Beads and Trinkets? Stakeholder Perspectives on Benefit-sharing and Corporate Responsibility in a Russian Oil Province

What is Benefit Sharing? Respecting Indigenous Rights and Addressing Inequities in Arctic Resource Projects

“…The regions benefit from income taxes and some land taxes, but the federal mineral tax goes to Moscow. This arrangement means that compensation and companies' social investment projects take on greater significance for local people [49].…”

“…In some cases, the lack of government involvement in some of these agreements has been seen as a weakness [5]. In other cases, as in Russia's Komi Republic, a shift away from centralized agreement-making towards greater control by local Indigenous communities has led to the strengthening of local institutions and greater economic independence for Indigenous resource-user groups [8,49].…”

“…A key factor enabling local communities to assert their rights is whether or not they are officially recognized as Indigenous in national law, and therefore able to enjoy the associated legal protections and benefits, or-in the case of project finance from international financial institutions-whether they meet a set of criteria that might 'trigger' the performance standard that relates to Indigenous peoples. This is a particular challenge in parts of Russia, where not all Indigenous traditional resource users benefit from official recognition in Russian law, notably the reindeer-herding Komi people of northwest Russia, who live in a major petroleum province [48,49] (see Sections 3.2 and 4). There is also a question of the geographical scope and boundaries of a support programme.…”

Towards Understanding Benefit Sharing between Extractive Industries and Indigenous/Local Communities in the Arctic

“…Secondly, benefit sharing is about addressing social justice and inequalities between communities and those who commercialize resources [8]. In this sense, it directly links to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the social license to operate (SLO) that companies must earn in order to meet the expectation of being responsible [9]. More so, benefit sharing is a mechanism to support free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) through good-faith negotiations and meaningful consultations with Indigenous and local residents affected by extractive industry [10,11].…”

“…Finally, benefit sharing may be instrumental in attaining sustainable, long-term economic development in Arctic communities [13,14]. However, not all forms of benefit sharing lead to the desired outcomes [9,15].…”