COMMENTS ON THE SPEECH OF
VYACHESLAV SHADRINJEFF GAYMAN, PROFESSOR, HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION• Commentator’s specialty is Indigenous education, notgovernance• Oilspill of the Exxon Valdez in the Gulf of Alaska in 1989

ABOUT THE AINU PEOPLE• Indigenous people of northern Japan and Eastern Russia• Current population estimated at approximately 25,000• Traditionally resided in the northern section of the mainland ofHonshu, the island of Hokkaido, as well as the southern half of theisland of Sakhalin, throughout the Kurile Archipelago (present
Sakhalin Oblast), and on the southern tip of the Kamchatka
Peninsula in what is now the Russian Federation.

AINU ECOLOGICAL VALUES• Natural environment is forest, windswept grasslands, marine• Ainu traditional lifestyles did not disrupt natural environmentalbalance.

• Sustainable lifestyle was upheld through values of moderation
grounded in a foundation of spirituality.

• Maintained through oral tradition and social practices• A unique system of Ainu Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

AINU PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABILITY• Edible plant resources maintained by never harvesting more thanone third• Salmon population maintained by only taking as many fish asnecessary at any one time

• Ainu maintained peaceful relations with horeukamuy, or the Ezo
wolf, which was a predator of the deer and functioned to cull deer
overpopulation which is now threatening forest resources in
Hokkaido• Willow trees were replenished by grafting 1~2 willow branches
into the ground whenever Ainu harvested willow trees• This contributed to the maintenance of riverine environments whichwere suited to the inhabitance of local fish, and so on.

• Ainu maintained values of moderation in their relations with theseenvirons through rituals and ceremonies which involved
communication, and communion, with the spirit-deities of these floraand fauna.

WAJIN DEVELOPMENT AND INCURSION• Wajin settlers from the south have seriously altered the naturallandscape of Hokkaido:• Transforming of monocrop agricultural land and forest• Decimation of local fisheries resources such as the population ofherring,• Reckless harvesting of trees → increased flooding• Poisoning the land with fertilizers and pest killers.

• Ainu were forced into slave labor in the salmon and herring fishingcamps• Later estranged from their lands and prohibited from theirtraditional harvesting practices through legislation by the JapaneseState and Hokkaido Prefectural government.

AINU CULTURAL REVITALIZATION• Today very few Ainu remain who practice traditional hunting or
fishing of fish and game

• Although some fervently desire to inherit the ways and values of
their ancestors:• Making efforts to learn from Elders• Taking hunting licenses• Advocacy for rights to hunt and fish
• Litigation against Japanese State and Hokkaido Prefectural
government for salmon harvesting rights (may develop into aclass-action suit)AINU ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM• The Nibutani Dam Case (1997)• recognized Ainu Indigeneity• mandated social impact assessments on branches of thedammed Saru River• Pollution control agreement• Construction of an industrial waste-disposal site on theMopetsu River• Coalitions of researchers, environmentalists and citizens’groups, moral support from foreign Indigenous groups in theUnited States, for• Advocacy to regain forestry management and salmon
harvesting rights.

• Current legislation is assimilatory in philosophy and grants thegovernment authority to strictly regulate such activities.

THE FUTURE• Possible trans-village/regional management of ecologicalresources• Plans for construction of a pipeline for oil or natural gas from
Sakhalin to southern Japan?

IN CONCLUSION• “Governments must recognize and duly support Indigenous
people’s identity, culture and interests, facilitating their effective
contribution to sustainable development”• Impassioned Ainu seek to regain their rights• Indigenous environmental rights recovery movements have hugesymbolic value in terms of larger national, regional, and global
environmental concerns.