1 000 FAO digital villages and Russian IT-nomad camps: one chain

 

The recent fifteenth anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has once again drawn attention to the situation of communities and representatives of Indigenous Peoples of the world, their role as guardians of traditional knowledge, biodiversity, the binding thread between civilization and nature.  

In the Agenda 21, adopted by the Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Indigenous Peoples were designated as one of the nine main groups of the population interested in the sustainable development of our planet and directly affected by this process.  

The decades since then have been marked by significant progress in ensuring the rights of Indigenous Peoples and improving their living conditions.  

Today, 476 million Indigenous Peoples, belonging to more than 5 000 ethnic groups, live in 90 countries around the world. According to the 2020 Census, over 262 000 representatives of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East of more than 40 nationalities lived in Russia.  

FAO, in its activities, gives priority attention to Indigenous Peoples, emphasizing their rights to use land, forest and fish resources, traditional knowledge in environmental management, the role of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems to ensure food security for all mankind.  

One of the new FAO flagship initiatives that directly affects the lives of Indigenous Peoples is the “1 000 Digital Villages”. 

It is known that most indigenous communities are located in remote areas, and providing their residents with a stable connection through modern communication channels can significantly improve the quality of life, access to the benefits of civilization, digital services related to health, education, culture, increase income and make it possible for them to fully participate in the public life of the district, region and the whole country.  

Recently in Russia, a similar initiative called “digital nomad camps” has been actively implemented, and its combination with the work carried out within the FAO 1 000 Digital Villages can give a cumulative effect, establish an exchange of successful practices, find solutions to common problems, and also allow establishing and maintaining personal contacts. 

This material, prepared on the basis of information from the websites of public organizations of the Indigenous Peoples of Russia, provides examples of such successful work and testimonies of its participants.  

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The IT-nomad camp project has been implemented in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug since 2018. In the territories where Indigenous Peoples traditionally live, sets of equipment have been installed that allow access to the network via Wi-Fi. By the end of last year, it was supposed to increase the number of access points to 70.   

“There are 475 territories where natural resources are traditionally used in Ugra, in total about 5 000 people live there. Now more than 2 000 people can entry the area of IT-nomad camps,” Alexander Novyukhov, senator from Ugra, first vice-President of the RAIPON, said at the Interview of the Week for the website KMNSOYUZ-NEWS of the Interregional Public Organization “Union of Indigenous Peoples ‘Soyuz’” (Interregional Public Organization “KMNSOYUZ”).  

“This is a gradual work and, frankly, not a fast one. Delivery of equipment to areas where there are no roads (and often helipads), installation, ensuring uninterrupted operation of equipment – all this requires titanic efforts,” explained Alexander Novyukhov. “Moreover, these tasks are covered, as a rule, by regional or municipal budgets. Providers do not show much interest in projects, because the number of subscribers in remote territories is minimal.”   

Nevertheless, the process is underway, and now the Nomad Camp School– Kindergarten project, as a distance learning format, is being tested in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.  

“The elimination of digital inequality makes it possible to improve the quality of life in small villages and camps,” Senator Novyukhov continued, “gives local residents the opportunity to enter the world of electronic technologies, become part of a large cyberworld and at the same time stay on the land where their ancestors had lived for centuries.”  

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In Yamal, more than 18 000 people lead a nomadic lifestyle, and the number of deer in the region is the largest in the world.  Among the latest landmark projects, there is the installation of the Internet at the trading post, which allows access the network via Wi–Fi and payment for goods by card.  

“We came up with the idea of installing the Internet at trading posts during the pandemic. When various restrictions were introduced, it became clear that there was a huge demand for access to “Public Services” and banking applications to be provided at the trading posts, Eduard Yaungad, Chairman of the Committee for the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex and for Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Legislative Assembly of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, President of the Yamal – Potomkam Association, says reminding the origins of the decision on IT support. “This would eliminate the need to travel to large settlements and expose yourself to the risk of infection.”  

