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- Britcyna, Ekaterina, et al.
(författare)
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Extractive Industries and public participation in russia : The case of the oil industry in Izhemskii District, Komi Republic
- 2018
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Ingår i: The Yearbook of Polar Law. - : Brill Nijhoff. - 1876-8814 .- 2211-6427. ; 9:1, s. 131-163
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article focuses on the participatory rights of local people living in the areas of extensive oil industry operations in the Izhemskii district of the Komi Republic in Russia. The district has long been suffering from oil leaks and resulting negative environmental impacts. Lukoil-Komi bought the business directly after the Soviet era and inherited the ecological threats related to old and rusty pipelines. Lukoil-Komi has promised to put things in order, but a great deal remains to be done.This article scrutinizes how statutory law and private governance interact in protecting the participatory rights of local people living in the vicinity of oil production in Komi. First, we evaluate what participatory rights Russian legislation guarantees to local people when oil production arrives in a new area or when new wells are being explored or opened. Second, we elaborate how the major oil company in the region – Lukoil-Komi – fulfills its corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the area of participatory rights and how local people feel about their possibility to exercise their participatory rights. As participatory rights, we discuss both procedural justice with public hearings and distributive justice in the form of benefit-sharing between the company and local community. The wider perspective on participation is due to Russian CSR practices. In Russia, companies tend to earn their Social License to Operate (SLO) through benefit-sharing, often within private governance. This practice is based on the social partnership agreements between authorities and companies. These contracts have path-dependent features resembling earlier Soviet solutions. The same can be claimed to apply to a wider SLO with more focus on local communities. We argue that Lukoil-Komi has not yet been able to achieve an SLO (local acceptance) due to the lack of participatory rights and continuing environmental problems. Most local people are not willing to trade a clean environment and participatory rights for the social benefits the company offers. However, the social partnership agreement concluded between Lukoil-Komi and a local NGO, Izvatas, could be a step forward in achieving a local SLO.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Pappila, Minna, et al.
(författare)
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Participation in Benefit Sharing arrangements in the Komi Republic
- 2017
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Ingår i: Russian Analytical Digest. - : Research Centre for East European Studies Publications Department. - 1863-0421. ; :202, s. 6-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The oil industry is vital for the economy of the Komi Republic in Russia. It also benefits the municipalitiesnear oil production sites in terms of benefit-sharing agreements between oil companies and local authorities.These agreements compose an important part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of oil companiesworking in the Komi Republic, and in Russia in general. While this financial support is essential forlocal communities, local people also primarily bear the negative environmental impacts of oil operations.Yet, they rarely have a chance to participate either in environmental decision-making or in formulating benefit-sharing agreements. This paper discusses why this is problematic, and demonstrates new developmentsin Russian CSR practices: in 2015, the oil company Lukoil-Komi concluded a new type of benefit-sharingagreement with the indigenous peoples’ association Izvatas. In addition to traditional social benefits, thecompany agreed to consult the communities on new projects and committed to disclose information aboutoil leaks publicly. This more recent type of benefit-sharing arrangement incorporates elements of local participationin environmental issues into the prevailing form of philanthropic and paternalistic CSR practices.
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