The land occupies a central place in the cosmology of indigenous peoples of the world and it is directly related to their self-determination, but many of them are still fighting for their rights to land and natural resources to be recognized by the state and other stakeholders, mainly mining companies. This is especially true for the aboriginals of the Arctic, whose importance will only increase due to the influence of natural processes taking place there on the world climate, economy and international relations. The authors of the paper compare national legislation and law enforcement practices of solving the urgent problem of reconciling the rights of indigenous peoples with the economic development of Arctic territories of Russia and Canada. This study is an analysis of rights to land and natural resources and their guarantees provided to indigenous peoples by domestic laws of two states. Conclusion reveals that the approaches chosen by Russia and Canada can be generally characterized respectively as paternalistic and liberal. At the same time, a tendency exists in Russia to adopt the corporate social responsibility of companies, which reflects the widespread practices, including that of Canada.

Currently, the issues of environmental safety of the activities carried out are becoming more and more urgent. Global problems such as depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution, climate change, melting permafrost, etc. require the adoption of consistent and effective measures, while the subsoil use sphere is associated with especially high risks of negative impact on the environment. Therefore, when using subsoil, all risks should be minimized. A number of leading mining companies claim to adhere to the principles of sustainable development. In this regard, it becomes necessary to consider the principles proclaimed by companies with the actual state of affairs. The article analyzes the activities and environmental policy of subsoil users using the example of ALROSA, examines the company’s implementation of a sustainable development policy, and also compares the environmental principles declared by the company with the facts. The activities of the extractive industry have a huge impact on the state of the environment, therefore, the risks of accidents must be minimized, an effective mechanism for responding to potentially dangerous situations must be built, there is also a need to tighten control over the activities of mining companies, as well as to optimize audits of environmental reporting.

The article presents the experience of analyzing and generalizing field ethnographic materials on the traditional burial rituals of the Nenets of the Gyda Peninsula, in particular, on burial structures. During the study, it was revealed that the Gyda Nenets bury their dead according to a long-established tradition. The deceased is placed in rectangular wooden boxes, fastened with a system of slats and strips. Nearby, they leave the dishes in which the memorial meal was cooked. Bells are hung in the heads of the deceased. Broken sledges turned upside down with spears are laid at the feet of the deceased. Sacrificial deer are slaughtered before the first sled. The deceased is oriented, most often, with his feet to the northwest. Sometimes there are burial options associated with ethnic influences. Having preserved the foundation, the burial structures of the Nenets acquired some new features. By examining these changes, it is possible to predict the further development of ethnic processes among the Nenets.

Research relevance: studying the ancient people site of Buolumuna Taasa in the territory of the Abyisky Region of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) can demonstrate the new facts about the life of ancient people. The article presents the results of the expedition to the Buolumuna Taasa site in the Abyiskyi region. The purpose of the study is to study the excavation materials of the Buolumun Taasa site expedition to draw up the idea of the origin of ancient people tools. Study perspective: to conduct analysis of obtained data and geochemical analysis of obsidian; to include the Buolumuna Taasa site in the register of archaeological sites of Russia. As a result, the expedition participants first discovered tools from obsidian at the Buolumuna Taasa site, which testify that in the Neolitic Age, tools were made not only from stone, wood, deer horn, mammoth tusk and bone, but also from obsidian.

The article is devoted to the study of the image of the reindeer in the ethnographic documentary films of Yakutia. The sources of the on-screen image of the deer were modern author’s films made about three Arctic regions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), where the Polar Yakuts, Evens and Dolgans live. Reindeer husbandry, which is the main ethno-forming type of agricultural production in the Arctic regions, has made it possible to preserve the traditional nomadic culture of peoples. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the deer image-symbol in documentary films. In the course of the study, a multifaceted representation of the image of a deer on the screen has been established. The films vividly represent the special role of the deer in the spiritual culture of northern minorities. The directors pay great attention to the culinary description, since the deer is one of the sources of food. Being a means of transportation, deer in the films is opposed to such a symbol of technogenic culture as a snowmobile. Plots depicting folk craftswomen, national clothes, speak of the influence of the role of a deer in everyday life on the development of its image in culture. Both in material and spiritual culture, deer and man are spatially equivalent. The indigenous peoples of the North endow the deer with human qualities, spiritualize and value its appearance.

