval for Fully-Detailed Research Proposal RENEWAL,
Applicant: Igor Osipov
Supervisor (if applicable): Dr. Mark Nuttall
Department / Faculty: Anthrepology^Arts
Project Title: Capturing "best-practice" in oil and gas development: multi-layered economic decision making, participation, and the public policy in the Russian North f Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District) (Version 2) Grant / Contract Agency {and number):
ASL REB Member fand file number if applicable): Andie Palmer
Application number. 1238
Approval Expiry Date: November 19.2008
CERTIFICATION of ASL REB APPROVAL
I have reviewed your application for research ethics review und conclude that your proposed research meets the University of Alberta standards for research involving human participants (GFC Policy Section 66) On behalf of the Ails, Science A law Retmrch Ethics Board (ASL REB). 1 am providing expedited research ethics approval foryou r proposed project. Expedited research ethics approval allows you to begin your research with human participants., but is conditional on the full ASL REB approving my decision at its next meeting (December 1 ?, IQfffy. IT the mil ASL REB reaches a different decision, requests additional information, or imposes additional research ethics requirements on your study, I will contact you immediately If the full ASL REB reverses, my decision, and if your research is grant- of contract-funded, the Research Services Office (RSO) will also be informed immediately. The RSO will then withhold further funding for that portion of your research involving human participants until it hasbeen informed by the ASL REB thai research ethics approval for your project has been granted. This research ethics approval is valid for one year. To request a renew al after (November 19. 200$). please contact me aid explain the circumstances, making reference to the research ethics review number assigned to this project (see above). Also, if there are significant changes to (he project that need to be reviewed, or if any adverse effects to human participants are encountered in your reseatch, please contact me immediately.
ASL REB member (name & sigiiaiure).Andie Palmer
Date: (November 19,2097
203 Ethics Statement
Applicant: Project Committee:
Igor Osipov Professor Mark Nuttall (Anthropology) PhD Student Professor Mike Percy (Business School) Department of Anthropology Professor Andie Palmer (Anthropology) University of Alberta
Preliminary Research Title: Capturing 'best-practice' in oil and gas development: multi-layered economic decision-making, participation, and the public policy in the Russian North
The aim of the project is to bring anthropology into the detailed analysis of decision making over resource extraction in the local places of the North. Usually, for the oil and gas development projects, this means 4 main parties: government, business, environmental sciences / NGOs, and the local communities. The analysis will cut through these 4 parties across 3 key layers - local, regional and national, some important references will be made to the forth layer - international, where applicable. Geographical focus of the work is mostly on Russia and more specifically on the Russian near-Urals' North (most likely Yamal).
Canada, US (Alaska), and Australia (Cape York) will provide important comparative outlooks. The main idea is to 'translate' business decision-making into the 'language' of the four main parties (outlined above) and to revisit the sometimes unclear place of anthropology with its supposed knowledge of the larger context may (or may not, too) usefully take part in the process of decision-making, which will be accepted by the stakeholders (e.g. to attempt bringing anthropology from 'theory' into mutually beneficial practice in this context). ii. Benefits
I am hoping to find and explicate examples of the 'best practice' in oil and gas development decision-making process, where all 4 parties were able to agree on terms and consider the decision-making accounting for the key interests of all. The purpose of this research is to make this analysis, in its final form, available for similar ongoing dealings of the sort, which are currently conducted in the Northern countries; such negotiating activities will most likely continue in the mid- and long-term perspective in both Canada and Russia. Detailed analysis of the process and its 'best practice' will bring useful and practical information for all four key stakeholder parties - local communities, corporations, environmental scientists and NGOs, and government officials, involved into the process.
204 iii. Methodology
The key methodology of the research is based on multi-sited ethnography utilizing traditionally effective toolkit of ethnographic methods such as on-site and off-site interviewing, observing (where possible), bibliographic, internet, and archival work. It is also as an objective of this project to bring in several branches of social science, such as legal anthropology - for interpretation and analysis of the legal framework in which decision-making is done, as well as system analysis methods from business studies and communication research, which will greatly benefit overall quality of the project and its outcome.
