Vorontsova O.V., Plotskaya O.A. The Formation of Customary Legal Mechanisms for Public Environmental Control: the Experience of the Perm Peoples

Abstract: The subject of this article is the formation of the institute of public environmental control on the example of the experience of the Perm Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia, who led a traditional way of life tied to fishery, hunting, gathering, and reindeer breeding. These peoples comprise: the particular Komi (Zyrian) sociocultural ethnic type that includes eight ethnographic groups (Udoria, Izhma, Vym, Upper Pechora, Sysola, Luza, Lower Vychegda, Upper Vychegda), all of which understood their common origins, firmly rooted in their self-identity, their shared territory, language, psychological disposition and unique socio-normative ethnical culture, as well as their close kinship with the Zyrian sociocultural ethnic type Udmurt and Komi (Permyak) peoples. The research object of this study is the individual historical sources and information cited in modern mass media, which reveal specific questions regarding the formation of the public's participation in solving environmental issues. The authors examine particular examples of participation in the formation of public environmental control mechanisms in the Interregional Public Movement of Izhma Komi "Izhvatas", the Committee for the Protection of the Habitat of the Izhma Region Population and others. The methodological base for this study is composed of philosophical methods (dialectical, metaphysical, phenomenological) and general scientific methods used on both the empirical level (observation, measuring etc.) and on the theoretical level of knowledge (idealisation, formalisation, modelling). This research also uses the individual scientific methods of study (comparative-legal, statistical, historical, and others), applied in such scientific fields as history, ecology, sociology, environmental right, and others) and the interdisciplinary approach as the totality of various integrative methods existing at the crossroads of different scientific fields. This article presents the first comprehensive research attempt to study a society's historical experience in solving environmental issues on the example of the experience of the Perm Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia, who led a traditional way of life tied to fishery, hunting, gathering, and reindeer breeding, including the unique Komi (Zyrian) sociocultural ethic type, which includes eight ethnographic groups. As conclusions the authors provide specific participation examples of the Izhma Komi and other groups in public environmental control for the defence of the environment protection.

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