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A Christmas Visit to Yamal Reindeer Herders |
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Written by Philip Burgess
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Monday, 21 December 2009 19:43 |
 In the western world this time of the year is heavily associated with the advent of Christmas, Santa Claus, reindeer and sledges, alongside a heavy dose of consumerism. So, despite cold temperatures and it being a time of low light, this makes it an excellent time to actually visit people who really do spend a great time of their year on sledges pulled by reindeer. A small EALÁT team (Svein Mathiesen, Anna Degteva and Philip Burgess) took the time to visit their Nenets EALÁT partners in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, at the northern tip of the Ural Mountains in North west Siberia. The region includes the Yamal Peninsula the largest area of reindeer husbandry in the world, where over 5000 Nenets, Khanti and some Komi practice nomadic reindeer herding throughout the year. The Yamal Peninsula is also the location of Russia’s most important energy project, the gas fields Bovanenkovo. The development of these nationally strategic resources will have major impacts on the future shape of reindeer husbandry in the region.
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Field Work on The Yamal Peninsula |
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Written by Philip Burgess
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Thursday, 28 May 2009 01:25 |
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 We spoke with EALAT Phd student Anna Degteva this week, while she is conducting her field work on the Yamal Peninsula. The Yamal Peninsula is home to the Nenets people and to the largest area of reindeer hubandry in the world.
Anna is a part of Work Package 2, 'Customisation of Pasture Conditions for Reindeer Pastoralism' and this summer is accompanying Brigade Number 4 on their Northward migration to the Kara Sea. Degteva's participation in EALAT has been made possible by a cooperation between the Sami University College, Kautokeino, Norway and The St. Petersburg State University, Russia, where Degteva is to be supervised by Konstantin Klokov.
Conditions for migration have been good, and calf production has been high. Brigade 4 is an interesting case as its migration route crosses the ever exapnding installations of Gazprom's Bovanenkovo Gas oil and gas field (See in Google Maps). Bovanenkovo is a key part of Russia's future energy plans and part of a multi billion dollar plan to extract and export natural gas by pipeline, rail and sea to Western Europe. The Bovanenkovskoe field, which after 2011 will produce a total of 115 billion cubic meters of gas annually, is the biggest in the Yamal, and a top priority for Gazprom.
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