Search

This article illustrates how the Yamal-Nenets, a group of reindeer pastoralists in West Siberia, perceive a series of recent natural disasters to be connected to one another through a conspiracy – i.e. caused by the agency of malevolent human forces which are beyond the pastoralists’ control. Recent fieldwork during the peak of the global Covid-19 epidemic served as a trigger for this observation. Their self-confidence in the robustness of their lifestyle and their embeddedness within their natural environment is so strong that Yamal-Nenets nomads believe only evil forces – not nature – can stop them from being mobile. Alongside Covid-19, they interpret the severe consequences of natural disasters, such as iced pastures, related reindeer starvation and the outbreak of anthrax as man-made attempts to reduce the number of people and animals in the tundra. The blame they place on humans for these disasters takes place in the context of hitherto unseen gas industry developments in the area. Such interpretations may become a general pattern for changing perceptions of the world by remote indigenous populations when deprived of their once customary shamanic dialogue with the spirits.

This contribution takes a longue durée perspective of 20 years to the transformation of spiritual ways of knowing the land. The ways in which Nenets people in the Russian Arctic display or hide their relations with the spirits from incomers have changed over time, due to a number of outside influences, but also to relations of trust between the author and the practitioners in the field.

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are semi-domesticated animals adapted to the challenging conditions of northern Eurasia. Adipose tissues play a crucial role in northern animals by altering gene expression in their tissues to regulate energy homoeostasis and thermogenic activity. Here, we perform transcriptome profiling by RNA sequencing of adipose tissues from three different anatomical depots: metacarpal (bone marrow), perirenal, and prescapular fat in Finnish and Even reindeer (in Sakha) during spring and winter. A total of 16,212 genes are expressed in our data. Gene expression profiles in metacarpal tissue are distinct from perirenal and prescapular adipose tissues. Notably, metacarpal adipose tissue appears to have a significant role in the regulation of the energy metabolism of reindeer in spring when their nutritional condition is poor after winter. During spring, genes associated with the immune system are upregulated in the perirenal and prescapular adipose tissue. Blood and tissue parameters reflecting general physiological and metabolic status show less seasonal variation in Even reindeer than in Finnish reindeer. This study identifies candidate genes potentially involved in immune response, fat deposition, and energy metabolism and provides new information on the mechanisms by which reindeer adapt to harsh arctic conditions., Weldenegodguad et al. performed transcriptome profiling of adipose tissues from the bone marrow, perirenal, and prescapular fat in Finnish and Even reindeer (in Sakha) during spring and winter. They identified candidate genes potentially involved in immune responses, fat deposition, and energy metabolism that provide insight into the mechanisms by which reindeer adapt to harsh arctic conditions.

This chapter traces the development of legal anthropology in Russia from imperial times to the present. The authors suggest an innovative research agenda based on thorough consideration of Russia’s long history of legal ethnography, a strong applied orientation, and interdisciplinary cooperation between legal scholars and anthropologists, which ideally would start from the conception of a research project and would include joint fieldwork. They provide a brief overview of the different types of studies of law and society in Russia that claim the name ‘legal anthropology’ (iuridicheskaia antropologiia, antropologiia pravo), but which in fact come out of different disciplines; have different approaches, aims, and orientations; and are not in conversation with one another. On the basis of their fieldwork, the authors identify two contrasting types of societies that exist among the Indigenous peoples of Russia: non-state societies (on the example of the Nenets in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) and almost-state societies (on the basis of the Sakha in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)). The examples illustrate why, in one society, non-state legal activity is pragmatically geared towards ‘getting things done’ and solving internal questions, while in the other there is a quest to contribute to legislative processes on a more general, countrywide level. Doing so also means mapping the cultural diversity of the current social life of legal systems that coexist within one state. This has both scholarly and practical value and can lead to wider recognition of legal anthropology as a unified field within and beyond academic scholarship.

