Legal status of indigenous communities in natural resource management

The article is devoted to the topical issue of the legal status of indigenous minority communities in natural resources management. The legal status of indigenous communities in nature management includes a set of powers, the realization of which requires additional measures of state support in carrying out traditional economic activities. The article provides an analysis of the current Russian legislation with regard to recent amendments and additions. It is noted that the legislative amendments have expanded the scope of economic activities of communities and secured the right of communities to carry out entrepreneurial and other income-generating activities, as long as these are consistent with the objectives for which they were established. It is concluded that the main differences in the legal status of indigenous minority communities as participants of land, forest, and resource relations lie in the gratuitous nature of the use of certain types of resources and the order of use. However, problems in the field of realization of rights to natural resources persist. The status of indigenous communities in nature management can be assessed as formally equal, but actually lower than that of other subjects. Many of the subjective rights enshrined in the legislation cannot be implemented by communities due to a number of objective reasons, which generate the need for additional measures of state support.

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