On more specific level, I propose to conduct open-ended interviews with representatives of local communities, corporations, government and NGO/environmental scientists as well as anthropologists who have been or are involved into the decision-making process. Several officials of largest oil company in Russia and one of the largest in Canada have expressed their willingness to converse over the matters of the project. More interviews should be arranged once actual field visit to YNAO takes place (arrangements are currently pending).
Iv, Confidentiality, informed consent, information disclosure, and security
Given the project is conducted on sometimes confidential and delicate grounds around negotiations every effort is made to adhere to the strictest standards of business ethics and confidentiality, including those designed by Tri-Council, University of Alberta, and the social sciences in general. Prior to the interview, general topics and key questions for the discussion, as well as outline of the project purposes are being sent/told in advance to inform the individual of the nature of project as well as confidentiality and ethics standards this project adheres to.
With regards to the written consent (and therefore submitting written consent form as part of this Statement) it is highly unlikely that anyone who agrees to provide interview or information surrounding oil and gas thematic in both Russia and Canada will be willing to give any signed documents. It is therefore suggested that the consent is sought in the form of 'informed consent' of arbitrary (oral) form suitable for the individual requested. This means that upon informing potential participant of the goals and content of the project and value of participant's information sharing, he or she will be able to give or refuse consent for further communication on the topic. Both outcomes will be equally respected. Participant are to be informed of the right to withdraw from participation in project at any time and without any penalty.
Since this research will not involve signed consent forms, a log of oral consent will be kept, including the type of consent given and a record of the conditions agreed to.
In each case when there is a necessity or intention to publicize any citation or quote from the information provided by the participant in the form of article, paper, or any
205 publishable form, every effort will be made to request and receive consent and approval of such quote or citation with its author before any further use.
The outlined principles of strict confidentiality, anonymity, informed consent, and information disclosure are applied both in Russia, Canada, and elsewhere, regardless of the organizational, geographical, or national background of the person who agrees or disagrees to share their knowledge or opinion with regard to the project topics.
During fieldwork, all electronic records, including voice records, will be secured in a protected computer database with restricted access. Printed matter generated upon return from the field will reside in a locked filing cabinet at Tory Building office space. v. Preliminary opinions / informal interviews collected prior to submitting of the Ethics Statement
The initial interviews and discussions have been conducted in Canada during 2005, prior to submitting this fieldwork Ethics Statement and were aiming at establishing working relationships with individual people and organization's representatives for further correspondence on the project topics. All such interviews/discussions are considered to be preliminary and all information will be treated confidentially. Should I plan to use the material, I will be back in contact with the interviewees prior to any use to inform them and to get their informed consent for such use of their words/opinions. vi. The University of Alberta Guidelines
Guideline 1 - Risk The key risks include: a) Misuse or disclosure of delicate insider's information b) Person's and organizational anonymity protection for various security reasons c) There might be other risks or ethical issues, which will be dealt upon duly during the work process. Advice and guidance will be thought from the Project Committee shall other risks or ethical issues occur during the project cycle.
The risk of type a) are addressed by restricting access to the information received, adhering to the informed consent principles, and having the log of informed consent on data.
For the risks of type b) the following will be done. For protection of individual identities and identities of organizations (NGOs, companies, offices) permission to use their names and references will be requested each time. If permission not given, the author will make sure that no names or direct references leading to organizations, individuals or localities are made. The names in such case will be altered or not mentioned at all to protect individuals of organizations.
Guideline 2 - Informed Consent
206 All research is and will be conducted on the grounds of informed consent, as addressed in the section iv.
Guideline 3 - Confidentiality Given the nature and the theme of the research confidentiality is considered a key component, all requests by the individuals and organizations will be respected accordingly. All requests of anonymity, or contrary, acknowledgement of contribution will be respected.
Guideline 4 - Competency Proper consultations with regards to unclear use of the ethics guidelines will be made with the Project Committee members and colleagues from the University of Alberta. Any publishable excerpts or notes from the fieldwork or interviews will be consulted with their authors before publishing/disclosing, as discussed in section iv.
Guideline 5 - Supervision All work with regard to handling of the interview information is supposed to be carried out by the author himself with consultation from Project Committee members. If any of the materials, approved for publishing by the respective authors/participants of the project, are disclosed to an academic colleague (whether at the University of Alberta or other University) for work purposes, necessary advice will be communicated with regards to the conditions of the materials usage, and submitting of similar Ethics Statement will be required, if necessary.
