THE ARCTIC – MELTING AND PLUNDERED

Consequences of global warming for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic and the North

The indigenous peoples of the Arctic are suffering from the direct consequences of the exploitation of resources in their territory and from the effects of the burning of CO2, i.e. the climate change. The first thing is that their land is being taken away, so that they cannot continue their traditional way of life, or only severely limited. This again leads to uprooting and the loss of cultural identity. The health problems involve alcoholism and high rates of suicide and criminality. Secondly, the mining of resources is accompanied by pollution of the environment. The toxics are passed on to humans through the food chain. People living in the immediate vicinity of mines drink contaminated water, eat contaminated fish and breathe poisoned air. This leads to illnesses of the air-passages and cancer. The Arctic Ocean has now become polluted to such an extent that it has become dangerous for the indigenous peoples to eat, for example, raw fish, which they could previously do without qualms. The toxic substances are passed on through mother’s milk and stepped up from generation to generation. The result is a drop in the expectation of life and the generally catastrophic health situation of the indigenous population.

In the Russian Arctic, especially in the area of the Kola Sea, the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, the indigenous inhabitants are suffering from the high radiation resulting from the irresponsibly stored atomic refuse from the time of the Soviet Union. The climate change is also showing effects on the health of humans and animals alike. Humans are affected by allergies from the pollen of plants hitherto unknown. They cannot cope with the unaccustomed warmth. Deaths have occurred from people falling in places which were previously safe through ice which has suddenly become thinner. The right to access to food and water is being violated. Houses and homes are in danger through the erosion of the coast. The right to development cannot be exercised because the climate change is taking place so fast that people cannot keep up with it. Yet for centuries they were real experts in coping with extreme conditions. The indigenous peoples are being steamrollered by a process which is threatening to wipe out their whole culture and identity.

Oil-mining

Oil is the most important mineral for the survival of our economies. But the finite resource is gradually running out, which means that the large oil companies are looking for the "black gold" in ever more remote parts of the world. Under snow and ice, under boreal forests, tundra and taiga lie large deposits of oil. In many areas mining has been taking place for decades. In others the necessary extensive infrastructure must first be built. Should the climate continue to warm up and should increasing areas of the Arctic remain free of ice for longer periods, this would have favourable consequences for the oil industry. In the Barents and Kara Seas, in the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Arctic Ocean to the north of Alaska the oil giants are squabbling for licences. Oil projects on the islands Sakhalin and Kamchatka are planned to serve especially the Asian markets. They pose a threat for the unique ecological system and thus also the inhabitants, among them especially the indigenous peoples. The people in the Arctic are immediately affected by the directly destructive consequences of oil-mining, especially by the construction of pipelines, and are experiencing a rapid change of the climate, which is taking place twice as fast in the Arctic as the global average.

However, they are not just sitting back watching the ground being drawn away from under their feet. Loud and energetic protest can work wonders, as is shown by the case of the indigenous Nivkhi, Nanai, Oroks and Evenks on Sakhalin. They have succeeded in pressing their demands for participation in decisions affecting them and receiving compensation. On Kamchatka, where oil-mining is just beginning, the indigenous Itelmens are in negotiations with the mining firms.

Alaska has 650,000 inhabitants, of which about 15 percent belong to the indigenous population. In the district of North Slope alone, in which the Trans-Alaska Pipeline begins, 68 percent of the inhabitants are Inupiat, the Inuit of the north-west Arctic in Alaska. The pipeline runs on its way from Prudhoe Bay to the oil transfer harbour of Valdez through the territories of two other indigenous Alaskan peoples: the Athabascan and the Aleuts. During the year 2006 alone the pipeline was damaged twice by holes in the pipes. On 2nd March 2006 more than 6000 barrels of raw oil ran out of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline through a leak as large as a one cent piece. It was the worst pipeline accident in the north of Alaska since the beginning of mining 30 years ago. The Alaskan Ministry for the Environment played down the effects of the catastrophe, saying that everything was under control.

