Cryoanthropology: Perceptions of Permafrost Degradation by Rural Residents of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

Introduction. The Sakha Republic (Yakutia) — the largest northeastern federal subject of Russia — is distinguished by that it rests on permafrost. The present-day permafrost degradation has significant impacts on rural everyday life characterized by persistent traditional economic practices largely dependent on environmental conditions. Goals. The article seeks to analyze some local experiences of human adaptations to current and potential threats resulting from permafrost thawing and cold deficit. Materials and methods. To facilitate this, the paper shall introduce materials collected during 2019, 2020 and 2022 field surveys, the former to include expert interviews, results of questionnaires filled in by residents of Amga village, and our visual landscape observations. Historical and anthropological approaches prove most instrumental, as is the personal history method that focuses on the respondents’ individual perceptions of the ongoing changes. Results. The study identifies some patterns of individual behavior adopted by rural residents in the face of emerging climate threats. Special attention is paid to separate aspects of how various rural groups tend to perceive permafrost degradation. The paper resumes that the most pressing challenges include agricultural land reduction, deterioration of rural housing stock and social infrastructure. It has been revealed that residents of Amga village strive to adapt to the current changes via the use of new technologies and introduction of modern construction elements that used to be rare or completely absent in rural practices. The work emphasizes there are both direct and indirect threats — including the ‘delayed’ ones — resulting from the changes in permafrost soils. So, certain direct risks for the traditional livestock-breeding and agricultural agendas do increase pressure on social stability and employment.

1. From agriculture to agritourism: Leisure time opportunities in Amginsky Ulus. On: Yakut-Sakha News Agency (YaSIA). Posted on 18 March 2021. Available at: https://ysia.ru/ot-zemledeliya-do-agroturizma-chem-mozhno-zanyatsya-v-amginskom-uluse/ (accessed: 25 July 2023). (In Russ.)

2. Statistical Digest 101/2086. Statistical Department of the Yakut ASSR. Yakutsk: Statistical Department, 1986. 186 p. (In Russ.)

3. Viktor Smirnikov: ‘In 2023 and 2024, several socially significant facilities to come into operation’. On: Administrative Office of Amginsky District (website). Newsfeed. Posted on 14 January 2023. Available at: https://mr-amginskij.sakha.gov.ru/news/front/view/id/3341127 (accessed: 25 July 2023). (In Russ.)

4. Ayal D. Y., Filho Leal W. Farmers perceptions of climate variability and its adverse impacts on crop and livestock production in Ethiopia. Journal of Arid Environments. 2017. Vol. 140. Pp. 20–28. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140196317300071 (accessed: 7 August 2023). (In Eng.) DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.01.007

5. Boyakova S. I. Transport of Yakutia in the context of global climatic changes: Risks, challenges, opportunities for adaptation. In: Yurganova I. I. (ed.) Academic Studies in Yakutia: The Realm of Historians. Yakutsk: Alaas, 2016. Pp. 201–212. (In Russ.)

6. Fedorov R. Cryogenic resources: Ice, snow, and permafrost in traditional subsistence systems in Russia. Resources. 2019. Vol. 8(1). Article 17. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/8/1/17 (accessed: 5 November 2023). (In Eng.) DOI: 10.3390/resources8010017

7. Fedorov S. I. Economic activity of the Yakuts in the conditions and climate change and “deficit of cold temperature”: Traditional practices and challenges of modernity. Man and Culture. 2020. No. 2. Pp. 37–48. Available at: https://nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=32566 (accessed: 5 November 2023). (In Russ.) DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2020.2.32566

8. Grigoriev S. A. Temperature changes, permafrost degradation and social challenges in the life support system of the Amginsky Ulus of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): Field studies results. North-Eastern Journal of Humanities. 2022. No. 1(38). Pp. 51–62. (In Russ.)

9. Lobanov V. A., Kirillina K. S. Sakha Republic (Yakutia): Current and Expected Climate Changes. St. Petersburg: Russian State Hydrometeorological University, 2019. 157 p. (In Russ.)

10. Lytkin V., Suleymanov A., Vinokurova L., Grigorev S., Golomareva V., Fedorov S., Kuzmina A., Syromyatnikov I. Influence of permafrost landscapes degradation on livelihoods of Sakha Republic (Yakutia) rural communities. Land. 2021. Vol. 10. No. 2. Pp. 1–22. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/2/101 (accessed: 10 August 2023). (In Eng.) DOI: 10.3390/land10020101

11. Safronov F. G. Russians in Northeast Asia, Seventeenth to Mid-Nineteenth Centuries: Governance, Servicemen, Peasants, and Urban Dwellers. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. 257 p. (In Russ.)

