scholarly journals Implementing the State Duty to Consult in Land and Resource Decisions: Perspectives from Sami Communities and Swedish State Officials

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (0) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasmus Kløcker Rasmus ◽  
Kaisa Raitio

The duty of states to consult indigenous communities is a well-established legal principle, but its implications for practice remain uncertain. Sweden is finding itself at a particularly critical juncture as it prepares to legislate a duty to consult the Sami people in line with its international obligations. This paper explores the ability of Swedish state actors to implement the duty to consult, based on lessons from an already existing duty set out in Swedish minority law, namely to ensure the effective participation of minorities in land and resource decisions. Presenting novel empirical material on the views of Sami communities and state officials in ministries and agencies, we demonstrate the existence of considerable implementation gaps linked to practice, sectoral legislation, and political discourse. We argue that if state duties are to promote the intended intercultural reconciliation, then new measures are needed to ensure enforcement, e.g. via mechanisms of appeal and rules of nullification. In addition, sectoral resource regulations should be amended to refer to the duties set out in minority law and/or a potential new bill on consultation duty in a consistent manner. In the near-term, the state should ensure that Sami communities are adequately resourced to engage in consultation and should invest in state authorities’ own ability to implement, i.e. through competence development, staffing, intersectoral coordination, and independent evaluation. Much could also be gained if state agencies and Sami communities worked together to develop detailed consultation routines for relevant resource sectors. Responsible Editor: Øyvind Ravna, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

Author(s):  
S.A. Grigorev

Studying the consequences of exploitation of indigenous territories is an urgent topic of modern science. This study presents the result of the research on the history of the development of a special type of resources — mammoth tusks in northern Yakutia. The paper is aimed at the analysis of impact of the new sector of the eco-nomy in the region on the local communities. It was also important to identify the sequence of the events that facilitated this development. The methodological basis of the study is represented by the historical method of ana-lyzing archival data, periodicals, and legal and scientific literature on this subject. Sources for the paper included materials from the National Archive of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), regional periodicals, as well as legal and reference materials covering this crucial stage in the development of the local indigenous communities. Despite the fact that extraction of fossil mammoth bone has been carried out for a long time, its active development began only at the end of the 20th century. The formation and progress of such a new type of mining activity has left a special impression on the development of the local population engaged in the traditional farming. Opportunities and the weak state control in this area have created favorable conditions for the emergence of a special environ-ment for economic relations. This has had a significant impact on social well-being of the local indigenous peo-ples. During this period, a special situation developed when, due to objective reasons, mammoth tusks turned from an object of natural origin that did not cause any interest into a valuable, highly sought resource. The gro-wing global demand for mammoth remains and the removal of barriers for external contacts in the Soviet Union stimulated the rapid development of the fundamentally different structure of socio-economic relations in the Arctic zone. As a result, this situation greatly influenced the state of the local indigenous communities. The areas of their traditional living became a territory of intensive development of “new resources”, which brought about real envi-ronmental and social threats, but also new opportunities. The new prospects, as well as the state unreadiness to regulate the emerging market of “wild” mammoth bone, created all conditions for the emergence of a special area of economic relations spanning the Arctic regions of Yakutia. This almost neglected factor undoubtedly had sig-nificant impact on the social well-being of the indigenous peoples living in the region at the end of the 20th century.