The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) is the last piece of undisturbed nature in the Arctic of Alaska, a refuge for many endangered species of flora and fauna, the breeding-ground for porcupine caribous, with over 152,000 animals one of the largest caribou herds in the world. Oil-mining would in the long run have the effect of forcing the animals to change their migration routes, moving into areas where they can no longer protect their young so well. For the indigenous Gwich’in, for whom the caribous are not only the most important source of their food, but also part of their cultural and religious identity, the problem is that the herds will be out of their reach. For this reason the Gwich’in and the environmentalists are protesting against the opening of the ANWR for oil-mining. While the Bush government has actively supported oil-mining in the ANWR the cards have been reshuffled in the elections of November 2006. For now the Democrats in opposition in Congress have the majority. So there is new hope for the rescue of the ANWR.

Oil sand and the mining of mineral oil from oil sand looks like being a lucrative business for Canada. Oil sand is a viscous mixture of tar-like bitumen and sand, which is mined either above ground or in the so-called in-situ procedure, i.e. underground. The largest reserves in the world are to be found in Venezuela and in the north of Canada. There are at present workings in the three sites of Athabasca-Wabiskaw, Cold Lake and Peace River, which together cover an area of about 140,000 sq km and contain about 175 thousand million barrels of raw oil sand. Large areas of land will be destroyed although the claims to land rights on the part of the Lubicon Cree have still not been settled. Environmentalists are therefore increasingly calling for a moratorium to prevent the mines being extended. The prognosis of the oil industry is very different. By the year 2015 at least one quarter of the North American demand for oil is to be covered by oil sand. The USA is hoping with the help of Canada to become independent of imports from the Near East. China too has already invested in two firms and a pipeline so that oil from Alberta can be imported through the ports on the Pacific coast.

In Greenland too people are gradually beginning to dream of big money from oil. Already the autonomous self-government of the island is dreaming of the future of Greenland as an oil-mining area. It is true that five tests carried out since 1976 have been unsuccessful, but Greenland’s oil minister, Joergen Waever Johansen, is optimistic: "We know that we have oil. We hope that we have it in quantities which are economically profitable." (Associated Press, 19.7.2006) The surmised oil-fields lie under the sea-bed south-west of Greenland. Some of the bore-holes are only 30 km from Canada’s maritime limits. In March 2003 the Danish government passed a new oil strategy for Greenland envisaging several rounds for the issue of licences for testing in coming years. Indeed some of the largest oil companies in the world have already shown interest in prospecting work or in the evaluation of the results of geological investigations which have been carried out near the surmised oil deposits. One Canadian oil company, EnCana, together with the Greenland company, Nunaoil, acquired in the year 2005 all rights for prospecting for oil in a maritime area of 2,900 sq km.

Natural gas boom

Natural gas is supposed to be the clean sister of mineral oil and to be the source of energy of the future. However the Yamal Nenets, a group of semi-nomad reindeer breeders on the Yamal peninsular (Russian Federation), which reaches out into the Kara Sea, fear that gas-mining will lead to extensive and lasting destruction of the environment. Planned is the construction of eight pipelines running parallel for the transport of the gas, but these will divide up the migration paths of the reindeer and divide the winter pastures from the summer ones. Germany will be one of the importers gaining most from this project. Today already some 40 percent of the natural gas used in Germany comes from Russia. This figure could be raised to 60 percent when the controversial Baltic pipeline is brought into operation, and it is through this pipeline that the gas from Yamal will also flow. The position of the Nenets is still not clear. Some are protesting against gas-mining, while others are trying as a result of positive experiences in the autonomous district of the Yamal Nenets to come to terms with politics and the companies.

By comparison the starting position of the indigenous peoples in Canada is better. They are threatened by the gigantic Mackenzie Valley Gas Project (MGP) in the Northwest Territories (NWT) of Canada, but they are tough and successful partners in negotiations with the government and the consortia. Apart from this most of them concluded treaties with the state when Canada became colonised and so they have a better starting position for negotiations.

