Summary of Working Paper No. 93-1997
IV.4.1: The Northern Sea Route and Native Peoples. Lessons from the 20th
Century for the 21st.
By Gail Osherenko, Debra Schindler, The Institute of Arctic Studies, Dartmouth
College, USA, Alexandr Pika, and Dmitry Bogoyavlensky, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
Creation of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) extended control of the Soviet
government throughout a vast territory and, in the process, undermined pre-existing
indigenous institutions - laws, norms, customs, rules and patterns of life that
governed the economic and social activities of native peoples. The NSR made
possible the whole pattern of economic development and industrialization of the
Russian North. Native peoples who had inhabited the territories for centuries
were valued for their potential contribution to this transformation rather than
for their unique and distinct cultures. Soviet authorities noted their ability to
survive and produce food and furs and sought to increase this productivity by
industrializing hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding in order to feed an
influx of workers from outside the region.
The NSR benefited the indigenous peoples of the Far North by ending the
transport isolation for regions far from the Bering and Barents Seas. It opened
navigation possibilities on the Lena and other rivers. Administrative authorities
for the NSR opened trade posts and improved the material well-being of northern
and Arctic populations by providing equipment and food. The NSR remains a
crucial link in the international commerce of the northern regions.
The industries operating there continue to underwrite a complex chain of
subsidies to indigenous peoples and communities. Regional administrative units have
had to replace former state subsidies for infrastructure and social welfare,
but these government entities are highly dependent upon the extractive oil, gas,
and mineral industries in the regions where they exist. Thus, the social
welfare system, expenses of electricity generation and provision of fuel for heating
in settlements, emergency administrative grants, capital for construction of
apartment houses, bakeries, and bathhouses are all linked to continuation of
trade.
Today, policy for northern regions and northern nationalities is unsettled.
Russia has yet to grapple seriously with the issues of native land rights and
indigenous self-determination. At the same time, power and some measure of legal
authority over indigenous homelands has shifted to the regions. As indigenous
minorities compose only a small fraction of the population in any region, they
may have little say in the control and management of lands and waters which they
have traditionally used and occupied.
Some of the impacts of the NSR are directly caused by use and maintenance of
the sea route itself. For example, year-round ice-breaker operation at the mouth
of the Yenisey River has interfered with the migration of wild reindeer and
thus threatened the staple food source for native groups throughout the Lower
Yenisey Valley. More widespread impacts are associated with industries that
developed in connection with the NSR. These include widespread air and water
pollution from nickel smelting, barriers to domestic reindeer herd migration,
destruction of pasture lands, and the disturbance of hunting and fishing grounds due to
oil, gas and mineral development. It would be absurd to blame the NSR for all
of the ecological, social, and cultural ills that plague northern communities
today. At the same time, it is naive to dismiss or discount the massive social
and demographic changes triggered by such a vast transport project.
The impacts were multiplied by the nature of Soviet power and authority, the
use of forced labor, and later by conscious government policy favoring creation
of large cities in the Far North. The concentration of population around
industrial centers exceeded the ecological carrying capacity causing fires, water
pollution, soil destruction and damage to flora and fauna. Politically the
dramatic demographic change undermined indigenous power leaving Native populations as
tiny minorities in almost all political divisions of the Russian North.
The potential risks of increased international use of the NSR include
ecological damage, increased impoverishment, loss of livelihood and access to land and
resources necessary to economic well-being and cultural continuity, and further
political disenfranchisement. Potential benefits include increased access to
goods and services, prospects for strengthening local economic activities
including reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, trapping and Native crafts, expansion
and diversification of local economies, enhanced political and cultural rights,
clarification of title to indigenous lands and resources, implementation of
existing laws protecting indigenous cultures and activities, and reduction in
conflicts with outsiders. Whether the benefits will outweigh the detriments will
depend, in large measure, on the institutions, policies and practices put in
place to protect Native rights to land and resources, promote self determination of
indigenous peoples, and increase local community control.