In March 2009, Yana Dordina was appointed by the RAIPON’s board as a responsible person for activity issues within the Biodiversity Convention. In particular, she will represent interests of the Association and the Batani Fund in the process of the Convention realization via participation in various sessions and projects. 2-8 April 2009, at the UNESCO headquarter in Paris, the Seventh session of the Ad-Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing, aimed at work over International Regime on access and benefit-sharing. During the session, negotiation of operational text on objective, scope, compliance, fare and equitable benefit-sharing, and access to genetic resources and joint use of profits were discussed. 

 Within the Seventh session, each morning before sessions, meetings of indigenous peoples were held (International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity), where offers from indigenous peoples were considered and formulated into functional tests. At the last day of the Ad-Hoc Open-ended Working Group, a representative of the forum made the final statement on behalf of indigenous peoples, having participated in the session.  

Narrative report on the Batani Fund activity in 2008

At its main session in July 2008, the UN Economic and Social Council decided to assign the Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council to the Batani International Development Fund for Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation.

Projects of the Fund 

Demonstration project “Environmental co-management of extracting companies, authorities and indigenous peoples of the North”

In late 2007, the Batani Fund started to carry out the demonstration project: “Environmental co-management of extracting companies, authorities and indigenous peoples of the North”. This project is a part of the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Environment Program initiative (UNEP/GEF project) “Russian Federation: Support to the National Program of Action for the protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (NPA Arctic www.npa-arctic.ru).

During 2008, the Demonstration project was realized by the Batani Fund in three Arctic regions of Russia: Yamal-Nenets and Nenets autonomous areas and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) selected as the models.Environmental co-management or co-management in the sphere of natural resources protection and rational use for the indigenous peoples is the joint management decision making in the field of protecting traditional habitat and way of life at places of their traditional residence and nature use. There is a legal basis to arrange co-management there are legal basis and appropriate mechanisms containing generally accepted principles and standards regarding indigenous rights which are reflected in the Russian legislation.

The main goals of this demonstration project are the following:

• Creation of conditions for joint management of environment protection by executive power bodies, local government bodies, extracting companies and indigenous peoples of the North at places of traditional residence and economic activity of these peoples;
• Development of administrative, economic, financial and social mechanisms of environmental co-management by establishing, for instance, coordination councils or other bodies serving as a forum to identify and solve potential conflicts among indigenous population, industrial companies, bodies of executive power and local government and other interested parties

Implementation of this Demonstration project was aimed at displaying capabilities of the stable improvement of existing co-management practice with indigenous communities, taking into account economic and social conditions of the Russian Federation. To achieve these goals, the Batani Fund conducted the following activities in three model regions:

Phase 1 (outset). Holding the introductory seminar (coordination session) to achieve common apprehension by the project team, Direction of the UNEP/GEF Project, executive and supporting organizations, and also by all interested participants of its main content and expected results. This action was necessary to successfully implement the whole project.

Phase 2: Analysis of co-management practice in the regions and development of recommendations to improve it in the three model regions (seminars, result review, identification and prioritization of problems), including efficiency analyses of arrangement framework and functioning principles of territories of traditional nature management (TTP), other current mechanisms and interaction rules of indigenous organizations, state authorities, local government bodies and industrial companies to solve the issue of nature management both in Russia and abroad, detection of existing or potential conflicts in environment protection and natural resources use and recommendations on its solution.

Phase 3: Providing regional consultations, interest accommodation and action coordination of interested parties participating in environmental co-management. This phase was mainly directed to development of the general rules and methods of interaction to solve issues of co-management, adoption of common approach by all participants of the process and formation start of interaction institutional mechanism of indigenous peoples, state bodies and private business. The third phase resulted in establishment of the model of the Public Ethno-Ecological Council, which was carried out in practice in Yamal-Nenets Autonomous area (YANAO) and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Further on, the ethno-ecological councils are to become a forum for identification and resolving potential conflicts among the indigenous peoples, industrial companies, state authorities, local government bodies and other interested parties.