The MGP, which at the planning stage of autumn 2006 is worth 7.5 thousand million Canadian dollars, is to link three gas-fields in the north of the Northwest Territories with the north of the province of Alberta. The natural gas has the primary purpose of serving oil-mining from oil sand. Most of the indigenous peoples affected have concluded with the management companies so-called "access and benefit agreements", which in return finance secure rights of way, for example, and education and social programmes and involve the groups as shareholders in the profits of the gas pipeline, but also in the construction costs. The Dehcho, who also live on the route of the projected pipeline, are anxious to conclude an autonomy agreement before the agreement takes effect. The Dene Tha in the north of Alberta, on whose land the MGP pipeline ends, have so far been excluded from the negotiations, but were able by court order to make sure that their claims also will be asserted.

Gold and diamonds from Siberia

Natural gas and mineral oil are Russia’s most well-known export products, but on the world market for gold and diamonds Siberia, the treasure-chest of Russia, has long occupied a leading position. According to the daily newspaper Kommersant of 23rd November 2005 it was already in fifth place for the production of gold and in second place for that of gold reserves. Two thirds of Russia’s gold reserves lie in Siberia and in the Far East of Russia. 40 percent of the gold production takes place in the Republic of Sakha (Russian: Yakutiya), which also leads in the production of diamonds. Most productive in the mining of gold is the District of Magadan. In 2002 alone 33.5 tons were mined here, followed by Krasnoyarsk (29.3 tons) and Sakha/Yakutiya (17.5 tons). The infrastructure required for the mines and the workers (urban development, roads, amusement facilities, alcohol, prostitution etc) has a considerable effect on the living conditions of the indigenous peoples of Magadan. Evens, Koryaks and Itelmens still live here mainly from fishing, breeding and the use of domestic reindeer and hunting wild reindeer and other wild animals. However the animals change their migration paths when they are disturbed by gold-mining and its consequences, so that they are increasingly hard to reach for the hunters. Cyanide is used for the separation of gold from the host stone and the deposits contaminate the waters.

The native peoples living in the vicinity of the mines are neither adequately informed of the risks to the environment and the concomitant danger to their traditional economy nor are they given the opportunity of participation in the decision-making on the mining projects. No one feels responsible for the removal of debris from disused mines. Everything just rots away, with the consequence that the waste matter can seep uncontrolled into the soil and groundwater.

Boreal forests

The boreal forests are the type lying farthest north on the earth. They form a green belt around the northern hemisphere and make up more than one third of the entire forest in the world. Sixty percent of the remaining northern primeval forest lies in Russia, thirty percent in Canada and ten percent in Alaska, the Baltic States, Iceland and Scandinavia. The boreal forests are the habitat of indigenous peoples like the Saami, Nenets, Khants or Mansi, who breed reindeer there. The forests are threatened by tree-felling for the paper industry, by pipeline projects and mining and in Russia by the privatisation now planned. This has immediate consequences on the climate, but also on the everyday life of the indigenous groups, for whom the forest is also their cultural and spiritual home.

Economic interests

While governments all over the world are expressing their concern over the dramatic consequences of the climate change, which are becoming ever clearer, the business world sees chances of making a profit out of the climate catastrophe. For suddenly it is becoming technically possible and in the light of rising energy prices increasingly interesting to open up the Arctic and Sub arctic for oil, gas, oil sand and other minerals. All the leading international energy companies are planning with the energetic help of the governments of the neighbouring states commercial activity in the Arctic and Sub arctic or have already begun drilling for oil and natural gas. Traditional land rights of the indigenous peoples living there and internationally recognized environmental standards are often ignored. The native inhabitants are being refused adequate participation in the decision-making concerning new projects.