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are semi-domesticated animals adapted to the challenging arctic conditions of northern Eurasia. Adipose tissues play a crucial role in animals living in northern environments by altering gene expression in their tissues to regulate energy homeostasis and thermogenic activity. Here, we performed transcriptome profiling by RNA sequencing of adipose tissues from three different anatomical depots: metacarpal (bone marrow), perirenal, and prescapular fat in Finnish and Even reindeer (in Sakha) during two seasonal time points (spring and winter). On average 36.5 million pair-ended clean reads were obtained for each sample, and a total of 16,362 genes were expressed in our data. Gene expression profiles in metacarpal tissue were distinct and clustered separately from perirenal and prescapular adipose tissues. Notably, metacarpal adipose tissue appeared to have a significant role in the regulation of the energy metabolism of reindeer in spring when their nutritional condition is poor after winter. During spring, when the animals are in less optimal condition, genes associated with the immune system (e.g., CCL2, CCL11, CXCL14, IGSF3, IGHM, IGLC7, IGKC, JCHAIN, and IGSF10) were upregulated in the perirenal and prescapular adipose tissue, while genes involved in energy metabolism (e.g., ACOT2, APOA1, ANGPTL1, ANGPTL8, ELOVL7, MSMO1, PFKFB1, and ST3GAL6) were upregulated in metacarpal tissue. Even reindeer harboured relatively fewer significantly differentially expressed genes than Finnish reindeer, irrespective of the season, possibly owing to climatic and management differences. Moreover, blood and tissue parameters reflecting general physiological and metabolic status showed less seasonal variation in Even reindeer than in Finnish reindeer. This study identified adipose candidate genes potentially involved in immune response, fat deposition, energy metabolism, development, cell growth, and organogenesis. Taken together, this study provides new information on the mechanisms by which reindeer adapt to less optimal arctic conditions.

The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) covers 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. It is based on an international expert perception survey among 173 members of the International Panel on Arctic Environmental Responsibility (IPAER), whose input is processed using segmented string relative ranking (SSRR) methodology. Equinor, Total, Aker BP, ConocoPhillips, and BP are seen as the most environmentally responsible companies, whereas Dalmorneftegeophysica, Zarubejneft, ERIELL, First Ore‐Mining Company, and Stroygaz Consulting are seen as the least environmentally responsible. Companies operating in Alaska have the highest average rank, whereas those operating in Russia have the lowest average rank. Larger companies tend to rank higher than smaller companies, state‐controlled companies rank higher than privately controlled companies, and oil and gas companies higher than mining companies. The creation of AERI demonstrates that SSRR is a low‐cost way to overcome the challenge of indexing environmental performance and contributing to environmental governance across disparate industrial sectors and states with divergent environmental standards and legal and political systems.

OBJECTIVE Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation in glioma results in a multitude of biological differences with consequences for survival and therapy response. Therefore, IDH mutated (IDHmut) and wildtype (IDHwt) tumors are regarded as separate entities with the need for adjusted therapy like the combination of procarbazine, CCNU and vincristine (PCV). However, as vincristine has often severe side effects like neuropathy new effective therapy options are required. Therefore, we searched for combinations of FDA-approved drugs which effectively inhibit the growth of IDHmut cells in vitro. METHODS We tested different drug combinations of a drug library consisting of 146 FDA-approved drugs on two established IDHmut GSC lines. Based on a previous single agent drug screen, six drugs were selected (Idarubicin, Ixazumib, Ponatinib, Neratinib, Romidepsin) to be combined with all 146 drugs of the library. Cell viability was assessed by the CellTiterGlo 3D assay (Promega) in 96 well plates, while Caspase-Glo 3/7 3D assay was used to measure induction of apoptosis. RESULTS Out of 1460 drug combinations tested altogether 21 synergistic drug combinations could be identified and validated. The combination with the highest blood-brain-barrier permeability score was further investigated. Finally, drug-concentrations elucidating the highest synergistic effect on proliferation was further studied in a 8-point dose-response matrix followed by validation in additional four IDHmut GSC lines. CONCLUSION This work can lay the foundation for future improvements of the therapy of patients suffering from LGGs.

State-region relations involve negotiations over the power to (re)-constitute local spaces. While in federal states, power-sharing ostensibly gives regions a role over many space-making decisions, power asymmetries affect this role. Where centralization trends may erode regional agency, law can provide an important tool by which regions can assert influence. We examine a case where, in response to a proposed Russian federal law highly unpopular with a regional population, the region's government sought to ameliorate its potential impacts by using opportunities to co-produce the law, amending regional legislation, and strategically implementing other federal and regional laws to protect its territory.

