When Home Becomes a Protected Area: The Udege People and the Bikin River Valley in the Russian Far East
Tags: Indigenous People, Russia, Environment, Parks, Tradition

In this part of Russia, there are no oil and gas resources. However, forests not only have cultural value for local people but also have become an object of industrial interest as a source of wood for both industrial companies and government. Logging in this territory has a long history. Industrial logging first took place in the river basin during the 1960s. A road to Krasny Yar was built, and a separate village for workers in the timber industry was erected. The traditional way of life of the Indigenous inhabitants became a source of conflict with people who wanted to cut and sell wood from the taiga forest. Not only members of the Indigenous communities, but also people from neighboring settlements, as well as scientists working in academic institutions and nongovernmental organizations — such as WWF Russia and the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the Far East and North of Russia (RAIPON) — were involved in this struggle.

House in Krasny Yar. Photo: Aleksandra Bocharnikova, 2011

In May 2001, the government adopted the special law “On Territories of Traditional Nature Use of the Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation,” regulating the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous organizations played a very active role in lobbying legislature to adopt the special law, as well as the laws “Guarantees of the Rights of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation” and “On Basic Principles of the Organization of Community of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the Russian Federation,” which since then have been pillars of Russia’s legislative framework on Indigenous rights. At the time of its adoption, the special law was seen as a landmark success. According to this law, Indigenous Peoples were allowed to create their own protected areas. However, in practice, they were not able to do so, not only in the Far East but also in other parts of Russia.

The new cultural center in Krasny Yar. Photo: Aleksandra Bocharnikova, 2011

Local inhabitants drafted an appeal to the Russian government to protect nature from commercial logging. Indigenous Peoples, government organizations, and ecological movements decided to prepare the documents for the creation of a protected territory. This territory was intended to become a model region, but the federal government did not approve of the proposal. The main obstacle to the formal adoption of the proposal was the failure of the governor of Primorsky Kray (Primorsky province) to endorse it.

Timber harvesting is an important source of revenue for the regional government, while the establishment of a protected area would impose strong limitations on industrial exploitation. According to the proposed management plan attached to the nomination documents, the territory of traditional nature use would be divided into several zones. The regional administration prohibited commercial logging on the land of the proposed reserve. The timber companies appealed this decision, demanding a reduction of the protected area and the transfer of part of it to their concession area. Indigenous Peoples and environmentalists opposed the move, and the administration eventually rejected the appeal.

Forests not only have cultural value for local people, but also have become an object of industrial interest.

In 2007, however, the local administration gave logging companies permits to carry out what it referred to as “sanitary logging,” which in practice would amount to full-scale forest harvesting. The most problematic change was that Indigenous Peoples were now prohibited from hunting and fishing in the territory where they have traditionally done so, without first obtaining a special permit from the authorities in the far-away city. The court eventually ruled in their favor and repealed this regulation.