“There is not much cash money in the tundra right now. For many years, sellers at trading posts used to keep journals where they recorded who bought what and how much he or she owed. Now reindeer herders receive social benefits, and sometimes even salaries on bank cards,” continues Eduard Yaungad, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the YaNAO.  

“To avoid going go to large settlements in search of a terminal, people should be able to pay with a bank card in a trading post store. This will be convenient for everyone – both the tundra workers themselves and the sellers.  

What are the main problems? Remoteness and small population in these territories. But nomad camps here already have satellite communications. “Now we provide our reindeer herders with satellite phones with paid minutes for the whole year. If there is an issue, then one can call and report the problem. Also, each device has an ‘SOS’ button,” says Eduard Yaungad. “If a person is missing, then a search operation begins. Such a system really saves lives, it is deadly dangerous to remain in harsh conditions without communication.”  

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Five years ago, Vladimir Aivaseda, a resident of the Surgut district of Yugra (KhMAO), decided to make radical changes. He quit his stable job at an oil producing enterprise and created his own “Khanty’s Diary” video blog in which he began to talk about the life of the peoples of Yugra and, in particular, how to provide the camp with a stable internet connection. Now his total audience on different platforms exceeds one and a half million people.  

“The problem of the Internet and mobile communications, of course, is acute for residents of remote areas,” says ethnoblogger Vladimir. “Potentially, there is a partial solution. There are antennas, signal catchers, amplifiers. Such equipment is installed as part of the IT-nomad camp project, but instead of waiting until you get into the programme, you can buy and install everything yourself.”  

“The set of equipment that provided my father with a stable mobile connection cost 6-7 thousand roubles, so it’s quite affordable. I shot a series of videos about such technologies, and guys who also bought such equipment and started to use the Internet and mobile phones wrote me about that in the comments.  

However, problems remain: “Equipment is not perfect for all use cases,” explains Vladimir Aivaseda. “It works in open areas, but if a camp is located in a forest, then equipment must be installed above trees. Plus, signal is received within a radius of 50-100 kilometers from a city, no more than that.”  

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Despite all the difficulties, the process of digitalization is moving steadily. Following the decision of the federal government of Russia, starting from 2014, funds from the state budget are being directed to the development and modernization of infrastructure and information and communication resources in areas where Indigenous Peoples live. The task is simple and complex at the same time: to improve Internet access in remote areas and reduce the cost of the service for users. 

So, in 2022, 39 million roubles were allocated from the federal budget to support reindeer husbandry in Yakutia. For information: as of November 21 last year, the number of deer in Yakutia amounted to 176 thousand heads.  

Federal funds were directed to the purchase of equipment, quadcopters, transportable homes and the construction of deer-fenced areas. Through these subsidies, 20 farms purchased 20 quadcopters, 17 farms – 17 sets of solar power stations, 24 farms – 24 sets of equipment for the use of household gas. In addition, four corral complexes and six kilometers of fences have been built, and 12 reindeer farms have purchased 50 transportable homes.  

Quadcopters were very in handy for households – they showed high efficiency in collecting deer and in searching for animals during their autumn corralization. 

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Based on materials from the KMNSOYUZ-NEWS site of the Interregional Public Organization “Association of Indigenous Minorities ‘Soyuz’” (Interregional Public Organization “KMNSOYUZ”) and the network publication “Information Portal Yk24”.   

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

“Digital technologies in the agrifood sector enable farmers to receive timely information about prices, weather conditions and other factors, help track the movement of goods, bridge the gap between consumers and producers, and help solve warehouse logistics issues,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu.  

FAO is actively involved in the digital transformation process and contributes to the implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s Digital Cooperation Roadmap, supports the concept of digital public goods, which includes the Geospatial Data Platform under the FAO Hand-in-Hand initiative.  

FAO’s “1000 Digital Villages” initiative aims to turn remote villages and communities around the world into digital hubs, accelerating rural transformation and closing the digital gap.  

Qu Dongyu said that FAO will take the lead in digitalizing agrifood systems so that no one is left behind.