Climate change is a major challenge to Arctic and other Indigenous peoples, but not the only and often not the most pressing one. We propose re-framing the treatment of climate change in policy and research, to make sure health, poverty, education, cultural vitality, equity, justice, and other topics highlighted by the people themselves and not just climate science also get the attention they deserve in research on global and regional environmental change. Climate change can often exacerbate other problems, but a singular focus on climate change—as is often the case in much existing environmental literature on the Arctic and elsewhere— can distract from actions that can be taken now to improve the lives of Arctic peoples. The same logic also applies elsewhere in the world, where diverse residents face a host of challenges, opportunities, and obstacles, with climate change but one among many issues. Our proposed approach to regional and global environmental change research draws on the ideas of decolonization, emphasizing collaborative approaches and Indigenous voices in research and policy instead of top-down measures designed outside the affected communities. Only in this way of contextualizing human-environmental experiences can the full effects of climate change be understood—and appropriate responses developed and carried out to adapt to global change.

Industry in the twenty-first century advances to ever-remoter regions, seen as ‘periphery’ from the point of view of headquarters and capital cities, while for local people these areas are the core of their world. This article investigates the encounter between communities, regulatory authorities and industry in the Russian Arctic. Using cases from Sakha (Yakutiya), we analyse how communities organise for coexistence of traditional livelihoods with big industrial projects in what we call state-led resource development. Our analysis shows the surprising room for agency that development agendas in a centralised state nonetheless leave for local people so far.

For the past three decades, risk has occupied center stage in the energy discourse. Systemic risks have proven particularly challenging for government energy planners and corporate executives, as they are characterized by their complexity, uncertainty, ambiguity, and ability to causing ripple effects throughout economic, social, and political structures. In this article we analyze two approaches to governing systemic risks arising out of energy megaprojects, one mandated under the Russian legal and regulatory regime and one employed by the largely indigenous hunters, fishermen, and reindeer herders residing in the Sakha Republic. Our study focuses on the 4000-km-long natural gas transmission system “Power of Siberia” to be constructed in the sub-Arctic part of the region. We employ a complimentary and corroborative analysis of legal texts, fieldwork observations, semi-structured interviews, and transcripts of official meetings. We establish that the approach to risk taken by the people who occupy the land that the Power of Siberia traverses could provide a useful insight for handling systemic risks in connection with pipeline transportation systems. We also determine that the current Russian legal and regulatory regime fails to provide an adequate basis for governing such risks. We conclude the article by identifying four pathways for integrating valuable elements of the indigenous approach into the current legal and regulatory framework.

The Arctic remains of great interest for extractive industry development, despite fluctuating mineral and hydrocarbon prices, and the technological and political challenges of accessing these resources. The articles in this special section explore the realities of living close to extractive industries in the Arctic; the expectations surrounding extractive projects; the nature of local and distributed benefits; and the extent to which local knowledge is incorporated into public debates. In this introduction, we consider how an ‘extractivist’ logic can stifle other ways for local communities to imagine the future, contrasting this with local perspectives based on sustainability and co-existence with nature. Where industrial activity takes place, local involvement in shaping an industry’s ‘social licence to operate’ offers a counterbalance to an ‘extractivist’ imperative, by focusing more on equitable benefit sharing and protection of local livelihoods and the environment. We conclude that rights holders and others directly affected by industry operations can use their own knowledge to ensure that decisions are sensitive to longer-term sustainability risks, and that alternative development options are adequately considered. An empowered local civil society also has an important role in ensuring extractive industry operations are environmentally sound and compatible with existing local livelihoods.

This contribution analyses relations between people and resources according to two principal logics which we identified during fieldwork in the Russian Arctic and sub-Arctic: the utilitarian logic standing for the idea that humans own, control and exploit the land, and the partnership logic standing for humans living as part of the land in a reciprocal relationship. We investigate the encounter of these two in the Russian industrialised North. In all cases we see people agree that the utilitarian logic prevails. The partnership logic can exist safely only in a narrowly circumscribed niche. State law governs this niche, based on the utilitarian assumption that resources have to be useful for human society. Drawing on data from Kamchatka and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, we identify three scenarios of the encounter between those two logics in people- resource relations: confrontation, coexistence and co-ignorance. We analyse under which conditions this encounter assumes which form. We conclude that a partnership approach to land and resources can only survive as a marginal island in a world dominated by an extractivist mindset, but that indigenous people can preserve a niche for their partnership approach if they internalise the utilitarian logic, acknowledge its dominance and learn to play the extractivist game.

