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RESOLUTION: International Conference. Sustainable Development of Reindeer Husbandry in the Context of Global Changes in the Arctic as part of the International Championship in Traditional Reindeer Husbandry Neryungri, Neryungri district, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

On March 16-17, 2023, as part of the International Championship on Traditional Reindeer Husbandry in the Neryungri District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the International Conference "Sustainable Development of Reindeer Husbandry in the Context of Global Changes in the Arctic" was held.

The purpose of the conference is to strengthen international and interregional cooperation, to develop proposals for improving legislation in the development of reindeer husbandry.

The conference program included three thematic sessions:

1. Strategies for the sustainable development of reindeer husbandry;
2. Training and education for reindeer herders;
3. Public-private partnership for the sustainable development of reindeer husbandry.

The main moderator of the conference was Mikhail Pogodaev, the Russian Chairmanship's Special Envoy for Indigenous and Regional Cooperation in the Arctic Council, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Arctic and Indigenous Peoples Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Aleksey Tsykarev, international expert, member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2020-2022, and Mikhail Prisyazhny - Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) acted as co-moderators.

The Conference was attended by representatives of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, reindeer herders, reindeer herding entities, public organizations, leading scientific and higher educational institutions, large companies, organizations and institutions.

Having discussed the problems and prospects for the sustainable development of the northern domestic reindeer husbandry, the conference participants:

• Recognizing that reindeer husbandry is one of the oldest and most efficient sectors of the circular economy,
• Considering that reindeer herders base their existence on a holistic system of mobility, the use of limited and variable resources, based on careful observation of nature and the subsequent generation and accumulation of indigenous traditional knowledge,
• Realizing the risks and threats to the conservation and development of reindeer husbandry in the face of climate change, the impact of technogenic and anthropogenic factors on the conduct of a traditional economy,

Note:

Reindeer herding should be preserved in the Russian Federation as an important basis for the original culture of the indigenous peoples of the North and their traditional way of life,

In the context of the aggravated international situation, the need to take common efforts of organizations of reindeer herding peoples to maintain a multilateral dialogue between the communities of the indigenous peoples of North America, Scandinavia and Russia,

The need to take measures to restore the family foundations of reindeer husbandry and support a nomadic family, as the basis of traditional northern domestic reindeer husbandry,

The need to develop and finance programs for the conservation and development of reindeer husbandry, paying special attention to the climatic, geographical conditions of animal grazing, the structure of herds, the organization of selection and breeding work, as well as the creation of comfortable living conditions in reindeer herding entities to preserve family traditions for the long-term prospects for the development of reindeer herding,

The need to take into account the specifics of taiga and mountain-taiga reindeer husbandry when developing support measures in view of the significant number of predators in these areas,

The need to take into account the balance of interests between reindeer herders, government agencies and industrial entities in the territories where industrial activities are carried out,

A proper understanding of nomadic reindeer husbandry and the incorporation of indigenous traditional knowledge into public administration and national educational standards are essential for the future of reindeer husbandry,

Taiga reindeer husbandry is under serious threat of extinction in some regions,

Support:

The decision of the Council of the Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH) on the establishment of the Eastern Branch of the Association of World Reindeer Herders, which will unite 20 reindeer herding regions of the Russian Federation, Mongolia and China, as a temporary measure in the context of the crisis of international relations in the Arctic and in order to enhance international cooperation on reindeer herding,

The initiative to provide traditional reindeer husbandry with an official UNESCO World Heritage status as a unique human heritage and original civilization of the indigenous nomads of the North,

Development and implementation of new and improved concepts for the sustainable development of the taiga reindeer husbandry in the face of rapid change, based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, the culture and traditions of the taiga reindeer herders;

Implementation of standards for the responsibility of industrial enterprises’ activities in the territories of traditional economic activity,

The projects of the Arctic Council sustainable development working group "Traditional Medicine of the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic" and "Creative Arctic", aimed at assessing the system of folk knowledge to ensure the preservation of human health in the Arctic and at the formation of creative competencies of the inhabitants of the Arctic territories, respectively.

