Russia [1], Inhabit the Ussuri Taiga – Markets

Summary report of the Community Conservation Resilience Initiative in: RIntrouducstionsia The Indigenous Udege people, one demands of the of the 48 indigenous peoples Chinese and officially listed and recognized in Japanese Russia [1], inhabit the Ussuri taiga – markets. This temperate forest on the SikhoteAlin has benefited the mountains, located between the Sea new Russian Fishing on Bikin River. BROC/CIC of Japan to the east and the oligarchs. Chinese border to the west. This area contains the highest The Udege tribe, descendants from The CCRI worked with three Udege biodiversity in boreal Asia, including the ancient MongolianChinese communities in Primorye inhabiting the flagship Siberian tiger and other empires of the middle ages, include the Iman, Bikin and Samarga river rare and endemic species of fauna around 2,500 people, spread over valleys. The assessment process and flora – panax ginseng, Korean the South Russian Far East (RFE). included regular bilateral contacts pine, schizandra chinensis, [4] Some of them live around with community leaders, field visits, eleuterococcus, velvet tree, and Northern SikhoteAlin in Khadarovsk and a roundthetable discussion salmon and bird species. [2] territory, but most are in Primorsky, with indigenous leaders and the Unfortunately, the proximity of China in about 20 legal entities known as deputy governor, which led to the and Japan means that there is great tribal or nomadic communes adoption of a road map. A fullday demand for these biological (“obschina”). capacity building workshop for resources. Udege traditional areas leaders of the three communities face the rapid expansion of external Russian law formally recognises the then took place at the Iman logging, hunting, salmon fishing and existence of indigenous territories [5] municipal centre. This was followed mining operations. [3] As such, the and grants native peoples special by a conference in Vladivostock in Udege suffer from competition over hunting [6] and fishing [7] rights., September, which included a report the resources that sustain their However, there is a serious back from the Fostering Community livelihoods. discrepancy between formal rights Conservation Conference held in and law enforcement and Durban in August. This conference The poor state of environmental management in practice, leading to included the development of protection and enforcement since deep conflicts around indigenous submissions to fora such as the the 1990s has only compounded the priorities. Regulations regarding forthcoming United Nations problem with growing legal and indigenous privileges are overly Framework Convention on Climate illegal logging, mining, oilgas complicated, unclear, and often Change (UNFCCC) summit in Paris pipeline development, unsustainable changed without informing the in December hunting and poaching, and fishing communities. 2015. and harvesting of nontimber products in order to meet the 1 Community Conservation Resilience Initiative ∙ November 2015 Community Conservation Resilience in Russia The Udege have become an by limiting hunting and fishing Another important external impact is essential part of the entire forest opportunities for the Udege, who ignorance about boreal forests and ecosystem over the already lack natural resources. their communities in most forest centuries—along with the Social and political marginalisation, related schemes established under charismatic Siberian tiger, they are and not understanding the the UN Framework Convention on an important link in the forest food regulations, trigger frequent conflicts Climate Change (UNFCCC), the chain. Wild meat and fish are between communes and Convention on Biological Diversity important to Udege tradition and play government inspectors, turning (CBD) and other conventions. a key role in their diets, and this Udege into criminal poachers and livelihood strategy has been found to prey for inspectors. The main internal threats identified be environmentally sustainable. [8] include a lack of capacity to fully Even though the Udege increasingly Legal and illegal logging forms understand relevant hunting and live in rural towns and grow another serious threat for the fishing regulations. This leads to vegetables and farm cattle, livelihoods of Udege communities. frequent conflicts, both with law dependence on forest, fish and Specific threats to the Samarga and enforcement authorities and wildlife remains the core of their Bikin community include bad internally, as indigenous and non livelihoods. infrastructure, which made it hard for indigenous individuals in one them to bring nontimber forest community are subject to different Because the men are often away for products (NTFP) and salmon to the privileges. Another serious threat is long periods hunting and fishing, market. The ‘Udege Legend’ the loss of traditional knowledge, Women have equal rights to men National Park was created on the language and customary practices, and play a significant role in dealing Iman River to support Udege culture especially amongst the youth. with officials, regulations and and livelihoods. However timber Moreover, many young people, documents. They tend to be much businesses, dependent local officials especially women, choose to stay in more aware of legal details and and hunters succeeded in replacing cities after completing their specific problems of fish and wildlife an Udegefriendly person with a education, causing a generational use and management and often fulfil former inspector for the director’s gap. Due to lack of employment and leadership positions in communes position. As a result Udege people opportunities, there are few people and associations. themselves are now banned from between the ages of twenty and However, the Udege people’s entering the park, which is seriously thirty in traditional communities. traditional territories are facing harming their traditional hunting escalating and destructive resource practices. use, and they are losing their struggle to control and conserve the resources that sustain their livelihoods. [9] The main external threats identified by the communities include the absence of recognised land rights and the overexploitation of fish and wildlife resources by poachers, especially the overharvesting of salmon stocks by commercial fishing fleets, which has led to a serious decline in salmon resources. Government authorities often react Colours of Bikin Taiga. BROC/CIC 2 Community Conservation Resilience Initiative ∙ November 2015 Preliminary Conclusions and Recommendations After a series of consultations and called for the creation of the Bikin workshops in which were included National Park as a comanaged indigenous communities, leaders of protected area with effective the Russian Far East and indigenous participation and the colleagues from the Global Forest correction of federal legislation; and Coalition, a road map for the region to recreate the indigenous division in has been formulated: the Udege Legend National Park and ensure its management First, to pass regional regulations complies with the law. Communities with indigenous participation, need to be educated about existing providing prioritised access to biodiversity and about current justified volumes of fish and wildlife regulations in fishing and hunting, resources for indigenous and governmental agencies need to communities. Additionally, to properly recognise, respect and regularly monitor the environmental support indigenous conservation conditions in indigenous territories. practices, traditional knowledge and Thirdly, to support the self related privileges. governance of communities through the creation of indigenous councils under the regional and municipal governments of Primorye. Furthermore, to address the main social problems in the communities including education, medical services, power supply and infrastructure. In addition to this, the community initiated further recommendations to support community resilience and conservation. Recommendations include strengthening policies and Udege boat on Bikin. Yuki Mikami Taiga Forum/CIC strategies to prevent overexploitation of salmon stocks and including indigenous representatives in working groups that establish fish and wildlife quotas. There is also a need to address illegal and unsustainable logging and create special rules to cut Korean pine for Udege traditional boats and wood for tribal needs. There should be a training program for young Udege on traditional resource management practices and Beekeeping is popular with the Udege, Russia CCRI. related skills that contribute to economic livelihoods. They also Yuki Mikami Taiga Forum/CIC 3 Community Conservation Resilience Initiative ∙ November 2015 Testimony Testimony by Nadezha Selyuk, Vice Chair of the Primorye Association of Indigenous People at the Workshop, 27 July 2015. “Russian law formally acknowledges the existence of indigenous territories, but in practice no specific territory has been recognised. Indigenous peoples live there, can hunt and fish, but they have no tenure at all. Our experience collaborating with national parks authorities caused low trust in that model of conservation, until our rights to take part in territorial management are legally granted. We hope the new Bikin Park will do this for all national parks. There should also be an indigenous fund for protection of traditional knowledge and culture with an indigenous council under a federal program.” Ronnie Hall/CIC Udege hunters pray at sacred site. Yuki

Load more