Russians are Rushin' Towards Adaption

http://consequencesbynoor.com/yuri-kozyrev-nomadic-nenet-tribes-under-heavy-threat-from-global-warming/

By Anders Orn

Similar to controversial topics like stem-cell research, abortion, and gay rights, the issue of global warming is heavily discussed today. The entire world and all of mankind is doomed to burn in searing temperatures, as sea levels rise to the point that entire coastlines will be completely submerged, and entire ecosystems will cease to exist. And all in a few decades, right? Obviously, this explanation of global warming is the over-exaggerated version, but people who make this claim have the right idea. These events could happen, given the right circumstances- and the continuous stupidity of political leaders. However, it seems as if judgment day will be postponed to a later date due to new and upcoming research for renewable energy sources. Until these renewable energy sources we all hear about begin to take effect, we are seeing the beginnings of these apocalyptic effects of global warming all over the world.

Global air temperatures and ocean temperatures have been rising for years now, about one degree in the last half century. Such temperature increases raise the sea level and are melting polar ice sheets. Numerous populations are being forced to migrate or futilely attempt to evolve as fast as the weather is changing. A popular example these days is the gut-wrenching sight of innocent polar bears stranded on a lone piece of ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Although horrifying events like this are occurring all over the world, some ecosystems and civilizations remain strong and flexible. Organisms in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO), on Russia’s West Siberian plain, have faced temperature increases of 1-2 degrees Celsius over the last 30 years, yet have managed to adapt and change their methods of survival in order to prosper in their harsh tundra environment.

Although tundra ecosystems are normally bare of inhabitants, there are a few species of organism that call the unforgiving tundra home. In the flat lands of western Russia, a small population of 5,000 Yamal-Nenet people survive by herding thousands of reindeer, but only just a fraction of the 600,000 that live there. Other than those two populations, there are not many more organisms that thrive there. Therefore, even the most miniscule of changes can have severe effects on the socio-economic culture as well as the ecosystem.

With climate change comes warmer temperatures, obviously, but that does not necessarily mean that cold temperatures won’t occur. In reality, the warmer temperatures lead to more unpredictable weather. Three times in the last 12 years, 1999, 2006, and 2007, large ice storms covered hundreds of square kilometers of vegetation in Siberian lands. With ice smothering mile after mile of grass, reindeer have nothing to eat, and therefore, neither do the nomads. In 2007, a group of herders lost approximately 25% of their animals due to cold and starvation. Pregnant female reindeer who were malnourished delivered stillborns or even died themselves because they simply could not get enough food. So even though a trend of warming temperatures is currently underway even in the frozen plains of Siberia, the hardest hitting impact is actually the less-frequent bouts of subzero weather.

In addition to the climate, increasing human inhabitation has lowered the amount of freshwater in the rivers and lakes. During the summer, the local herders, rather than butcher the young of their herd, prefer to fish for a few months and allow their animals to mature to adulthood. The lakes are drying up, and airports, sand quarries, and other construction sites are being put in place of them. Without a major water source, and therefore a primary source of food, the herders face a major problem, starvation. Also, the increase of inhabitants in the western Siberian plains decreases the amount of land that the Yamal-Nenet have to work with. With an annual migration of thousands of miles, loss of grazing land can be detrimental to reindeer and their cultivation. Human inhabitation is slowly choking out one of the last nomadic peoples by cutting off their progressively diminishing food sources.

Now, here’s where everything gets interesting. Even with global warming looming and a possible future development for an industrial powerhouse, this environment and its inhabitants are adapting. Everything is okay there! However, the Yamal-Nenet people have less to work with, yes. The occurrence of ice storms happening every few years, there is no food during those tough winters. Yet, new shrubs and grasses have emerged, and have proven to be more productive and successful in growing. As many forms of biomass are dwindling, increases in highly productive, nutritious, and digestible forms of shrubs are giving a large sense of hope for the reindeer and, in turn, the Nenet people.

In the shadow of all the negative global warming repercussions, the frozen Siberian plains of western Russia is proving to be one of the most resistant communities to the climate change effects. The resiliency is a positive symbol of hope for the rest of the world. It is one of the ecosystems and socio-economic cultures that is surviving, and even flourishing within the crumbling world. And this is powerful for the select few who believe that the world is indeed speeding down a spiral of overwhelming temperature increases. If one population of Arctic nomads and their reindeer can make it, so can the rest of the world.

Original Article:

Forbes, Bruce, and Florian Stammler, et al. "High resilience in the Yamal-Nenets social- ecological system, West Siberian Arctic, Russia." Proceedings of the National Academy of the Natural Sciences. 106.52 (2009): 22041-22048. Print.