In July 2009, a public meeting was held in the village of Kivalina, Alaska. It was an opportunity for community members to voice their opinions and concerns regarding the Red Dog Mine’s development plans and especially the mine’s new waste management permit. Community members were concerned about the mine’s impacts on their land, their health, and their community as a whole. Mining has been a part of Alaska’s history since the 1800s while oil was discovered in the 1960s and drilling began on the North Slope in 1971. Indigenous communities in Alaska and Greenland are constantly adapting to the economic, political, social, and cultural environments they are a part of and their small-scale economies depend on their abilities to utilize informal economic means such as subsistence harvesting. Resource development is impacting subsistence in major ways: by threatening the natural environment and by increasing the cash flow to Indigenous people resulting in changing lifestyles, priorities, and values.

This article analyses the phenomenon of the post-Soviet Russian summer cottage, dacha, in the Arctic. We take an ethnographic comparative perspective for contributing to the refinement of our understanding of human-environment relations and urban anthropology of incomer-northerners, those with roots somewhere outside the north. Evidence from fieldwork in Murmansk Oblast, West Siberia and Sakha-Yakutia shows how for a socialist and post-socialist northern urban livelihood, the dacha has become an indispensable counterpart of life in the urban concrete housing blocks for most Russian northern inhabitants. We explore in this article the importance of dacha for northern identity of urban dwellers, by analysing spheres of individual and collective agency, freedom, attachment to place and land. We conclude that the dacha movement has filled a gap that had been left open by Soviet Arctic urbanisation: a dacha has come to stand for a human-environment relationship that gradually re-introduces rurality to urban life in the Russian Arctic so permanently that dacha places start losing their seasonal character.

Temperature is increasing in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. The frequency and nature of precipitation events are also predicted to change in the future. These changes in climate are expected, together with increasing human pressures, to have significant impacts on Arctic and sub-Arctic species and ecosystems. Due to the key role that reindeer play in those ecosystems, it is essential to understand how climate will affect the region's most important species. Our study assesses the role of climate on the dynamics of fourteen Eurasian reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) populations, using for the first time data on reindeer abundance collected over a 70-year period, including both wild and semi-domesticated reindeer, and covering more than half of the species' total range. We analyzed trends in population dynamics, investigated synchrony among population growth rates, and assessed the effects of climate on population growth rates. Trends in the population dynamics were remarkably heterogeneous. Synchrony was apparent only among some populations and was not correlated with distance among population ranges. Proxies of climate variability mostly failed to explain population growth rates and synchrony. For both wild and semi-domesticated populations, local weather, biotic pressures, loss of habitat and human disturbances appear to have been more important drivers of reindeer population dynamics than climate. In semi-domesticated populations, management strategies may have masked the effects of climate. Conservation efforts should aim to mitigate human disturbances, which could exacerbate the potentially negative effects of climate change on reindeer populations in the future. Special protection and support should be granted to those semi-domesticated populations that suffered the most because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, in order to protect the livelihood of indigenous peoples that depend on the species, and the multi-faceted role that reindeer exert in Arctic ecosystems.

Hydrocarbon exploration has been underway in the north of West Siberia for several decades. Giant gas fields on the Yamal Peninsula are expected to begin feeding the Nord Stream pipeline to Western Europe in late 2012. Employing a variety of high- to very high-resolution satellite-based sensors, we have followed the establishment and spread of Bovanenkovo, the biggest and first field to be developed. Extensive onsite field observations and measurements of land use and land cover changes since 1985 have been combined with intensive participant observation in all seasons among indigenous Nenets reindeer herders and long-term gas field workers during 2004–2007 and 2010–2011. Time series and multi-resolution imagery was used to build a chronology of the gas field’s development. Large areas of partially or totally denuded tundra and most forms of expanding infrastructure are readily tracked with Landsat scenes (1985, 1988, 2000, 2009, 2011). SPOT (1993, 1998) and ASTER (2001) were also used. Quickbird-2 (2004) and GeoEye (2010) were most successful in detecting small-scale anthropogenic disturbances as well as individual camps of nomadic herders moving in the vicinity of the gas field. For assessing gas field development the best results are obtained by combining lower resolution with Very High Resolution (VHR) imagery (spatial resolution < 5 m) and fieldwork. Nenets managing collective and privately owned herds of reindeer have proven adept in responding to a broad range of intensifying industrial impacts at the same time as they have been dealing with symptoms of a warming climate. Here we detail both the spatial extent of gas field growth and the dynamic relationship between Nenets nomads and their rapidly evolving social-ecological system.