Many indigenous communities are facing extinction since their habitat is being ruthlessly contaminated and destroyed. The indigenous inhabitants are often threatened by the loss of their means of subsistence, since as a result of the climate change and the inroads made by industry they can no longer live from hunting and fishing. The Arctic waters are seen as one of the last large fish reserves in the world. But here too over-fishing has also increased dramatically. Indigenous fishermen have no chance of competing with the ultra-modern trawler fleets. The stocks of fish are threatened with destruction through increasing pollution of the seas, since the volume of traffic on new sea-routes through the Arctic has suddenly reached new heights. Thus pollution through new oil catastrophes can only be expected, and this will further endanger the survival of the indigenous peoples. Their right to clean water, adequate housing and the protection of their traditional culture is being systematically infringed upon. The climate change is already a threat to their survival, but the oil and natural gas boom threatens to deal them the death-blow. For it threatens not only their physical survival, but also their cultural identity and their survival as an ethnic community.

The oil and natural gas boom has also produced a noticeable increase in border conflicts in the Polar Regions. Even NATO member states like the USA and Canada are in an increasingly bitter dispute on the control of sea-ways and waters rich in minerals. At the same time all neighbouring states in the Arctic are energetically rearming to secure their territorial claims. So is can by no means be ruled out that the first armed conflicts in the Arctic for raw materials will soon break out. It is now quite clear that the losers in this ruthless struggle for minerals and profit will be the indigenous peoples of the north. Thousands of years after they began to populate the Arctic they must now recognize that the hunger of the industrial countries for minerals will in the course of a few years ruthlessly and systematically destroy their habitat and way of life.

2. DEMANDS

=> The standard of law obtaining in the Antarctic must also apply to the Arctic. Modelled on the environment agreement of the Antarctic Treaty an agreement must also be worked out for the Arctic forbidding all mining of mineral resources.

=> The General Assembly of the United Nations must bear in mind the International Polar Year beginning in March 2007 and in September 2007 at the latest pass the "General Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples". The passing of this Declaration will also strengthen the rights of the indigenous peoples of the north, who are at present being systematically disregarded and violated. In spite of the positive recommendation of the UN Human Rights Council the Declaration was not passed in November 2006 by the UN General Assembly.

=> Globally operating energy companies should abide by standards regarding the environment, human rights and social welfare based on the legal requirements of their own countries. It can no longer be accepted that leading international companies can systematically disregard generally accepted and normal standards outside Western Europe.

=> The G-8 states bear as leading industrial countries the responsibility for bringing about a rapid and radical change in energy policies. Germany should in January 2007 on taking the chair in the circle of these most wealthy industrial countries ensure that the G-8 countries respect the basic human rights of indigenous peoples. Therefore particularly the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic and Antarctic to food, clean water, adequate housing, respect for their traditional land rights, preservation of their culture and self-determined development must be given proper attention. For the human rights of the indigenous peoples of the north are acutely threatened above all by the climate change caused by the industrial countries and by the exploitation of mineral resources.

=> The G-8 states, the states bordering on the Arctic and the energy companies operating in the Arctic and Sub-arctic must ensure that indigenous peoples are enabled to participate adequately in all decisions having an influence on their lives.

=> The G-8 states and the energy companies must take more initiative to develop renewable energy forms and to provide effective support. The indigenous peoples of the north of Europe demand an energy policy away from the fossil energy sources and atomic power, devoting more attention to wind, sun and biomass. It is only in this way that the carbon content in the atmosphere can be reduced and the progressing climate change slowed down.

=> Indigenous communities in the Polar areas must receive more support in coping with the consequences of the climate change. Health care above all must be improved since the pollutant content in the food-chain of the people of the north is increasing to an extremely threatening degree.

=> Indigenous knowledge must receive greater attention in establishing and evaluating the consequences of the climate change. So indigenous people of the Arctic must not be seen only as observers at international climate conferences but have the right to participate in decision-making. For in the end they are the first victims of the climate change. Their concerns receive also too little attention from many states bordering on the Arctic.

=> In accordance with their ethical business principles and international legal standards energy concerns and mining companies as well as the governments of the countries bordering on the Arctic must ensure that the mining of mineral resources takes place in a sustainable way and that the means of existence of the indigenous peoples are not destroyed.

Translation into English: Norton Paine, Owen Beith

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