Guideline 6 - Participants Rights I would like to quote Andie Palmer's statement with regards to this section, which is quite comprehensive: "participants rights to participation, to be fully informed of the project, to be provided the opportunity to assess risk (individual, group, or organizational) and to withdraw from the research without penalty, to have their anonymity protected or their contribution identified, where requested, will be respected."
I have read and understood the guidelines of the Tri-Policy Statement - Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, and the University of Alberta Standards for the Protection of Human research Participants (GFC Policy Manual, Section 66) and agree to address these standards in conducting research.
Moreover, the goals and the conduct of this project are aligned with principles of respect, dignity, representatibeness, confidentiality, and collaboration. The standards stated in this statement are to be adhered to throughout the research project.
Igor Osipov June 19th, 2006
207 Supplement 3. Oil Company Round Table (Selected Transcript)
Facilitator: Let's return to our work. What else do we have? The Company is in the position to gain those things. The development of the company was quick enough, but the problem is that issues cannot be resolved, because you must address that in Moscow, at the headquarters. It is good cooperation, but at the same time, what was done; economical development of the region?
CEO: Agreements between the company, the city, between the municipality, and of course it will be beneficial for everyone; perhaps we need to focus our programs differently. For example, we need to make sure that we focus our efforts on the main or weakest directions. Another thing I wanted to note in regards to the socially oriented things. I also touched on the steps for YANAO and Municipality. This year, we have been using the practice of employing specialists in the professions we need from the local communities,. The company is investing in educating people, local people that will eventually come back and be employed. In addition to this we execute capital construction projects. We need to make sure we count the money and move forward. We want to create a House of Culture, young specialists. Housing is the problem, but we are actively working on it and will solve it. We are going through a reorganization and restructuring process. We should say that socially we also created a new enterprise so that we are working within PNG. Now they are independently operating companies that will have their own commitments and their own contributions to the local community.
Facilitator: That agribusiness is not business here. Why cannot this be business? Any economical activity is business. Even if you are doing fish breeding, where is it going? Ok, let's do this.
The main thing is that seljskoe hozyaistvo 5000 something, fish goes to the processing. Then when would you sell it? Reselling it we do not do. We created the plant which is doing the processing. It is a minus, why cannot you call it business? In my understanding this is an economic activity via which you have to make money.
Right, it used to be -5 mln dollars, then -3,-2,-1, and then 0, but making money? Where do they take fuel, for example, for processing plant and then for transportation? The fuel is compensated or donated by the municipality or company to them. If this is an enterprise they would have to buy it.
Another thing, the Company made a deal with an individual family, they gave them money, and they provided everything, no problem.
The more we increase the productivity of the processing plant, the more jobs appear in the community.
Klimova: This is not...
208 CEO: This is just fish breeding and making sure they are doing their traditional activities. Just an idea - the volume of catched fish increased in the last few years 5 times.
Klimova: The municipality authorities know that this is a dotational, not profitable enterprise, however this creates the jobs.
Kobylkin: You could give them money, but this would be a gift, which spoils people; instead we are giving them an opportunity to work and earn their money rather than going to the settlement and taking money and then going doing whatever...
Klimova: Exactly. Economically viable activity. Economically and technically nonsense. Why would we have it this way? To support local needs?
Kobylkin: Making sure people have work. They maintain their traditional way of life.
Klimova: Let me clarify something for you. It is too early to speak about indigenous business in the North. I think we should return to this question in five years.
Local City Representative: And even that would be too early.
Klimova: Do you understand? It is too early. It is not profit driven.
Facilitator: Listen, in the middle of Russia in the villages, people also gather, mushrooms and berries, and then they turn it in to the processing plants and get their money for it. For them it is a kind of business, but at least they can live off it.
Panel Experts: You see the difference is there is no infrastructure here, very few roads, and this is why it is difficult to get your berries and mushrooms.
Kobylkin: Still it is not money-making enterprises. They still would live off dotatsiya.
CEO: Here it is 100 or 200 people who would live off mushrooms and berries, and in middle Russia, there would be a different number of people.
