Today Vladimir Putin received over 8000 signatures of Russian people against the hydropower station construction project in the Evenk municipal district. Indigenous NGOs discuss the violation of the Evenks' rights on the Today WWF-Russia, Greenpeace-Russia, the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, as well as other non-governmental organizations hand in to Prime-Minister Vladimir Putin more than 8000 signatures against the building of the Evenkiya Hydro Electro Station project and in favor of the public revision of the general scheme of the location of energy industry sites till 2020. According to the letter, ‘this project can’t be efficient in any case, because of the high social-economic damage needed for its realization”.
“The building of the Turukhansk (now Evenk) Hydropower Station was rejected at the end of the 80s because of the results of serious ecnvironmental and economic examinations. The revival of this project will mean a return to the most dreadful times in the ex-USSR administrative command system”, says Mikhail Kreindling, Greenpeace-Russia coordinator of the specially protected nature areas programme.
From 2 till 13 February 2009 the 4th UN session on human rights is held out in Geneva. Several reports on human rights in Russia have been presented on the session. The Association of the small indigenous Northern and Far Eastern peoples presented its report that includes facts of violation of the indigenous peoples’ rights on the traditional way of life and nature management. The report points out the possibility of the forced resettlement of the Evenks as a result of the hydropower station construction. The Human Rights Council called on Russia to ratify the International Labour Organisation Convention No 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and as well as to take all necessary measures to fulfil recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, including its recommendation to stop support for the Evenk hydropower station.
According to the evaluation data, 1 000 000 hectars of the unique larch forests will be flooded as a result of the Evenkiya Hydro Electro Station construction. These forests are almost unaffected by human agricultural activity, so they are very important for biological diversity conservation and ecological balance maintenance not only in Russia, but on the whole planet. They play a very important role in carbonic balance maintenance and global climate change control.
The consequences of such a large hydrotechnical construction for the fragile Northern ecosystem are unpredictable. They may cause irreversible changes in all natural components on the areas much larger than the construction zone of the Hydro Electro Station. One of the three radioactive underground nuclear explosion areas in the flood plain of Tunguska will be definitely flooded as a result of the construction.
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