Underline the importance of:

Strengthening and development of international cooperation, exchange of experience in the work of reindeer herders of all countries,

Registration of intellectual property rights of reindeer herders, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) course on the protection of intellectual property rights of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, initiated by the Association of World Reindeer Herders in cooperation with WIPO,

Development of the concepts of nomadic schools and Arctic competencies, taking into account the fact that the education system for reindeer herders cannot exist outside the nomadic lifestyle,

Strongly call for:

To the protection of reindeer pastures, and note that the protection of reindeer pastures and nature cannot be the sole responsibility of reindeer herders, but also of the authorities, business entities and society as a whole,

The UN, international organizations, national, regional, local authorities and the international community should pay attention to the problems of taiga reindeer husbandry and take concrete measures together with reindeer herders to preserve and develop this type of reindeer husbandry.

Recommend:

to Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation:

1. To introduce changes in federal legislation in order to provide state support for persons leading a nomadic and semi-nomadic way of life;
2. To consider the possibility of adopting a law on ethnological expertise at the federal level, providing for a direct obligation to conduct ethnological expertise and establishing liability for non-compliance with the requirements of federal legislation, taking into account the law enforcement practice of Yakutia;
3. To amend subparagraph 5 of paragraph 1 of the article 39.33 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, deleting the words "with the exception of lands and land plots within the boundaries of forest fund lands", determining that the use of lands or land plots that are state or municipal property, with the exception of land plots granted to citizens or legal entities, can be carried out without the provision of land and the establishment of an easement in cases of carrying out activities in order to preserve and develop the traditional way of life, economic activity and crafts of indigenous peoples in the places of their traditional residence and traditional economic activity;
4. To amend subparagraph 13 of paragraph 2 of article 39.10 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, establishing that land plots can be provided for free use for indigenous peoples not only for the purpose of placing buildings and structures, but also for reindeer herding;
5. To amend Article 3 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2006 No. 264-FZ "On the Development of Agriculture" in order to include communities of indigenous peoples in the list of agricultural producers;
6. To supplement the List of types of zones with special conditions for the use of territories, defined by Article 105 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, with a zone of the territory of traditional nature use;
7. To amend the Federal Law of October 25, 2001 No. 137-FZ "On the Enactment of the Land Code of the Russian Federation" in terms of excluding tribal communities from the circle of persons subject to the obligation to re-register the right of permanent perpetual (use).

To the Government of the Russian Federation:

1. To fix the concept of "reindeer pastures" in GOST R 59055-2020 as a separate type of land;
2. To find opportunities to finance the geobotanical and cadastral assessment of lands used for reindeer pastures in the Russian Federation;
3. To develop long-term programs for the introduction of fence keeping reindeer in the conditions of the taiga and mountain taiga zone of reindeer husbandry;
4. To introduce amendments and additions to the rules in the field of livestock breeding in terms of accounting for the mountain taiga zone, as well as establishing minimum requirements for the creation of gene pool farms for breeding reindeer in the mountain taiga zone;
5. To develop and introduce new ways to fight and prevent reindeer diseases, special feed and mineral supplements based on local natural resources. To provide targeted funding for research on monitoring infectious and parasitic diseases of reindeer;
6. To intensify work on improving the level of selection and breeding work, creating a system for identifying reindeer and developing a database of the genetic structure of reindeer by breed;
7. To create a system for monitoring the wild reindeer population in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Krasnoyarsk region and other reindeer herding regions;
8. To create a genetic center in the Sayan region, where the largest reindeer lives, which is by far the most vulnerable and endangered species due to the small number and lack of selection and breeding work;
9. Together with the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, to develop and provide funding for programs to combat predators (wolves, wolverines, etc.), including measures for moral and material incentives, providing reindeer herders with fuel and lubricants, compensating reindeer herders from predators’ loss and etc.;
10. To organize scientific and practical discussions with the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on issues related to the field of reindeer husbandry, including the adoption of a federal law on reindeer husbandry;
11. To launch the Young Reindeer Herder program, which provides for the allocation of social payments to reindeer herders to improve their living conditions, in all reindeer herding regions of Russia, taking into account the positive practice of implementing the program in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia);
12. To scale the project on creation a network of trade and logistics centers, implemented in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) as part of the program of state support for the traditional economic activities of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation, carried out in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, to other subjects of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation;
13. To consider the possibility of revising the rules for hunting predatory animals in the territories of traditional economic activity that threaten the number of reindeer.