A/HRC/15/37/Add.5 this regard the rights of indigenous peoples within the area are feared to be unstable and not legally defensible. 36. Compounding a lack of implementation and clarity in the legal arrangements intended to secure land and resource use are conflicting or inconsistent legal and regulatory regimes, such as the relatively new systems of auctioning hunting and fishing licences. In many places, including in areas already designated as areas of traditional nature use, indigenous peoples are subject to licensing and auctioning regimes that force them to auction for hunting and fishing licences in competition with non-indigenous, usually commercial, interests, without any priority given to traditional hunting or fishing practices. As a result, indigenous communities experience problems realizing their access to the resources they have depended on for their livelihood. There are multiple reports of indigenous communities that have applied for fishing grounds with no success, especially in Buryatia and Kamchatka. 37. Further, in some places, fishing and hunting licences are issued with quotas that are grossly insufficient to meet nutritional needs, and some indigenous communities are only able to obtain licences to fish long distances away from their villages, because licences to fish in their traditional fishing areas have been granted to other, often commercial, enterprises. Moreover, indigenous people reported difficulties with the application process for hunting and fishing licences, including extensive documentation and expensive expert report requirements. The Special Rapporteur heard numerous concerns that a newly adopted federal law, “On Hunting”, to take effect in 2010, does not provide for free-ofcharge hunting for indigenous peoples, although the Government has taken some steps to modify this: upon an official recommendation of the Civic Chamber, the Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation has created a working group to modify the law. Similarly, a working group was created within the Federal Agency for Fishery, to introduce proposals for modifications of the normative framework regulating fisheries. 38. Another factor affecting indigenous peoples’ access to lands and natural resources has been the establishment of parks or nature reserves on the basis of overriding conservationist objectives. In some areas, such as in the Beloyarski municipality in KhantiMansiyski, the establishment of State nature parks has been viewed as positive, since it has kept areas free from industrial development and resource extraction, while allowing traditional activities to continue. However, in other areas, such as the Sinda village in Khabarovsky Krai, specially protected nature parks have been in conflict with the interests of the indigenous peoples who traditionally have used resources from these areas. 39. Importantly, the federal Government seems to be taking steps to address some of the concerns raised regarding land use. In its Concept Paper, the Government states that “it is essential” for changes to be made to the Land Code and to fishing and wildlife legislation to include free-of-charge use of land for traditional activities, and to increase the authority of local governing bodies to protect the local environment. Additionally, the federal Government has prepared a draft law modifying the Land Code and has created a working group to review this law and introduce proposals for modifications consistent with indigenous land use guarantees. 40. In addressing indigenous land and resource issues, it is necessary to ensure an overall regime of access to lands and natural resources for indigenous peoples that is forward-looking, taking into account the evident evolving nature of indigenous cultures, land-use patterns and economic relationships. Existing guarantees appear to focus on “traditional uses” — such as subsistence or relatively small-scale reindeer herding, hunting and fishing — without ensuring that indigenous peoples have secure rights to use and develop their lands and resources for purposes beyond such uses as can easily be described as “traditional”, such as commercial purposes. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur notes that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirms that “indigenous peoples GE.10-14779 11