Rural groups of native small-numerous peoples:the methods of expert examination of traditionalwildlife-using systems (on Southern Siberia data)

The problems reviewed inarticle are highly actual and have scientific and applied value expressed distinctly. Traditional form of wildlife-using makes the importantpart of Siberian small ethnic groups' subsistence. This is also the base for many elements of the regional ethno-cultural variety, whichpreservation became last decades the subject of a wide discourse with participation of authorities, scientific community and the natives'publicity. In modern conditions the economic role of traditional wildlife-use practice is also significant. It actually becomes one of fewsources of subsistence accessible for rural part of native peoples. However these communities not always have a real possibility to carry outtheir traditional wildlife-using. The part of lands necessary for that has been excluded or it is under the threat of exclusion from indigenouspopulation usage. In it, in particular, results the expansion of especially protected natural territories network and industrial extraction ofnatural resources within the ethnic territories. Many projects directed to ethnic territories social and economic development existing todaycan affect adversely a level of native ethnic groups living and make it impossible for them to practice the traditional forms of economy. All itaggravates the ethno-social situation locally and promotes to formation of land-use conflicts. The most effective way to regulate or prevent itis to carry out the specialized researches, i.e. the ethnologic expert investigation directed to estimate the interested groups of populationlosses possible in the case of economic projects and development programs realization within the ethnic territories. In the present article theresearch experience relevant to expert examination of small native people's traditional wildlife-using is summarized. This experience hasbeen saved up by carrying out the ethnologic expert investigations and other applied researches in Altai-Sayan ecoregion. In the article firstpart the author describes a several conflict situations well-known to him which involves rural groups of indigenous peoples. All such aconflicts were closely deal with the problems of primordial ethnic wildlife-using practice and concerning land-use relations among thenatives. The second part of article content is devoted to the applied studying of natives' traditional wildlife-using. Here the author's attentionis aimed to characteristic of applied research methods, allowing to resolve a number of important research problems such as to define thelevel of ethnic groups traditional economic specialization; to analyze the economic and life-supporting parameters of traditional wildlife-use;to reveal the character of land-use relations in the places of indigenous people traditional economic activity and also to define the factors andreasons of possible land-use conflicts. All the techniques characterized in this article allows to estimate the real risks possible for local ethniccommunities if they appear under the influence of social and economic projects or territory development programs which constitute theobject of ethnologic expert investigation.

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