Sustainability and Resilience of Indigenous Siberian Communities under the Impact of Transportation Infrastructure Transformation

Abstract

Transport provision in remote territories is one of the most important factors in maintaining the sustainability of socio-economic and ecological systems. Indigenous peoples of Siberia have always been mobile using diverse traditional ways across the taiga. During the Soviet period, the transition to settled life, along with technological development and the emergence of new modes of transport, such as off-road cars, snowmobiles, and motor boats, significantly affected the level of population mobility, including remote areas where people are engaged in traditional nature management. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were significant changes and reductions in the subsidies of transportation systems for remote terrains that made them isolated. Transport connectivity has been realized through rare plane flights (once a month or less) or by cars on dirt roads (actually off-road) that take several days of travel. Siberian territories rich with natural resources, low population density, and weak infrastructure might be attractive for mining companies. Being difficult to access not only for the local population, but also for industrial companies, the territories imply the allocation of a significant share of road construction and transport costs in the cost items of miners and processors. The problems of sustainability and resilience of the indigenous peoples of Siberia require special attention when restructuring transport communications, but they have practically not been studied before. Methods of in-depth and group interviews with local residents were used. Based on comparative geographic and statistical analysis and generalization of data, network and problem approaches applied for various sources and field materials (including in-depth and group interviews), the factors of sustainability and resilience, which the indigenous communities of three remote Siberian territories pin their hopes on in the context of the transformation of transportation infrastructure, have been identified. If geographic remoteness remains an unchanged fact, the expansion of desired transport accessibility (mainly due to investments by industrial companies) is associated by locals with the possibility of additional income related to provision of services, the emergence of new types of employment of the population that have not been observed before, and the implementation of new transport modes to support traditional activities.

Social Development or Economic Development: The Dilemma Behind an Ambitious Infrastructure Development

“…Transportation infrastructure, including seaports, rivers/lakes, airports, rail networks and train stations b. Road infrastructure includes toll roads and bridges c. Water infrastructure, including channels carrying raw water d. Drinking water infrastructure, including raw water collection buildings, transmission networks, distribution networks, drinking water treatment plants e. Wastewater infrastructure, including wastewater treatment plants, collection networks and main networks and waste disposal facilities which include transportation and disposal f. Telecommunications infrastructure includes telecommunications networks g. Electricity infrastructure, including power generation and transmission/distribution of electricity h. Oil and gas infrastructure, including processing, storage, transportation, transmission or distribution of oil and gas (Kuklina et al, 2022).…”

Global Change Impacts on Indigenous Sustainability in Sakha Republic: A Synthesis of Knowledge

“…For example, fishing regulations in Russia have undermined Indigenous communities in the Arctic Sakha Republic by imposing quotas and temporal limitations and restrictions in fishing gear size [9]. Extractive industries in Russia construct massive infrastructural facilities in close proximity to grazing fields, hunting or fishing grounds, and pass along the water bodies or migration routes of wild animals [17][18][19][20]. Understanding the response of Arctic Indigenous communities to global Sustainability 2024, 16, 1157 2 of 21 change is crucial because Indigenous communities and their livelihoods are highly dependent on ecosystems for food, clothing, shelter, and spiritual wealth [21,22]; their livelihoods are marginalized [23], and Arctic ecosystems are the most fragile and vulnerable [24].…”