Panel Expert: I understand all the things that have been said today and it's all good. One thing I would like to address is the nature of corporate management. Is this correct, and I would like to hear the director's word on it, that the daughter company like this one is completely dependant on, and is a very confined entity in many if not all its decision, to Moscow? So if you think that they could help with anything in the social sphere, I think it is a deep misunderstanding of the situation. They are doing some activities locally? Yes, this is true; they call it - "help", "assistance". What we need is the enterprise which is working on our territory, and is our enterprise, where there are thousands of people working, and which is independent. Where the top manager is able to manage and make decisions over finances over things he can or cannot do himself, where potential revisions or editorials are possible. Because speaking with an executive of a large
209 company, I know the company is very profitable. But he can really do very little, he cannot help. This is one of the aspects which are necessary to voice here and discuss. There have to be approaches, ways to do things. We have infrastructure like plumbing or heating here, we can't make it report to Moscow. Such system will have more negative sides than positive. Why? Because the director is not managing financials of the company and he is losing initiative. He is bound to be dependant and passive in his decisions. This is something important.
Moscow Corporate Headquarters Representative: Let me respond to your question. You have just given a bad example. We always make sure local directors are professionals. After all, business is business and it has its own rules. There is a structure inside the company which does planning. It is a complicated structure, since the company as a whole is a very large company, and the processes within the company are also varied. On the one hand, it is done in order to allow dedicated structures to focus on their targets and their tasks, while not distracting their attention to other things. And you should understand that the whole process is not immediate. Everything is connected. However, we have planned budgets that are operational in short-, middle- and long term perspectives, and their framework allows for negotiations to add things into the budgets; this is something which the director can do.
Panel Expert: The thing is that territory and the enterprise, in our case, all changes and everything is decided by Moscow, because if we ask to solve something, the director cannot do anything, because it is not in the budget. We are solving something today. Surely we meet sometimes annually or semiannually, but there is no immediate dialogue between the executives which are working onday-to-day problems.
Moscow Corporate Headquarters Representative: You understand that it is not like making decisions based on meetings, or the results of meetings. There is significant preparatory work that has to be done prior to the meeting, and so on. And there are people that work locally, and with those people you also meet and discuss things. So your proposals are then forwarded to Moscow. It is clear, that there are different structures, which are responsible for different things, like social or cultural infrastructure assistance.
Local City Representative: The main thing is to make sure you can be independent at the local level. Not going to Moscow. Building big objects is definitely at the local level. But the actual things, small things like sending a bus or small assistance, why would you need Moscow? There has to be executive decision-making at that local level.
Moscow Corporate Headquarters Representative: As soon as any decision is related to financial figures, this has to be planned. If there are no planned funds for this or that decision, then, where did he make it? He cannot make this decision. Money allocated - no problem. There is no money allocated in the planned budget - he cannot make decisions.
210 Facilitator: If there are no limits to the budget it is not possible, but it is him who can decide. But in the company your director is not doing anything or cannot make any decisions.
Local City Representative: No transport things can be decided. But the thing is that you should plan for these things.
Facilitator: You have to make sure the company has that in their budget. The company does quite right. Because we have different interactions - think now what you need, so that the executives have your information and could start planning in the budget. But on the other hand, there is a volume, which is done. When do you have the money? Start quickly, start right away, we have this or that problem, discuss with municipality and we can plan for it. We cannot do otherwise, there too many things, and there will always be some sort of problem if not planned for.
Klimova: May or June
Facilitator: Did you get it?
Klimova: Not yet. For 2007 sometime in April-May.
Local City Representative: We have a commitment to have that budgeted. We need helicopters. You cannot plan everything here, okay. It is Russia. This is what the problem is. Some sum there has to be that the local director can make decisions on.
Facilitator: The response is - make sure you have your information well in advance, and the company will have your needs addressed in next year's budget. The problem was eased by due planning procedures. For example, Maria Leonidovna gives her proposals in May-June and then it is planned.
Local City Representative: Partnership is doing things together and enterprises participating in the social life of the town. Yes, you have your infrastructure, housing, et cetera, but what is related to the daily social partnership - they do not even have that authority - to solve the problem financially. The response is -1 cannot decide on this with you. So I do not see the idea of social partnership working, really, because it has to be a daily, continuous dialogue. But there is none to talk about.
