Sakhalin is an island where indigenous peoples have herded reindeer and harvested salmon for thousands of years, Russia and Japan have disputed ownership in the past, and significant amounts of oil and gas have been developed in recent years. Shell had a series of issues to manage when they took on the LNG project in the early years of planning and construction, with environmental and social impacts over a wide area.

I was supporting the Shell Social Performance team there along with colleagues in London and the Hague.  We found that the Indigenous Peoples issue actually could be moved from protest to constructive engagement, even including with Indigenous Peoples from other parts of the world that Shell was working with.  I helped the management team with the analysis, stakeholder engagement support and international stakeholder support to make that happen.

The result was Sakhalin Energy's multi-award winning partnership programme: https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships/partnership-indigenous-communities-sakhalin-indigenous-minorities-development-plan