Author(s):  
Galina Stepanova

The article describes the main morphological and biological features of alfalfa varieties included in the State register of breeding achievements approved for use in the Central Chernozem zone of Russia. A total of 32 alfalfa varieties are included in the State register. This is 9 varieties of blue alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. subsp. Sativa) of domestic selection and 8 foreign, 11 varieties of variable alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. nothosubsp. varia (Martyn) Arcang.) domestic selection and 1 variety of foreign and 3 varieties of yellow alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. subsp. falcata (L.) Arcang.). It shows the average and maximum yield of varieties determined in the process of state variety testing, as well as independent evaluation in research institutions in the region. Varieties of blue alfalfa of domestic selection Kevsala, Elena, Satellite, Vavilovskaya Yubileynaya were the most productive. The average yield of dry matter of these varieties reaches 8.4–9.2 t/ha, the maximum — 15.3–17.7 t/ha. Alfalfa varieties Timbale and Galaxy were the most productive among foreign varieties: the average yield of dry matter was 8.1 and 8.3 t/ha, the maximum – 15.5 and 17.2 t/ha. Varieties of alfalfa variable Vitalina and Vela provided an average yield of dry matter of 7.6 and 9.0 t/ha, the maximum yield reached 15.4 and 18.1 t/ha.


Author(s):  
M. I. Dzhalalova ◽  
A. B. Biarslanov ◽  
D. B. Asgerova

The state of plant communities in areas located in the Tersko-Sulak lowland was studied by assessing phytocenotic indicators: the structure of vegetation cover, projective cover, species diversity, species abundance and elevated production, as well as automated decoding methods. There are almost no virgin soils and natural phytocenoses here; all of them have been transformed into agrocenoses (irrigated arable lands and hayfields, rice-trees and pastures). The long-term impact on pasture ecosystems of natural and anthropogenic factors leads to significant changes in the indigenous communities of this region. Phytocenoses are formed mainly by dry-steppe types of cereals with the participation of feather grass, forbs and ephemera, a semi-desert haloxerophytic shrub - Taurida wormwood. At the base of the grass stand is common coastal wormwood and Taurida wormwood - species resistant to anthropogenic influences. Anthropogenic impacts have led to a decrease in the number of species of feed-rich grain crops and a decrease in the overall productivity of pastures. Plant communities in all areas are littered with ruderal species. The seasonal dynamics of the land cover of the sites was estimated by the methods of automatic decoding of satellite images of the Landsat8 OLI series satellite for 2015, dated by the periods: spring - May 20, summer - July 23, autumn - October 20. Satellite imagery data obtained by Landsat satellite with a resolution in the multispectral image of 30 m per pixel, and in the panchromatic image - 10 m per pixel, which correspond to the requirements for satellite imagery to assess the dynamics of soil and vegetation cover. Lower resolution data, for example, NDVI MODIS, does not provide a reliable reflection of the state of soil and vegetation cover under arid conditions. In this regard, remote sensing data obtained from the Internet resource https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ was used.


Author(s):  
Elena F. GLADUN ◽  
Gennady F. DETTER ◽  
Olga V. ZAKHAROVA ◽  
Sergei M. ZUEV ◽  
Lyubov G. VOZELOVA

Developing democracy institutions and citizen participation in state affairs, the world community focuses on postcolonial studies, which allow us to identify new perspectives, set new priorities in various areas, in law and public administration among others. In Arctic countries, postcolonial discourse has an impact on the methodology of research related to indigenous issues, and this makes possible to understand specific picture of the world and ideas about what is happening in the world. Moreover, the traditions of Russian state and governance are specific and interaction between indigenous peoples and public authorities should be studied with a special research methodology which would reflect the peculiarities of domestic public law and aimed at solving legal issue and enrich public policy. The objective of the paper is to present a new integrated methodology that includes a system of philosophical, anthropological, socio-psychological methods, as well as methods of comparative analysis and scenario development methods to involve peripheral communities into decision-making process of planning the socio-economic development in one of Russia’s Arctic regions — the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and to justify and further legislatively consolidate the optimal forms of interaction between public authorities and indigenous communities of the North. In 2020, the Arctic Research Center conducted a sociological survey in the Shuryshkararea of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, which seems to limit existing approaches to identifying public opinion about prospects for developing villages and organizing life of their residents. Our proposed methodology for taking into account the views of indigenous peoples can help to overcome the identified limitations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5042
Author(s):  
Tom Barry ◽  
Brynhildur Daviðsdóttir ◽  
Níels Einarsson ◽  
Oran R. Young

