Reindeer breeders threatened by German-Russian gas-mining projects

Re: German-Russian consultations in Tomsk (26 -27.04.2006)

Dear Ms. Merkel,

alongside the discussions between the German and Russian governments in Siberian Tomsk on 26th and 27th April 2006 the German chemicals company BASF and the Russian power company Gazprom will be signing a cooperation agreement. The BASF subsidiary Wintershall in Kassel is to participate to the extent of 35% and the power company E.ON to the extent of 15% in the economic success of the extraction from the Yuzhno Russkoye gas and oil-field. They are both also partners of the Gazprom in the planned Baltic pipeline. I should like in this connection to point to the fate of people who are the special concern of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) as a human rights organisation for persecuted minorities and communities of indigenous peoples: the sad situation of the indigenous peoples of Russia. The ruthless natural oil and gas extraction, going back to Soviet times, has resulted in the contamination and near-destruction of large parts of the country in which the Siberian indigenous peoples have lived for centuries. So the Khanty and Mansi peoples from whose autonomous district the oil and gas come which are imported to Germany are seriously affected. The foundations of the traditional life of these indigenous peoples have been destroyed because hundreds of rivers are contaminated there and many areas can no longer be used. The new projects of Yuzhno Russkoye and Novy Urengoi, in which BASF and EON are participants, are now threatening the approximately 4,700 Nenets on the Yamal peninsular. These projects are to be opened up because 61% of the Russian natural gas is to be found here. But the planned railway line and the eight pipelines which are planned to serve the gas-fields will be cutting the through the reindeer pasturelands of the Nenets. The cutting off of the winter pastures from the summer ones will then mean for the nomads on Yamal the end of their traditional lifestyle. In the name of the Society for Threatened Peoples I do ask you to bring up in the discussions with your Russian partners and those responsible in the German firms the fate of these indigenous groups. Please make sure that representatives of the indigenous peoples are involved in all phases of the planning and execution of the gas projects. It is not however a matter of just guaranteeing the greatest possible transparency in the interests of these people and preserving the unique nature of Siberia. Those affected must also receive adequate compensation. Yours Truly, Tilman Zülch, General Secretary Background paper on gas-mining in the Autonomous Region of the Yamal Nenets. On 26th and 27th April 2006 German-Russian summit discussions take place, at which the Russian gas monopolist GAZPROM will be concluding an agreement with the German chemical firm BASF. Its subsidiary Wintershall (Kassel) is to participate to the extent of 35% in the economic success of the extraction from the Yuzhno Russkoye gas-field. The German power company EON is also participating in this gigantic deal to the extent of 15%. Wintershall and E.ON are GAZPROM partners in the planned construction of the Baltic pipeline. All those involved have been aware for months of the fact that the enormous projects planned on the western Siberian peninsular Yamal will have catastrophic effects for the indigenous group of the Yamal Nenets living there. The former German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, paid a visit in March 2006 in his new function of managing director of the Baltic pipeline consortium to the “ Autonomous Region of the Yamal Nenets”, he was given an explanation of the way in which gas was to be extracted there and he visited a school in Novy Urengoi and a nomad’s tent. However, friendly visits of this kind cannot cover up the fact that the projects Yuzhno Russkoye and Novy Urengoi, which are being planned jointly with German firms, mean a serious threat to the survival of the Nenets. Most of the Nenets live in the Autonomous District of the Nenets, in the Autonomous District of the Yamal Nenets and in the Autonomous District Taimyr. The total number of persons belonging to this nationality is 41,302. They maintain to the present day a unique economy and way of life based on the breeding of large herds of reindeer. On the peninsular Yamal, where 61% of the Russian gas and 15% of the oil reserves lie, there are about 4,700 Nenets living as nomads. Here there are for the reindeer herds intact winter pastures and a rich diversity of different species. In the winter the Nenets drive their herds south to find protection in the woods from the cold winds of the tundra. In spring they return to the middle of the peninsular, where the reindeer bear their offspring. In summer they go to the coast, for here the wind drives away the swarms of midges. The reindeer provide for the Nenets food and clothing. They provide their means of subsistence. But today the situation of the nomads is a race with time. They must every day take their herds to pastures which are getting smaller all the time. The climate change has caused increased rainfall, which freezes and makes the reindeer moss, which is the main fodder of the reindeer, disappear under layers of ice. The establishment of nature parks and protected areas have led to a further reduction of the pasture land available, likewise the legal changes governing the ownership of land and the access to resources. The exploitation of the natural gas-fields, which is now being planned, would lead to a further reduction in the pastureland. The preliminary investigations are themselves causing great damage to the environment and huge areas of reindeer moss have been damaged. Since the plant is extremely sensitive, growing only about 1 mm per year, the regeneration of the damaged areas is a lengthy process with only questionable prospects of success. A further great danger for the survival of the reindeer herds and so for the Yamal Nenets is the planned construction of a railway-line on the Yamal peninsular. The railway is to serve the gas-fields, forming a link with the pipelines, which are either in planning or have already been built. Eight pipelines have been planned to run parallel with the railway-line, linking the natural gaspipes further in the south and in the Barent area, so that natural gas can be transported from the Yamal peninsular to western Europe. Gas from Yamal is also to be fed into the German-Russian Baltic Sea pipeline. The planned railway-line will drive a large wedge, dividing from each other the winter and summer pastures of the reindeer. The construction of the railway-line and pipelines will damage pasturelands and prevent the movement of the reindeer on the peninsular for at least ten years. An additional problem is that of the erosion of the soil. The layer of vegetation is in the taiga and forest taiga, like in the rain-forests, extremely thin. A four-wheel drive vehicle travelling through the forest leaves damage behind, which will probably take one hundred years to make good. The caterpillar vehicles belonging to an experimental drilling have turned 40,000 hectares of pastureland into a desert with no hope of recovery. In the present situation it is essential that the indigenous people be brought into all phases of the processes of preparation and execution of the oil and gas extraction projects, so that they can make their own decisions and have an influence on what is happening. There is today already a problem in the fact that also the projects which have been agreed with German participation, such as in Novy Urengoi, are strategically linked to the opening up of the entire peninsular. Plans for this, such as the vision of the future of the peninsular from the viewpoint of the companies, are not for the public view. So the indigenous people do not know what the future has in store for them and are not able to make any plans. It is however clear that no investigations on the environmental compatibility have been carried out and that no concrete dealings have been initiated with the leaders of the indigenous peoples.

Demands:

– The German companies Wintershall and EON must exercise maximum transparency and involve the representatives of the indigenous peoples in every phase of the planning and execution of the projects.

– An independent environmental compatibility test must be carried out as soon as possible with the involvement of the Nenets and environment specialists.

– The German companies involved in the projects must involve the indigenous peoples, who will lose their existential foundation i.e. the holding of reindeer, by the opening up of the area, as workers and profits must flow back into the region in some form of project funds.