University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

international
environmental
organisations
537
(WWF) federal government, various financial
institutions, RusHydro itself, potential
subcontractors, and to SNC-Lavalin,
asking not to support, finance and
participate in the EHES project. The
petitions outlined various negative
environmental and social events of the
project and sited UN conventions and
Russian federal legislature violated by the
project. Used their websites to
extensively publicise the potential future
negative effects of the dam. Participated
in EHES roundtable in the Public
Chamber and in Krasnoyarsk provincial
administration. Organised an
environmental roundtable on hydroelectric
dams in Krasnoyarsk.
Table 4 shows that civil society activity around the EHES project is diverse and
vibrant. However, the actual influence of civil society groups over RusHydro is
questionable. RusHydro 2007 CSR report (RusHydro 2007a) does not discuss
interaction with civil society groups. They are also not listed among the “key
stakeholders” in RusHydro CSR presentation (RusHydro 2007b). Most of
RusHydro’s interaction with civil society is confined public consultations with the
communities that will be affected by EHES that are required by law. One of the few
attempts to interact with the civil society on the EHES subject outside the legal
requirements were the public hearings in the Public Chamber in September of 2008.
(RusHydro 2008) In May 2009, RusHydro also participated in the round table
organised by the Krasnoyarsk Regional Association of Public Organisations of
Indigenous Peoples of the North. RusHydro used this roundtable to publicise the
positive impacts of EHES (Krasnoyarsk.bi, 2009).
The interview data above reveals a similar degree of ‘weak influence’ by civil
society in both the Rosneft/Vankorneft and RusHydro cases. Our Turukhansk
interviewees described Turukhansk population as quite apathetic or perhaps lacking
in empowerment. While they readily discussed Vankorneft and EHES in private, few
people attend public hearings or express their opinions about these projects through
local media. This is true even in the case of EHES that is often seen as an
environmental disaster in-waiting. Interviewees (Turukhansk Culture Worker 2008;
Turukhansk Environment Specialist 2008) pointed to the low level of specialist
education among the people as a problem. During the public hearings on extractive
projects, for example, people simply often do not know what to ask for or about.
They may be unaware of their rights, of what the companies can give them, or even
of what is needed to tangibly improve their lives. Indigenous communities are often
seen as asking for short-term benefits such as snowmobiles as opposed to focusing
on long-term development.