Sizable areas in northwestern arctic Russia have undergone fundamental change in recent decades as the exploration of vast hydrocarbon deposits has intensified. We undertook two case studies on the influence of oil and gas activities within neighbouring federal districts in the tundra zone. Employing a strongly interdisciplinary approach, we studied the ecological, spatial and social dimensions of the visible and perceived changes in land use and land cover. Our data are derived from field sampling, remote sensing and intensive participant observation with indigenous Nenets reindeer herders and non-indigenous workers. Important trends include the rapid expansion of infrastructure, a large influx of workers who compete for freshwater fish, and extensive transformation from shrub- to grass- and sedge-dominated tundra. The latter represents an alternative ecosystem state that is likely to persist indefinitely. On terrain disturbed by off-road vehicle traffic, reindeer pastures’ vegetation regenerates with fewer species among which grasses and sedges dominate, thus reducing biodiversity. To have maximum forage value such pastures must be accessible and free of trash, petro-chemicals and feral dogs. We found that a wide range of direct and indirect impacts, both ecological and social, accumulate in space and time such that the combined influence is effectively regional rather than local, depending in part on the placement of facilities. While incoming workers commonly commit poaching, they also serve as exchange partners, making barter for goods possible in remote locations. In general, the same positive and negative impacts of the presence of industry were mentioned in each study region. Even using very high-resolution remote sensing data (Quickbird-2) it is not possible to determine fully the amount of degraded territory in modern oil and gas fields. With regard to policy, both biophysical and social impacts could be substantially reduced if information flow between herders and workers were to be optimized.

Snow conditions play an important role for reindeer herding. In particular, the formation of ice crusts after rain-on-snow (ROS) events or general surface thawing with subsequent refreezing impedes foraging. Such events can be monitored using satellite data. A monitoring scheme has been developed for observation at the circumpolar scale based on data from the active microwave sensor SeaWinds on QuikSCAT (Ku-band), which is sensitive to changes on the snow surface. Ground observations on Yamal Peninsula were used for algorithm development. Snow refreezing patterns are presented for northern Eurasia above 60 degrees N from autumn 2001 to spring 2008. Western Siberia is more affected than Central and Eastern Siberia in accordance with climate data, and most events occur in November and April. Ice layers in late winter have an especially negative effect on reindeer as they are already weakened. Yamal Peninsula is located within a transition zone between high and low frequency of events. Refreezing was observed more than once a winter across the entire peninsula during recent years. The southern part experienced refreezing events on average four times each winter. Currently, herders can migrate laterally or north-south, depending on where and when a given event occurs. However, formation of ice crusts in the northern part of the peninsula may become as common as they are now in the southern part. Such a development would further constrain the possibility to migrate on the peninsula.

Tundra ecosystems are vulnerable to hydrocarbon development, in part because small-scale, low-intensity disturbances can affect vegetation, permafrost soils, and wildlife out of proportion to their spatial extent. Scaling up to include human residents, tightly integrated arctic social-ecological systems (SESs) are believed similarly susceptible to industrial impacts and climate change. In contrast to northern Alaska and Canada, most terrestrial and aquatic components of West Siberian oil and gas fields are seasonally exploited by migratory herders, hunters, fishers, and domesticated reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus L.). Despite anthropogenic fragmentation and transformation of a large proportion of the environment, recent socioeconomic upheaval, and pronounced climate warming, we find the Yamal-Nenets SES highly resilient according to a few key measures. We detail the remarkable extent to which the system has successfully reorganized in response to recent shocks and evaluate the limits of the system's capacity to respond. Our analytical approach combines quantitative methods with participant observation to understand the overall effects of rapid land use and climate change at the level of the entire Yamal system, detect thresholds crossed using surrogates, and identify potential traps. Institutional constraints and drivers were as important as the documented ecological changes. Particularly crucial to success is the unfettered movement of people and animals in space and time, which allows them to alternately avoid or exploit a wide range of natural and anthropogenic habitats. However, expansion of infrastructure, concomitant terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem degradation, climate change, and a massive influx of workers underway present a looming threat to future resilience.