CEO: Let me respond to the question. First, which is related to the company representatives, what can be decided and whatcannot, we can decide and participate in many things; however, if we cannot do things, because it is not planned in the budget. It is not because the main company is prohibiting us to do it. We are operating as an independent company. We form the money. Our company is a fully independent and responsible part of the local process. 100s of millions of rublesare vertically integrated, we have enough tools. I have heard perhaps there are problems in social and socio economic spheres with those subsidiaries that have been formed just recently, correct? Yes, but we need to understand that they have existed foronly six months. It is not only
211 their problems but also ours because they are not financially stable yet. When the procedure of financing and planning forms fully, they will become the same partners like us, like our company. But please understand - give them some time. Wish them luck ©
Department of Indigenous Development, YANAO Administration: There is a formation of activities planned for. Rosneft. As a rule there are agreements, annual agreements. We would like to see perspective planning, not only annual, but also long term planning. Because development of the municipality and other territories around us, we need to see perspective planning. Why because we have done analysis in the department. It is YTD, it is housing, all these commitments are 1-2 year long commitments. But we would like to see other commitments. Then we will see that the company will be operating in partnership, in the framework of those commitments. And what is more important, our local people will see their place in these company activities; aperspective to see where they are, their part in the process. May be in this respect, I would like to also voice the positive experiences that we can share with other companies, like Gazprom, which started in Yamal - so these issues, and problems - they are known to other companies. In Yamal for example - and there is a need for your experience there which covers the partnership relation building. Our department is ready to assist in this. We are ready to cooperate with the municipality, and in publicizing your company experience at the regional level. So I hope that you will share your experience.
CEO: The strategy of company development, where we would like to be in the municipality, we update them in the HQ, 5-10 year plans are in place. We are transparent in this and we can definitely do this and support these initiatives. Small investments, that we have been doing, we would like to see this perspective. What is important is for you to show what you want, we are ready to consider and plan for this, so we can assist in your development goals. We are open today and tomorrow, we are open for cooperation and showing the results of our work.
We would like to make sure, we understand, but in the framework of the budget that we have. We can include this into the strategic planning as well. Let's not do this today, that tomorrow. We need to plan well.
Department of Indigenous Development, YANAO Administration: We have many questions, in relation to the native people and in relation to the company. Relationships are optimal; we have an approach worked out based on agreements that keep the questions under the guidance of the law. And we also put together perspectives in the relationships. In 2007 we support that there was planning. And the shevstvo of the Kharampur settlement was a correct idea. This activity was counted and we would like to see this experience when developing the Yamal peninsula. I think my colleagues will speak more about how the association will speak. We would like to say that PRN is one of the baselines of the industry of Russia and we have some good results and one of experience polygon with native people. I would like to thank you for your activities. I would hope this partnership is for long and that local people find good use of their skills and jobs in your company.
212 CEO: Our policy is quite important. The company and the president of the company is very proud of having the Kharampur case, and what was done by the company showcases the attitude we have. It is not gifts, not some kind of assistance. And while speaking with the President, he would ask me many times have you been there, have you been there. And there is indeed something to be proud of and I know that our partnership will only be developing further.
Panel Expert: Dialog between the natives and company. What are the problems, and we would like to knowhow the problems are solved? Maybe we are not doing fully what can we do, so we would like to know more about it.
CEO: Sometimes there are situations, sometimes negative and there are structures and cases that speculate about it. I know that these organizations somewhat have semi- authority to do this, but there are serious organizations - and I know you are not like the ones I mentioned (to Klimova), and this is a moment which impacts our relations and the image of the company. So I'd like you to take note of it, and so you could fix these issues and so we work in the atmosphere of collaboration and teamwork. Our partners have to work the same way.
Panel Expert: Re: subcontractors. There is an agreement which we sign with subcontractors. So they are working based on contract. There are subcontractors that are....
