| Help save the natural environment for the Khanty people of Siberia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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From: INTERNET:[email protected], INTERNET:[email protected] From: Andrew Wiget Subject: HELP NEEDED FOR SIBERIAN KHANTY FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES! We are asking your help to urgently support the development of a protected area that would preserve an unique environment and native culture from the ravages of oil development! PLEASE take the time to write and mail/FAX a letter of support from yourself and/or your organization for the proposed Yuganskiy Khanty Biosphere Reserve. THE GREAT YUGAN RIVER The Bolshoi Yugan River is one of the great tributaries of the mighty Ob' River. Winding over 900 km through Surgut Region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, the B. Yugan, and its 600 km branch, the Malyi Yugan River, drain the last large pristine region of taiga forest and wetlands in Western Siberia, the home of moose, reindeer, sable, fox as well as many species in International, Russian and West Siberian Red Books of endangered animals. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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So unique is this rich ecosystem that in 1982 the Yuganskiy Zapovednik (Nature Preserve) was founded to protect it. THE YUGANSKIY KHANTY The Khanty, one of Russia's 23 indigenous tribal peoples, are historically related to the Finns and Hungarians whose ancestors migrated out of their Siberian homeland centuries ago. More than 850 Khanty live in 29 extended family settlements and 5 national villages along the B. and M. Yugan rivers, surviving in the traditionally economy of hunting and fishing, with their native language, folklore, religion and kinship system intact. BIG OIL, BLACK SNOW During the 1970s, Surgut region was transformed by the discovery of huge oil deposits. Today the region is one of Russia's greatest oil producers, and Western companies court Russian partners. The land, life and culture of the Khanty, especially on the north bank of the Ob' River, was disrupted. Families were relocated to villages to make way for oil; those who stayed saw the fragile forests and wetlands destroyed before their eyes. The isolation of the Yuganskiy Khanty spared them... until now. Oil deposits have been defined on their lands. Now the last large community of Khanty living the traditional life, and the Siberian taiga to which they have adapted their culture, are threatened. THE YUGANSKIY KHANTY BIOSPHERE RESERVE Beginning in 1992, scientists working with the Yuganskiy Khanty and the staff of the Yuganskiy Zapovednik, began to prepare documentation for the creation of a biosphere reserve, to be given special status by Russian land and international status by UNESCO. The biosphere reserve would protect Khanty traditional lands from industrial development. By linking Khanty traditional lands with the territory of the Nature Preserve under a co-management agreement, the Biosphere Reserve would make possible a brighter, self-directed future for the Khanty, as well as better conservation of a unique ecosystem. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP | The Yuganskiy Khanty Biosphere Reserve is still under consideration by the regional administration. Indeed it faces stiff opposition from regional oil companies who see potential license territories removed from the possibility for exploitation, as well as from the regional administration which, after the collapse of the Soviet system, relies heavily on royalties from oil development to fund its operating budget. Letters of support should be sent to both addresses given below. Dr. Andrew Wiget The New Mexico Heritage Center 3E, New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM 88003 USA Tel.: (505) 646-2248, -3011 FAX: (505) 646-7725 E-Mail: [email protected] In Russia, the Khanty community "Yaoun Yakh" can be contacted directly: Mr. Vladimir S. Kogonchin President, "Yaoun Yakh" Sosnovaya Street 25, apt. 2 Ugut Village, Surgut region Tyumen' Oblast, RUSSIA 626422 Tel.: 7 (3462) 277 789 You can also FAX and mail a copy of your letter directly to the regional administration addressed to Mr. Alexander V. Sarychev Head of the Administration, Surgut Region 10 Engels Street Surgut, Tyumen' Region RUSSIA 626400 FAX: (7 3462) 22 67 04
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