A small victory: an indigenous community in Yakutia successfully sued gold miners to obtain an ethnological examination.

In Yakutia, the Sebyan Even community won a lawsuit, requiring the Prognoz company, which holds a license for gold and silver exploration in traditional nature management areas, to conduct an ethnological assessment. However, the community's "Regional Aspect" explainedThat this case is just one of many. And the company will not cease production operations under other existing licenses. 

"Ethnological assessments have been mandatory in Yakutia since 2010, but they're largely uncommitted. Roughly speaking, out of 1400 licenses issued in traditional nature management areas, I think only 50 have been assessed," says a community representative. 

Indigenous communities are uniting and going to court. But such cases drag on for years. After companies are ordered to conduct an assessment, they are forced to sue for damages. Compensation is very modest. 

"For example, a reindeer herder might lose one hectare of pastureland due to harvesting. He would receive compensation of up to 1000 rubles for losing that pasture for seven years. I'm quoting rough figures, but the amounts are actually very small. There are regions that calculate differently, but it's still not enough. The law is very crude," says Andrei. 

At the same time, the number of subsoil users in the districts is growing. For example, in the Kobyaisky Ulus, where the Sebyan community is located, there were only two mining licenses in 2018; now, there are around 50 for the entire ulus. 

Colleagues from the Regional Aspect discuss how indigenous peoples are achieving their rights told The day before. Experts and indigenous peoples themselves say the law is incomplete and that more representatives of indigenous peoples need to be involved in its development.