As one of the most archaic genre of folklore, riddles are considered a valuable material for studying the world-view of ethnic groups and their representations about cosmos. A complex analysis of riddles as well as the correlation of their contents, artistic motives and images with folklore and ethnographic materials allowed constructing a visualized picture of the Yakut Universe. The presentation of key images of riddles in the form of drawings describes a traditional imaginary system of the world’s structure and visually demonstrates the uniqueness and depth of national cultural codes. For the first time, a folklore text, referring to this genre, is presented in creative works, which were performed with the participation of schoolchildren. The aim of the research is to describe imaginary representation of the Yakuts about cosmos reflected in the genre of riddles. The authors analyze mythological world-view of the Yakuts verbalized in the texts of Yakut riddles and identify the key images of cosmos, which, as a result of the work, are introduced in the form of visual illustrations on postcards. To achieve the aim of the research we applied the methods of context, semantic, descriptive, semiotic and interpretational analyses. The study resulted in successful approbation of the art project on postcards with pictures and further interactive visualization of folklore texts. The main conclusions of the work are that the text of riddles reflects the traditional worldview system of the Yakuts and unifies different genres of oral folk arts to create acultural background and clue information.

The article raises the topic of the fundamental categories of mythoepic pictures of the world of the Arctic peoples - the peculiarities of the organization of space and time. The relevance of addressing the topic is caused by the growing interest in the nature of the linguistic consciousness of ethnic groups associated with various conceptualizations of space-time relations, ultimately constructing special models of the world of national cultures. The purpose of the study is to identify the general and specific in the spatio-temporal representations of the northern olonkho and Even, Evenk legends. The plot dynamics of spatial elements is subjected to comparative analysis, where exactly movement (path) contains the interdependence of the categories of space and time. Methods of description, continuous sampling, structural and semantic analysis are used. The author comes to the conclusion that general epic universals include: a single horizontal-vertical organization of the spatial picture of the world; the existence of a sacred center - the highest sacred point of space and time, where all sacred objects (space, country, dwelling) coincide with this center according to the principle of «nesting dolls»; similarity of formulas reflecting folklore time; spatio-temporal relationships in quantitative and qualitative characteristics. In general, we can conclude that the mythological chronotope in the northern olonkho and legends of the Evens, Evenks have different degrees of development. The mythological expositions of small peoples are made out laconically, briefly, in folded versions, where there are no lengthy descriptions, which certainly reflects the specific features of the national language, thinking and mentality of these peoples.

The specificity of the situation in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) gives rise to the need to update the multicultural educational policy with an emphasis on the adult population that can serve as a response to the challenges of ethnic diversity. This article is devoted to the problem of teaching multicultural communication in a civil society in modern conditions of coexistence of different cultures in a civil society (in the Arctic region) with an emphasis on the educating of an interculturally competent and tolerant adult. The key question of the article: how to develop such a multicultural education that, on the one hand, is aimed at integrating migrants into society and, on the other hand, effectively influences the teaching of intercultural communication of the local and newcomer adult population. The issue is being discussed within the framework of the cultural sustainability of the Arctic development. The author examines the potential of education to improve sustainability in the face of changes in the Arctic region. The article concludes that informal learning, or learning in a civil society, should play a key role in the education and integration of citizens who have an understanding of the norms and principles of living in a multicultural environment. One of the main educational tasks of such a civil society is to increase citizens’ interethnic and intercultural competences, as well as foster a tolerant attitude towards the manifestations of diversity in society. The article discusses some approaches to teaching informal multicultural communication.

In recent years, the popularity of distance learning has been growing. Especially this phenomenon took momentum after the onset of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The current life situation around the world forced to look and find other ways, forms and methods of organizing the educational process in general education schools. The authors, realizing the complexity of solving the issue, touched upon a very topical research topic. The purpose of this article is to study the features of the organization of distance education in rural and urban schools. They noted the prerequisites for the emergence of distance learning, revealed the concepts and models of distance learning that are currently accepted in our country and in the world. Distance learning is a special, perfect form that combines elements of full-time, part-time, part-time and evening learning based on new information technologies and multimedia systems; it is a new organization of the educational process based on the principle of independent study of educational material by students, under the guidance and supervision of a teacher. We presented the results of a survey and questionnaire survey of teachers, school parents, identified the pros and cons of introducing and implementing distance learning. Despite the popularity of using distance learning in general education schools, the issue requires additional and more meaningful study. There are no scientifically proven facts of the influence of distance learning on the quality of the knowledge gained, and their application in practice.