12. Savvinova A., Filippova V., Svinoboeva A., Fuller T. Climate change impacts on Siberia’s Evenki: A study of traditional land use and adaptation in southern Yakutia. In: 15th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference (SGEM). Proceedings. 2015. Vol. 1. Pp. 883–888. (In Eng.)

13. Suleymanov A. A. Consequences of floods and permafrost degradation for life support system of population of Alazeya River Basin (Second half of 20th – 21st centuries). Nauchnyi dialog. 2022. Vol. 11. No. 8. Pp. 470–487. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.24224/2227-1295-2022-11-8-470-487

14. Suleymanov A. A. Cryoanthropology: rural communities of Yakutia and modernization of practices of using cryogenic resources in the Soviet period. In: Vanyashkin S. G., Vorobyova E. V. (eds.) The Arctic: Humanitarian Vectors of Development. Conference abstracts (Moscow, 15–16 February 2022). Moscow: Moscow State Linguistic University, 2022. Pp. 64–65. (In Russ.)

15. Suleymanov A. A. The Resources of Cold in Rural Yakutia’s Life Sustenance System, Mid-Nineteenth to Twentieth Centuries: An Essay in History and Anthropology. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 2022. 136 p. (In Russ.)

16. Takakura H. (ed.) Living in Siberia, a Land of Extreme Cold: Reindeer, Ice and Indigenous Peoples. Tokyo: Shinsensha, 2012. 272 p. (In Eng.)

17. Takakura H. Arctic Pastoralist Sakha: Ethnography of Evolution and Micro-Adaptation in Siberia. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2015. 254 p. (In Eng.)

18. Takakura H. et al. (eds.) Permafrost and Culture: Global Warming and Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russian Federation. Sendai: Center for Northeast Asian Studies (Tohoku University), 2019. 72 p. (In Russ.)

19. Takakura H. Limits of pastoral adaptation to permafrost regions caused by climate change among the Sakha People in the middle basin of Lena River. Polar Science. 2016. Vol. 10. Is. 3. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300425576_Limits_of_pastoral_adaptation_to_permafrost_regions_caused_by_climate_change_among_the_Sakha_People_in_the_middle_basin_of_Lena_River (accessed: 28 July 2022). (In Eng.) DOI:10.1016/j.polar.2016.04.003

20. Takakura H., Fujioka Y., Ignatyeva V., Tanaka T., Vinokurova N., Grigorev S., Boyakova S. Differences in local perceptions about climate and environmental changes among residents in a small community in Eastern Siberia. Polar Science. 2021. Vol. 27. [Article 100556]. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1873965220300645 (accessed: 31 August 2021). (In Eng.) DOI: 10.1016/j.polar.2020.100556

21. Tananaev N. I., Nakhodkin N. A., Golovanov A. O. Genesis, scenarios and features of flood prediction in the middle reach of the Amga River (Central Yakutia). Arctic and Subarctic Natural Resources. 2021. Vol. 26. No. 3. Pp. 86–99. (In Russ.)

22. Ulrich M., Habeck O., Crate S., Desyatkin A., Desyatkin R., Fedorov A., Hiyama T., Iijima Y., Ksenofontov S., Mészáros C., Takakura H. Permafrost livelihoods: A transdisciplinary review and analysis of thermokarst-based systems of indigenous land use. Anthropocene. 2017. Vol. 18. Pp. 89–104. (In Eng.) DOI: 10.1016/j.ancene.2017.06.001

23. Vinokurova L. I. Rural Yakutia: Perception indigenous population changes in environment. Arctic and North. 2011. No. 4. Pp. 154–161. (In Russ.)

24. Vinokurova L., Filippova V., Solovyeva V. When ice turns to water: Forest fires and indigenous settlements in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Sustainability. 2022. Vol. 14. No. 8. [Article 4759]. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/8/4759 (accessed: 7 August 2023). (In Eng.) DOI: 10.3390/su14084759

25. Wolf J., Allice I., Bell T. Values, climate change, and implications for adaptation: Evidence from two communities in Labrador, Canada. Global Environmental Change. 2013. Vol. 23. Is. 2. Pp. 548–562. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257408075_Values_climate_change_and_implications_for_adaptation_Evidence_from_two_communities_in_Labrador_Canada (accessed: 9 June 2023). (In Eng.) DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.11.007