The Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (RAIPON), chaired by Russian State Duma deputy from Yamal Grigory Ledkov, has begun collecting proposals for The People's Program: Indigenes 2021, RAIPON says on its website.

"We are consolidating our efforts to revise and adjust the basic decisions in matters regarding the indigenous population of the North, Siberia and the Far East. We are ready to meet the present-day challenges and focus our efforts on preserving traditional lifestyles, ecological safety, competent natural resources management and many other things," Mr. Ledkov said.

Work on the four-year program will involve the heads of regional and ethnic communities, members of RAIPON, in 28 Russian regions. Regional and ethnic community representatives may submit their proposals to RAIPON raipon@raipon.info from February 1 to March 1.