In this paper we explore how Western scientific concepts and attitudes towards indigenous knowledge, as they pertain to resource management and climate change, differ from the prevailing view in modern Russia. Western indigenous leaders representing the Inuit and Saami peoples are actively engaged in the academic and political discourse surrounding climate change, whereas their Russian colleagues tend to focus more on legislation and self-determination, as a post-Soviet legacy. We contribute to the debate with data from the Nenets tundra, showing how different research has employed the three crucial Western research paradigms of climate change, wildlife management and indigenous knowledge on the ground. We suggest that the daily practice of tundra nomadism involves permanent processes of negotiating one’s position in a changing environment, which is why “adaptation” is woven into the society, and cosmology as a whole, rather than being separable into distinct “bodies” of knowledge or Western-designed categories. We argue that research agendas should be placed in their proper local and regional context, and temporal framework: for example, by collaborating with herders on the topics of weather instead of climate change, herding skills instead of wildlife management, and ways of engaging with the tundra instead of traditional ecological knowledge.

This contribution looks at the influence of technological change that nomads in the Russian North have undergone, using as examples two crucial innovations: the snowmobile and the mobile phone. I argue that the snowmobile did not have the same revolutionary impact on the Russian tundra as it did in Fennoscandia, for reasons connected to long distances, infrastructure, spare parts, availability of fuel, priorities of Soviet transport policy as well as the convenience of previously used practices of herd control using 'sitting transport'. Different from that, I argue that mobile phones have the potential for a greater penetration into nomadic societies. Because they encourage equality rather than stratification, they are low maintenance; they are small enough to be embedded into existing social contexts. Connecting not only neighbours but the whole world, in principle, mobile phones may entail a significant socio-cultural change. The article presents first fieldwork evidence of such change among tundra nomads and relates this to existing theoretical studies on how mobile communication changes societies. Attention is paid to the particularities of a mobile type of communication introduced in mobile communities, that is, among nomads. In doing so, I explore similarities and differences in how technological change in- fluences sedentary and nomadic societies.

This article analyses the development of relations between indigenous communities, oil companies and the state in Russia's Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO). Using first hand information from anthropological fieldwork and one co-author's own involvement in regional politics, we analyse efforts to establish stakeholder dialogue. We show that ‘collective agency’ is crucial to prepare the ground for trustful relations, whereas high personnel turnover within interest groups jeopardises initially promising initiatives. Lessons from this experience have relevance for similar analyses throughout Russia in those cases where consistent federal and regional legislation is not likely to be in place in the near future.

Humans and Reindeer on the Move, this special issue of Nomadic Peoples, carries a challenging intent of purpose. It aims to give a state-of-the-art. comparative perspective of reindeer management spread around the circumpolar rim. Reindeer-related livelihoods encompass the topic in such diverse and multiple ways that movement becomes not only the overarching 'glue' of this special issue; it also invites us, together with the authors, to contribute theoretically to our understanding of the move. The title 'Humans and Reindeer on the Move' stands therefore for a theoretical framework in several dimensions. Movement of humans and reindeer is understood by the authors of this volume in multiple ways including the literal sense, namely migrations of pastoral nomads with reindeer, but also as the constant move between engaging with wild and domestic reindeer. Movement is also the transition from a Soviet planned economy to a market-oriented one, which finds expression in the movement of goods and gifts within various spheres of exchange. Finally, we can attempt to clarify the importance and essence of movement in pastoralists' minds, as compared with categories of mobility created by non-pastoralists. All these multiple facets are covered by the contributors to this volume, while we focus in this introduction on the move between what we will call symbiotic domestication in human-reindeer relations, and rationalisation leading to full resource use at the cost of intimate human-animal relations. The contributions, all thoroughly grounded in fieldwork data. were carefully chosen to provide such a broad regional distribution. However. more than this. our reason for focus on reindeer-based economies and livelihoods was precisely to highlight important variables of significance in the study of pastoralism in general. We maintain that the human-reindeer relationship, or rather its various changeable relationships, pinpoint determinants of principle in the development and practice of all forms of pastoralism (and other human-animal-based partnerships or modes of exploitation). These principles might not be apparent through the study of reindeer systems of livelihood alone, but they certainly shine forth prominently there, because of the unique spread over wild, feral, and domestic conditions of the species Rangifer tarandus, and the many associations these different populations have with humans--it might well be that some of these Rangifer populations are exploited as objects of the hunt and others of domestic herding by the same people at the same time (see, for example, Ventsel, this volume). The reindeer-human connection thus brings together a remarkable laboratory for the study of key determinants in many of the most important human-animal interrelations, and, to our way thinking, explodes common analytical typologies. Dovetailing with the above theoretical aspiration for this special issue is the intent to provide a much-needed update into circumpolar reindeer affairs. With the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, especially, the multitude of reindeer-based livelihoods and cultures has become open to anthropological study like never before. Increasingly over the last decades, northern 'reindeer peoples' have mobilised themselves according to all manner of nationally variable criteria of indigeneity and international protective conventions. Of further significance is the dramatic rise of encroachment of wild reindeer in Eurasia and caribou in North America on domestic reindeer operations that led to significant decreases in the populations of the latter, again challenging reindeer herders' capacity to respond flexibly to rapidly changing natural and social environments. Therefore, several of the contributions in this volume (Ventsel, Gray, Finstad et al., Anderson) deal with the clash and sometimes the integration of reindeer hunting and herding. Besides occasioning the demand for empirical update, all of these concrete historical developments provide, through their variation, the basis for the theoretical speculations presented here. …