The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among Arctic states, indigenous communities, and peoples on issues of common importance. The rising geo-political importance of the Arctic and the onset of climate change has resulted in the Council becoming a focus of increasing interest from both inside and beyond the Arctic. This has resulted in new demands placed on the Council, attracting an increasing number of participants, and instigating a period of transformation as Arctic states work to find a way to balance conflicting demands to improve the Council’s effectiveness and take care of national interests. This paper considers whether, during this time of change, the Council is having an impact on the issues it was formed to address, i.e., environmental protection and sustainable development. To provide answers, it looks at how the Council reports on and evaluates progress towards the implementation of recommendations it makes regarding biodiversity, how it identifies where activities have had impacts and uncovers the mechanisms through which they were successful, to provide an insight into how the Arctic Council can be an agent of change.


10.1068/c12m ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Edwards ◽  
Mark Goodwin ◽  
Simon Pemberton ◽  
Michael Woods

Partnerships have become established as a significant vehicle for the implementation of rural development policy in Britain. In promoting new working relationships between different state agencies and between the public, private, and voluntary sectors, partnerships have arguably contributed to a reconfiguration of the scalar hierarchy of the state. In this paper we draw on recent debates about the ‘politics of scale’ and on empirical examples from Mid Wales and Shropshire to explore the scalar implications of partnerships. We investigate how discursive constructs of partnership are translated into practice, how official discourses are mediated by local actors, the relationship between partnerships and existing scales of governance, and the particular ‘geometry of power’ being constructed through partnerships. We argue that the existing scalar hierarchy of the state has been influential in structuring the scales and territories of partnerships, and that, despite an apparent devolution of the public face of governance, the state remains crucial in governing the process of governance through partnerships.


Author(s):  
Myra J. Tait ◽  
Kiera L. Ladner

AbstractIn Canada, Treaty 1 First Nations brought a claim against the Crown for land debt owed to them since 1871. In 2004, Crown land in Winnipeg became available that, according to the terms of the settlement, should have been offered for purchase to Treaty 1 Nations. Similarly, in New Zealand, the Waikato-Tainui claim arose from historical Crown breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. In 1995, a settlement was reached to address the unjust Crown confiscation of Tainui lands. Despite being intended to facilitate the return of traditional territory, compensate for Crown breaches of historic treaties, and indirectly provide opportunity for economic development, in both cases, settlement was met with legal and political challenges. Using a comparative legal analysis, this paper examines how the state continues to use its law-making power to undermine socio-economic development of Indigenous communities in Canada and New Zealand, thereby thwarting opportunity for Indigenous self-determination.


2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 525-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIRGINIA Q. TILLEY

The transnational indigenous peoples' movement (TIPM) can convey important political leverage to local indigenous movements. Yet this study exposes a more problematic impact: the political authority gained by funding organisations who interpolate TIPM norms into new discourses regarding indigeneity, and deploy that discourse in local ethnic contests. In El Salvador the TIPM has encouraged the state to recognise the indigenous communities and has opened a political wedge for indigenous activism. Yet TIPM-inspired programmes by the European Union and UNESCO to support indigenous activism paradoxically weakened the Salvadorean movement by aggravating outside impressions that Salvadorean indigenous communities are ‘not truly Indian’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Lynch

AbstractHarms against nonhuman animals have become a significant concern in different disciplines (e.g., green criminology). This paper presents a multi-disciplinary discussion of one form of animal harm—wildlife harm—created by state agencies charged with protecting animals. Specifically, this issue is examined by reviewing the complex problems faced by theUSFish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which is charged with competing objectives: between protecting economic and public health interests, and protecting wildlife. In managing the human–wildlife conflicts brought to its attention, theUSFWSmust often make tradeoffs between protecting economic and public health interests, and protecting wildlife. As the data reviewed here indicate, this leads theUSFWSto kill a large number of animals each year to protect economic and public health interests—more than 40 million animals since 1996. The political and economic factors that influence these killings, and how the state balances conflicting interests, are also examined.


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