Klimova: Yes, Dmitry Nikolaevich already told you this, that and people of the Purovsky District will start working on large projects, so they do not repeat mistakes of the Purovsky municipality. Why to this date, we have such a working atmosphere in Purovsky and native people of Purovsky? In the past nobody would ask natives regarding the licensed land slots, at any price, the development of oil and gas, crossing reindeer and fishing camps, or crossing sacred grounds. However, after Anatoly Ostryagin came and when he lead the Purovsky District he looked at the indigenous settlements and camps, he often traveled to tundra camps to fishermen, hunters, reindeer herders, and he said: guys it is necessary to return the debt. The time of wreckless behavior in the territory is over. It is time to give back. And now in every settlement of the Purovsky District there is an organization that executes shevstvo. Khalyasavey - netneftegaz, esli eto Toljka - Purgas, Kharampur - Pumeftegas, Tarko-Sale - Novatek. I have to say that Kharampur is a business card of the district. If you remember what was seven years ago? It was 20 cabins, almost dissolving withcovered windows. Now it is beautiful houses, and people ask me - is this the village? Yes, but this is not the village. A lot has been done for Kharampur, for obschina, for the children of indigenous descent. And there are minuses. We spoke of the ecology. I purposefully raised the question of your subcontractors - those Bashnefte.. those.... They are impudently driving on their cars wherever they want, even though there is a road that is right there. They go to the forest. And what happens when the berry and mushroom seasons start? What kind of situation is this? They bring dogs with them. When they go home, those dogs they leave behind and these dogs come to the village - they sure want to eat - or to go to the nearest camp. And there are reindeer. And then the letters and complaints come, addressing the municipality head -
213 here they took reindeer, there something else. At this stage nobody knows what - is this a mad dog, or healthy dog?
Facilitator: And this is about subcontractors?
Klimova: Yes, about subcontractors. And when I say about the company itself, I always say that proudly. I know to keep silent when we go to the regional meetings YTD, because I know what is going on in Kharampur. This is a right policy of two people - Kobylkin and CEO, they plan, recommend, and all recommendations come from below. Nobody would tell you who and what to give - this or that. Those requests and proposals that come from the grass roots are those that have to be accepted by the regional authorities. As you know we never ask anything for the sake of asking. And I myself- you all work with me and I hope that in your address to how people behave themselves, I know about that story - and I was shocked by it - we need to work with such kind of people. No one should speculate for the sake of achieving individual personal objectives. This should not happen. I work for so many years with all the oil and gas companies and their executive management, and I always look straight in their eyes, because I would never ask anything for myself from them. I have my municipal anddistrict head for that. If he thinks it is appropriate he will help, if not - no problem. What kind of problems do we have in Kharampur? We have the waste problem, which I voiced already. We collaborated, cooperated, and will be doing things together, and we will make the village even better. And now, today we have oil and gas, and tomorrow - what? People would leave and the natives will stay on their ripped out historical land, emptied, no jobs, and those towns they would stay as monuments of those years. So in order for native people to have their own jobs, this is why Kobylkin is making Agreements. It is new jobs, it is construction of floating fishing bases. And we have a dream. You have the rig nearby, right? And we have a lake there - Swan Lake (Lebyazh 'e). And we would like to build an ethno-park there. And I want this to be built under the flag of Rosneft, where there will be Kharampur citizens be employed.
And I also had a question from last year - in June, which should be on the agenda. About employing a person - a Native Affairs Officer, who lives on the territories where your operations take place. If we had such a person, he would meet people, he would do orientations for your subcontractors and staff members, he would interact with the native people, he would immediately know about all kinds of problems or oil spills. He would be a connection, a liaison between the Director General and the Head of YTD. He should always be among the people who live on tundra. So I would like to return to this question again - and this is a big request. We have to employ this young man in your company. I have prepared the letter. The other one - we waited too long, we employed in another company. And this is Aivasedo Nikolay Ivanovich, he used to work in militia, this is his characteristic, copy of the workbook. You understand, that I would not recommend random people to be employed at the resource company, so that I do not turn red afterwards for such a person. If I am referencing such a person, I am responsible for him. He is a face of all native people, living on the licensed fields of your company. May I formally submit this letter to the CEO? Please, so you could see what kind of man he is.
214 And from the YTD I can say big thanks for what you do for the native people of the North in the Purovsky District.
CEO: As I said, there is a question we need to look at this in the framework of our perspective cooperation. We will be considering all these questions together, finding mutually beneficial solutions. As far as employment, I gave to my deputy your formal letter. Regarding the relationships, I would not want to repeat myself, we already covered it. I think we are moving in the right direction. We have normal relationships.
As with the politics of the company, the more we operate on the territory, the more we invest in assisting local community to address these goals.
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