This introduction provides an overview of academic re- search and current practice relating to stakeholder dialogue around oil and gas development in the Russian North, Siberia and the Russian Far East. We discuss the two main strands of analysis in this special issue: (a) regulation and impact assessment; and (b) relationship- building in practice, with a particular focus on indigenous commu- nities. We argue that an effective regulatory framework, meaningful dialogue, and imaginative organization of stakeholder relations are required to minimize negative impacts and maximize benefits from oil and gas projects. Self-interest, mistrust, and a lack of collective agency frequently lead to ineffective planning and heightened ten- sions in relations. We identify lessons to be learned from partner- ships and initiatives already established in Sakhalin and Western Siberia, despite the lack of a stable legal framework to govern rela- tions. This issue focuses on the academic-practitioner interface, em- phasizing the importance of practical application of academic research and the value of non-academic contributions to academic debates.

Seasonal migration by white-eared kob is linked to shifting distributions of critical resources. Pastoralists living in the Boma region [of Sudan] also migrate with their livestock herds between a wet season range west of the Pibor River and the northern swamps during the dry season. . . . Traditional methods of livestock husbandry presumably designed to maximize secondary production, therefore mimic the evolved behaviour of natural populations of ungulates . J.M. Fryxell and A.R.E. Sinclair ( 1988 )

The capacity of satellite imagery to detect anthropogenic impacts on land cover was assessed for the Bovanenkovo gas field on the Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia, which contains some of the world’s largest untapped gas deposits. The region is also the homeland of nomadic Nenets reindeer herders, whose annual migration between the tree line and the northern tundra exposes them to impacts associated with exploration and production activities. These range from physical obstructions, such as roads, railways, and pipelines, to direct and indirect ecological impacts, such as changes in vegetation and hydrology. Nenets’ perceptions of their territories encompass changes in the quantity and quality of terrestrial and freshwater habitats and campsites that have been used seasonally for centuries. Industrial impacts on land cover were examined at spatial scales from very detailed to coarse. Very-high-resolution Quickbird-2 imagery revealed the most impacts, but could not detect items like trash that reduce the quality of reindeer pastures. ASTER, SPOT, and Landsat imagery were useful at the broader landscape level. A proper assessment of the overall ecological impacts of hydrocarbon exploitation requires a combination of remote sensing and detailed ground-truthing. Ideally, these efforts should combine scientific and local knowledge from both indigenous herders and non-indigenous industrial workers.

The Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia is undergoing some of the most rapid land-cover and land-use changes in the Arctic due to a combination of gas development, reindeer herding, and climate change. Unusual geological condi- tions (nutrient-poor sands, massive ground ice and extensive landslides) exacerbate the impacts. These changes will likely increase markedly as transportation corridors are built to transport the gas to market. Understanding the nature, extent, causes and consequences (i.e., the cumulative effects) of the past and ongoing rapid changes on the Yamal is important for effective, long-term decision-making and planning. The cumulative effects to vegetation are the focus of this chapter because the plants are a critical component of the Yamal landscape that support the indigenous Nenets people and their reindeer and also protect the underlying ice-rich permafrost from melting. We are using a combination of ground-based studies (a transect of five loca- tions across the Yamal), remote-sensing studies, and analyses of Nenets land-use activities to develop vegetation-change models that can be used to help anticipate future states of the tundra and how those changes might affect traditional reindeer herding practices and the thermal state of the permafrost. This chapter provides an overview of the approach, some early results, and recommendations for expanding the concept of cumulative-effects analysis to include examining the simultaneous and interactive effects of multiple drivers of change.

