Legal regulation of the use and protection of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation: certain relevant issues

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The subject of this research is a set of legal norms regulating social relations that arise in the context of use and protection of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The goal lies in formulation of the conclusions and recommendations for the improvement of legal regulation in this sphere. The relevance of the selected topic is substantiated by interest of the state in the development of Arctic Zone as a strategic resource base for accelerating the economic growth of the Russian Federation. Among the priority national interests are also the environmental protection of region, conservation of the native habitat and traditional way of living of the indigenous small-numbered peoples. This emphasizes the importance of intensification of use and preservation of the vulnerable areas of the region. The author dwells on the current issues of the formation of territories of traditional management of natural resources and legal status of their lands; rights of the indigenous peoples to land in their native habitat and traditional economy; provision of land plots to entrepreneurs who are the residents of the Arctic Zone; protection of the Arctic lands, etc. The conclusion is made on the existence of gaps and contradictions in legislation of the indicated sphere, which requires revision and improvement. This pertains to the questions of formation of the territories of traditional management of natural resources, maintenance and modification of their boundaries, establishment of the special protection regime in the federal law, etc. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the adopted simplified procedure for providing entrepreneurs who are residents of the Arctic Zone with land plots aimed at expansion of the development of natural resources of the Arctic, may negatively affect the status of lands and overall fragile environment of the Arctic Zone, and thus, lead to infringement upon the interests of the local population, including the indigenous peoples. The author formulates a number of recommendations for the improvement of legislation, among which is the amendments to the Paragraph 2 of the Article 39.34 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation on the establishment of highly restricted cases of termination of permits using the land plots by the indigenous small-numbered peoples.