Phase 4: Holding round tables to summarize results of the Project. The outcome of the roundtables was the joint actions plan which was prepared for bodies of executive power and local government, extracting companies and indigenous communities. This plan is to provide for efficient co-management in protection of environment, original habitat and traditional way of life of indigenous peoples basing on interest balance of indigenous population, extracting companies and authorities under solving economic and ecological problems of the North with simultaneous preservation of traditional way of life and habitat of indigenous peoples.  Results of the project:

• An analysis of the current federal and regional legislative framework in the field of environmental co-management adaptability was performed. It was determined that the existing legislative framework contain preconditions for co-management development, which presently were not given sufficient development regarding establishment of appropriate institutions and methodological tools for realization of potential available.
• In the three model regions, materials were collected characterizing current relation practice of authorities, industrial companies, public organizations and economic entities of indigenous peoples in the sphere of environmental co-management, including functioning of the TTP of regional importance formed in Nenets Autonomous area. It was ascertained that in the three model regions, regional legislation in the field of environmental co-management was developed in advance of the federal legislation. The present practice of agreements and contracts between authorities, extracting companies and indigenous organizations allows, though in implicit form, taking into account interests of the indigenous representatives.
• Methods of training indigenous representatives to use traditional knowledge for charting the TTP were experienced. Creation of data base on the ground of materials collected by these methods is to help arranging ethno-ecological monitoring.
• The following methodical recommendations were established: those on quality assessment of lands being original habitat of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation and on determining borders of the TTP; methodical recommendations on loss determination of land and other natural resources’ users at places of traditional habitat and traditional economic activity of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation.
• Eight booklets were published (in greater detail see section “Publications of the Fund”):
• Status of the small-numbered indigenous peoples of Russia. Legal acts
• Loss determination of land and other natural resources’ users at places of traditional habitat and traditional economic activity of the small-numbered indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. Methodical recommendations
•    Importance of traditional knowledge for sustainable development of indigenous peoples: manual on collecting, registering and applying traditional knowledge for indigenous organizations
• Participation of the Russia small-numbered indigenous peoples in management of natural resources: legal foundation and experience
• Co-Management Institutions in the Arctic: Examples from Canada, Alaska and the Nordic Region
•    Public ethno-ecological council as the model of environmental co-management in regions of residence of the small-numbered indigenous peoples of the Russia’s North, Siberia and the Far East
•    Establishment of the traditional nature use territory: practical guide on legal issues
• Quality assessment of lands being original habitat of the small-numbered indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation’s North, Siberia and the Far East
• Seven seminars (Moscow, Yar-Sale settlement, Salekhard, Nelmin-Nos settlement, Naryan-Mar, Yakutsk, Moscow) and three round tables were held (Naryan-Mar, Salekhard, Yakutsk) during twelve months of the project’s implementation.
• Ethno-ecological councils (co-management bodies) were established in two model regions - Yamal-Nenets Autonomous area and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) – as the forum or sites to coordinate activities of local government bodies, executive and legislative power bodies, especially authorized state nature protecting bodies and public indigenous organizations.
• Ideas, methods and practical experience of the demonstration project were used in work of the draft federal law “Protection of original habitat, traditional way of life and traditional nature use of the small-numbered indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation”.
• Information on the project was presented at international (Geneva, Khabarovsk) and regional (Murmansk, Syktyvkar, Petropavlosvk-Kamchatskiy, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) seminars and sessions.

 Program for microcrediting the indigenous communities

The Program for indigenous communities’ microcrediting was successfully implemented by the Batani Fund for two years, from 2006 to 2008, due to support of company BP Russia.

In order to survive in the new socioeconomic conditions, the indigenous peoples need to learn the fundamentals of conducting business in the market economy, increase their own economic potential, take advantage of their traditional natural resources and develop new business projects. From our point of view, therefore, in addition to the grants and charitable aid, it is necessary to grant low-interest loans to indigenous peoples of the North.

The Batani Fund is the non-commercial organization connecting indigenous peoples of the North (communities, limited corporations, cooperatives etc.) with committed individuals and bodies that could provide them with assistance. This is related to the fact that a nonprofit organization, which obtains profit from entrepreneurial activities, can reinvest that profit into realization of the organization's main purpose. Thus, the organization can accumulate profits from its fixed sum credits and use those profits for offering sequential loans.

The Batani Fund performs the following tasks:

• Distributing information among the indigenous population about possible financing sources for entrepreneurial activities;
• Offering consultations on all issues of microfinancing and conducting the entire loan process with the borrower - starting with filling out application forms, assisting in collecting necessary documents, opening a bank account, if necessary, developing loan repayment graphs etc.
• Organizing credit groups. In this case, the organization staff would help with creation of groups of borrowers that have approximately identical financial needs and are mutually trusting one another;
• Assistance in book-keeping and accountability.