The international conference “Social responsibility of business and state-private partnership”, organized by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Regional Development and administration of the Novosibirsk region under the patronage of the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Siberian Federal District and of the Canadian Ministry of  Indian Affairs and Northern Development, was held in Novosibirsk on November 23-24.

The prospect for interaction of science, authorities and business for the solution of the problems of the indigenous peoples became the most important topic of the session.

“The main unresolved question in this sphere today is an access to land, and correspondently to the hunting and fishing territories, as forms of activity involving the use of these resources are often vital for the indigenous peoples”, - explained the center of public relations of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences to the “TASS-Siberia” correspondent. – Despite the existence of a number of codes (Forest, Land), there are still many legislative “gaps” in this sphere. Besides the legal problems, there are also economic ones. As a rule, the indigenous people live in remote settlements with poor or absent infrastructure. The unresolved economic questions entail the social ones: unemployment, alcoholism”.

The solution of these problems is seen in the interaction of science, authority and business. Rodion Sulyandziga, the director of the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East, the candidate of sociological science, noted:

“Science did much to draw attention to the problems of the indigenous peoples. The science can’t be disregarded because scientific recommendations and research point of view on their further development are undoubtedly useful, but the question is how all this is understood and realized. The approach to this issue should be systematic so that when we speak about the indigenous peoples we wouldn’t have to specify that there are certain positive cases but generally the situation is not that good”.

As Julia Pozdniakova, an employee of the center of public relations of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reported, participants of the conference see prospects of the practical solution of these problems in bringing work with the federal government to a new standard.

Interest taken in the Arctic and the North is enormous today: lots of industrial projects for this region are in development at the moment, and of course it will concern the indigenous peoples’ interests regarding the traditional nature use; therefore active interaction and integrated solution based on the partnership of science, authorities and business are necessary.