Caught between Traditional Ways of Life and Economic Development: Interactions between Indigenous Peoples and an Oil Company in Numto Nature Park

• Author: Maria Tysiachniouk, Irina Olimpieva
• Pages: 145-167

© 2019 Dr. Maria Tysiachniouk & Dr. Irina Olimpieva. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of

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Citation: Dr. Maria Tysiachniouk & Dr. Irina Olimpieva. “Caught between Traditional Ways of Life and Economic Devel-

opment: Interactions between Indigenous Peoples and an Oil Company in Numto Nature Park’’ Arctic Review on Law and

Politics, Vol. 10, 2019, pp. 56–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/arctic.vxx.1207

*Correspondence to: Dr. Maria Tysiachniouk, email: tysiachn@yandex.ru, 197022 Kamenoos-

trovski 69, apt.15, St. Petersburg, Russia

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 10, 2019, pp. 56–78

56

Peer-reviewed article

Caught between Traditional Ways of

Life and Economic Development:

Interactions between Indigenous

Peoples and an Oil Company in Numto

Nature Park

Dr. Maria Tysiachniouk*

Centre for Independent Social Research, Russia, Durham University, Faculty of Geography,

UK; University of Rovaniemi, Faculty of Law, Finland, Wageningen University, Environ-

mental Policy Group, the Netherlands

Dr. Irina Olimpieva

Centre for Independent Social Research, Russia

Abstract

The paper examines the conict between indigenous people living in Numto Nature Park in the

Khanty-Mansy region of Russia and the oil company Surgutneftegaz, which is trying to expand to

new areas of the Park for industrial development. We analyse this conict by looking at different

perceptions concerning the threats and benets underpinning the conicting parties’ arguments.

We show that the oil company, whose approach is based on the principles of benet sharing,

seeks to provide economic benets as well as infrastructure to ensure development in the indig-

enous community. In contrast, the indigenous people in Numto prioritise environmental safety

and the possibility of maintaining their traditional ways of life, which means eliminating the

negative impacts of oil development on sheries, reindeer herding and the general state of the

environment.

The study indicates that focusing on indigenous peoples’ and oil companies’ differences concern-

ing perceptions of threats and benets provides a better understanding of desirable benet-sharing

arrangements between oil companies and indigenous peoples in areas that have so far only been

marginally affected by industrialisation and modernisation. This insight suggests that the intro-

duction of community-centred perspectives emphasising cultural and environmental security in

benet-sharing policies in oil companies could improve practices.1

Caught between Traditional Ways of Life and Economic Development

57

The analysis draws on interviews with members of the indigenous Nenets and Khanty peoples of

Numto Park as well as representatives of Surgutneftegaz, NGOs, the regional administration and

the Numto Park administration.

Keywords: indigenous people; benet sharing; traditional lifestyle; economic development;

oil extraction; conict

Responsible Editor: Noor Johnson, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University

of Colorado Boulder, USA

Received: March 2018; Accepted: February 2019; Published: March 2019

1. Introduction

Indigenous peoples inhabit most of the areas containing oil and gas deposits in the

Russian Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Rapid industrial development triggered by oil

extraction has an impact on the environment and on those indigenous peoples living

off their natural habitats, putting their cultural and environmental security at risk.

Cultural security represents the ability of a social group to maintain its character and

traditions under changing conditions and different kinds of threats; the group faces

the challenge of preserving its traditional identity in the face of economic expansion

and modernisation.2

These threats to indigenous culture seem unavoidable when extractive industries

operate on indigenous lands. However, benet-sharing arrangements in some Rus-

sian oil extraction regions attest to the possibility of peaceful coexistence between

oil companies and indigenous peoples. Examples include the Nenets Autonomous

Okrug (NAO), where indigenous people have received adequate funds for building

reindeer meat processing plants3,4 and Sakhalin Island, where indigenous languages

and traditions have been revitalised through companies’ funding.5

The creation of protected areas or reserves is a strategy employed around the world

to protect ecological integrity in the context of regional development. Protected areas

are established in very different ways depending on the context; while they have the

potential to protect indigenous peoples’ traditional land uses and ways of life, in some

cases, indigenous peoples have been evicted from these areas and prohibited from

pursuing their traditional activities.6 In Russia, the establishment of nature parks

has the potential to preserve both valuable ecosystems and indigenous peoples’ tra-

ditional ways of life in the area.7 Given the country’s resource-dependent economy,

the oil and gas industry has sought to develop oil infrastructure in protected areas,

leading to conicts over the role of these areas in supporting either economic devel-

opment or traditional indigenous use.

This paper analyses one such case, Numto Nature Park in the Khanty-Mansy

Autonomous Okrug (KhMAO), which has become an arena of conict between

indigenous people, mostly Forest Nenets who live in the park, and the oil com-

pany Surgutneftegaz. Our analysis takes into account the different perceptions of