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In north west Siberia, the permanently frozen ground recently yielded a baby mammoth. But now the Arctic’s permafrost is melting, and the country’s Indigenous reindeer herding Nenets are facing a double threat to their migratory ways of life, from climate change and resource extraction.

Nenets herders have always moved seasonally with their reindeer, travelling along ancient migration routes.

During the winter, when temperatures can plummet to – 50C, most Nenets graze their reindeer on moss and lichen pastures in the southern forests, or taigá. In the summer months, when the midnight sun turns night into day, they leave the larch and willow trees behind to migrate north.

By the time they have crossed the frozen waters of the Ob River and reached the treeless tundra on the shores of the Kara Sea, they might have travelled up to 1,000 kms.

Today, however, the Nenets’ migration routes are now affected by the infrastructure associated with resource extraction; roads are difficult for the reindeer to cross and they say pollution threatens the quality of the pastures.

The Nenets have had to face the threat of extinction before, having endured the challenges of colonial intrusions, civil war, revolution and forced collectivisation. Today, their herding way of life is again seriously threatened.

Children were separated from their families and sent to government-run boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their own language.

With the collapse of communism, young adults began to leave their villages for cities, a trend which continues today. In urban environments they find it almost impossible to adapt to life away from the cyclical rhythms of the tundra, and suffer from high levels of alcoholism, unemployment and mental health problems.

For the Nenets who are still nomadic, their lands and reindeer herds remain vitally important to their collective identity. Land is everything to us. Everything. said Sergei Hudi.

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The Daily life of Nenets Indigenous women in the Siberian Arctic

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The Importance of Reindeers to The Nenets

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The Importance of Reindeers to The Nenets

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"The reindeer is our home, our food, our warmth and our transportation, Sergei Hudi told Survival."

Nenets’ coats are made from reindeer hide, and threaded together with reindeer sinew.

Lassoos are crafted from reindeer tendons; tools and sledge parts from bone. The covers of the conical-shaped tents – called choom or mya, – are also made from reindeer hide and mounted on heavy poles.

Every Nenets has a sacred reindeer, which must not be harnessed or slaughtered until it is no longer able to walk.

Reindeer meat is also the most important part of the Nenets’ diet. It is eaten raw, frozen or boiled, together with the blood of a freshly slaughtered reindeer, which is rich in vitamins.

The Nenets also eat fish such as white salmon and muksun, a silvery-coloured whitefish and gather mountain cranberry during the summer months.

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The Obstacles That The Nenets Have Faced

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The Obstacles That The Nenets Have Faced

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As they migrate, they encounter the many pipelines, drilling towers and tarmac roads that are transforming the tundra.

The Arctic is changing fast, however. As temperatures rise and the tundra’s permafrost thaws, it releases carbon dioxide and methane – greenhouse gases – into the atmosphere.

With the ice melting earlier in the spring and not freezing until much later in the autumn, the herders are being forced to change centuries-old migration patterns, as the reindeer find it difficult to walk over a snow-less tundra. The rising temperatures also affect the tundra’s vegetation, the only source of food for the reindeer.

Scientists fear that if billions of tonnes of gases are released from the permafrost, it could prove to be a dangerous tipping point for the world’s climate system.

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The Nenets have endured the challenges of colonial intrusions, civil war, revolution and forced collectivisation. Today, their herding way of life is again seriously threatened.

To survive as a people, the Nenets need unobstructed access to their pastures and an environment untouched by industrial waste.