The aim of the study is to assess the capacity for satellite imagery in detecting different natural and anthropogenic land cover types in the vicinity of a modern petroleum extraction development in the Russian Arctic. The Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia contains some of the largest untapped deposits known in the world. It also serves as the homeland of the Yamal Nenets, who have exploited first wild and then domestic reindeer in the region for at least 1000 years. Their annual migration from the treeline to the northern tundra brings them into contact with a number of impacts associated with gas exploration and production. These range widely and include physical obstructions from roads, railways, and pipelines, as well as direct and indirect ecological impacts, such as changes in vegetation, soils and hydrology due to e.g. drilling, infrastructure development, and seismic surveys. Some of the effects are relatively small-scale, only a few meters across, while others cover several hectares. Nenets’ perceptions of the spatial aspects of their territories encompass changes in both quantity and quality of terrestrial habitats, rivers, lakes and campsites that have been used seasonally for centuries. Even high-resolution imagery was unable to detect things like trash (rusted metal, broken glass), drilling muds and petro-chemicals that can strongly affect the overall quality of reindeer pastures. To properly assess the overall ecological impacts of petroleum development requires a combination of state-of-the-art remote sensing coupled with detailed ground-truthing. These efforts must embrace both scientific and local knowledge from indigenous herders and also non-indigenous gas field workers.

Introduction Twenty-three-year-old Kolia lives as a reindeer herder in the northernmost part of the Yamal peninsula, whose Nenets name is translated as 'edge of the land'. The above quote was his answer to my question, whether he would be ready to give up his herd on the tundra in exchange for a job in a town of village. This simple and clear statement in favour of a future life on the tundra is not exceptional for Nentsy youth, although Kolia and other young men went to a Russian boarding school for eleven years, did their service in the Russian army, and lived a few years in big cities like Tyumen' or Rostov on the Don, cities of a world which they themselves call 'civilised', in comparison to the tundra where they live. Kolia fought in Chechnya, was wounded and spent six months in St Petersburg in rehabilitation, experienced all the blessings of civilisation, but never had doubts about coming back to the tundra, marrying a Nenets woman who would work as a chumrabotnitsa, (1) and herding his reindeer. Kolia's case is illustrative of both the persistence and continuity and yet also the flexibility and adaptability of the reindeer herders' way of life. I shall narrate a success story of reindeer herding in a region whose indigenous inhabitants live in chums (tepee-like tents) on the tundra far from the villages, but which is today among the richest regions of Russia, containing 90 percent of all Russian gas reserves. The indigenous Nentsy always were and still are very proud and convinced of being the best reindeer breeders of the Russian Federation. Indeed, more domestic reindeer graze on the territory of the Yamal-Nentsy than anywhere else in the world. Concerning the future of reindeer herding, this is a development that leads authors such as Krupnik to a 'reserved optimism, particularly in certain areas, based upon historical record of endurance and adaptability of the Siberian indigenous people' (2000a: 49). In this paper I mainly focus on the reindeer herders themselves: how did they manage to continue their economy, in the face of so many external obstacles? Recently, Anderson and Ikeya observed that very little research existed on 'the subtlety by which people attempt to engage with surrounding forces so as to change its political environment in its own terms' (2001: 2). This contribution will try to fill this gap a little, by identifying the common traits that can be found in all interactions between reindeer herders and outsiders, including Soviet power elites, geological explorers, commercial entrepreneurs, and gas- of oil producers. The main argument is that it is the pattern of these interactions that makes this region more successful than others. These people are no victims of manipulation of exploitation; they are actors who dominate and sometimes dictate their engagements with surrounding forces. Data for this article were gathered in 2000 and 2001 during anthropological fieldwork in the YNAO (2), sponsored by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. The main work was done on the tundra of the Yamal peninsula. Interviews in the villages, in Salekhard and in Moscow contribute different perspectives to understanding the present developments and also provide historical insights. I shall begin by first briefly reviewing the YNAO as a region and then focus on reindeer breeding. The YNAO The YNAO is one of the less famous, but most important regions of the Russian Federation. (3) With an area of 750,300 [km.sup.2] (about one-and-a-half times the size of France), it is situated in the West Siberian North on the geographic border between Europe and Asia east of the Ural Mountains (Figure 1). The population of 496,600 people is made up mainly of Russian-speaking industrial workers and administrative staff who live in the cities in the south of the region: Novyi Urengoj, Nadym, Nojabrsk, Muravlenko, Gubkinskii, and the administrative centre Salekhard with the neighbouring Labytnangi. …