A/HRC/15/37/Add.5 companies and indigenous people to discussion on compensation, both sides and administrators should allow for and encourage possible ownership interests and profitsharing in extractive industries, where indigenous communities are so inclined. 47. There are also reports of serious negative environmental impacts of extractive industries. For example, in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, an area rich in natural gas and the site of extensive exploration, some 2,500 km², which is expected to increase to 5,500 km², of plant cover has been completely destroyed, severely affecting reindeerherding activities, in which approximately half of the region’s 9,000 indigenous inhabitants engage. The environmental damage has occurred despite the fact that there are 25 regional laws allowing reindeer herders to request and participate in ethnological impact assessments for land development. However, the Special Rapporteur notes that hospitals, schools, and certain employment opportunities for indigenous people have apparently improved with the presence of the industrial development in this area. 48. Federal Government officials have reported that they are working on preparing a federal law that would require ethnological impact assessments for any industrial development. Indigenous advocates have noted that this law has been long awaited and is essential for assessing the effect of extractive and other enterprises on indigenous peoples, and for enabling the exercise of the right to consultation and compensation. 49. Indigenous organizations in Russia expressed deep concern about the planned large hydroelectric dam in the Evenkiya district of Krasnoyarsky Krai. In 2008, the Russian Government approved plans for the construction of the dam to be built by RusHydro (a more than 60 per cent government-owned company). The dam is expected to flood about one million hectares of forest and six villages, and require the resettlement of about 5,000 people, including over 1,600 Evenks. The construction of the dam would result in significant environmental changes to the surrounding areas, including increases in the temperature and humidity levels, changes in biological diversity and the availability of plant and animal species on which Evenks have traditionally depended. The Special Rapporteur received reports that administrators are engaging in tactics of intimidation and investigation of the most vocal activists opposing this project. According to a 2009 poll, over 90 per cent of the residents of Evenkiya municipal district would vote against the construction of the dam.9 50. The project has already generated heated public debate locally and nationally and has gained attention internationally. In 2008, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged the Government of the Russian Federation to withdraw support for the project (see CERD/C/RUS/CO/19). There is concern that the project would be carried out in violation of article 18 of the Declaration, which affirms the right of indigenous people to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights; and in violation of article 10 of the Declaration, which provides that “no relocation shall take place without free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation”. 51. Federal Government officials reported taking steps to ensure that indigenous people from the affected communities would be consulted and that studies will be done to properly predict the impact of the dam on the local environment and communities. The Ministry of Regional Development assured the Special Rapporteur that public hearings will be held to discuss compensation and the negative effect of the construction, that the federal Government will oversee RusHydro’s consultation process with indigenous people in the 9 GE.10-14779 Information from NGO LIENIP. 13