YAKUTSK, September 26. /TASS/. The damage from industrial companies operating in areas where the North's indigenous peoples live in Yakutia is estimated at 1.3 billion rubles ($14 million), Yakutia's Deputy Minister for Development of the Arctic and Affairs of the Peoples of the North Mikhail Pogodaev said at the Northern Forum in Yakutsk.

The ethnology examination law has been in force in Yakutia since 2010. The examination is mandatory in case of planned activities in places where the North's indigenous peoples live and conduct economic activities traditionally.

"Over the law's validity, we have conducted 66 ethnology examinations," the official said. "The total amount of losses from activities of industrial companies in those territories amounts to more than 1 billion 364 million rubles."

By now, he continued, 251 million rubles ($2.7 million) in compensation have been paid out of this amount, and about 409 million rubles ($4.4 million) refer to the Kankun HPP large-scale project in South Yakutia. "The project is still frozen, and thus no payments have been made. The remaining amount is due compensation, stretched out for the projects' life cycle, and, accordingly, companies are paying this compensation annually," he said.

The ethnology examination procedure may take up to 11 months, he continued. "Nevertheless, we have been increasing the number of such examinations together with all supervisory authorities, together with colleagues from the Ministry of Industry and Geology [of Yakutia]. We have companies that, in fact, breach the ethnology examination law, and jointly with the supervisory authorities we are identifying them. We have cases, where companies have been brought to justice in court, and the court ordered them to conduct a similar examination. We are also working with municipalities to bring such companies to administrative responsibility," the deputy minister added.

The ethnology examination law is designed to minimize conflicts between indigenous peoples and industrial companies, and the procedure acts as a dialogue between the company, the state and the peoples, he stressed.

The 5th Sustainable Development Northern Forum runs in Yakutsk from September 24 through to September 27.