Reindeer on the Agenda

A very successful EALAT Information IPY seminar has just wrapped up in Anadyr, the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in Russia's far East. Attended by over 40 people, the Sami delegation included EALAT IPY research project leader Svein Mathiesen, International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry Director, Anders Oskal, Sámi student Anne Marja Magga and ICR Reindeer Portal project manager Philip Burgess. A large region (737,700 km²  - two times the size of Norway), though sparsely populated (55,000 in 2004), Chukotka is one of world's greatest regions of reindeer husbandry, though one which has experienced severe upheaval in the 1990's when herd numbers fell from over half a million to about 100,000. Their current level is around 170,000 animals.

The seminar was hosted and organized by Vladimir Etylin  and the Chukotka Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,  in cooperation with the Reindeer Herders' Union of Chukotka.  Etylin is a scientist, has served as Vice Governor of Chukotka in the Russian State Duma (the first indigenous person to hold office in the Russian legislature) and was born into a reindeer herding family in the village of Kaiettyn, Chukotka. He is also a board member of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry, representative to the International Whaling Commission and is Vice President of the Chukotka Union of Reindeer Herders. Reindeer herders from across Chukotka brought their expertise to the seminar, along with regional administrators and a member of the Chukotka Duma.

The seminar consisted of two days of presentations at the Institute in the regional capital Anadyr, with presentations made by reindeer herders, elders, administrators, verterinarians, politicians and scientists from across the vast region of Chukotka, with participants travelling from Omolon, Lorima, Tawaivaam, Kanchalan and Ust Belaya along with several researchers from Anadyr and Magadan. Issues discussed were the specific challenges facing reindeer husbandry in Chukotka, loss of grazing land, pasture qualities, climate change, archeology and traditional knowledge, with several veteran herders presenting generations of cumulative experience and knowledge. According to data presented by the local meteorological office noted that Anadyr last year had been 2-o warmer than normal, which was backed up by anecdotal evidence that the ice road across the bay had not frozen to sufficient depth until late December, later than usual.  An exciting cultural program was held in the evening at the culmination of the first part of the seminar and locally produced reindeer products were served.

Over half the seminar participants made the journey across the frozen bay of Anadyr by Vezhdihod, the ubiquitous Russian tundra transport to Kanchalan, a small village of about 700 residents, but a major centre of reindeer husbandry in the region where the delegation was given a tour of the newly Finnish built slaughterhouse. A moratorium on slaughtering reindeer in the region was put in place in 2001, but was lifted in 2006 and the administration has high hopes of developing the market for reindeer meat, given the regions proximity to the large markets of the far East. The delegation was also taken to the impressively modernized school which has over 100 students, many of whom are from reindeer husbandry. A mini seminar was held in the sports hall with local elders making presentations, as did the visiting delegation and a renowned elder reindeer herder of Chukotka, Iven Aryento was also visited.

The visibly improved facilities in Anadyr and Kanchalan spoke to the new sense of stability and investment that Chukotka has undergone throughout the Governorship of Roman Abramovich who took office in 2000, after a very difficult period in the 1990's when small villages and reindeer husbandry in particular underwent a period of economic crisis.

After a night spent in Kanchalan, a 6 hour trip across the tundra  followed and en route, several stops were made to examine snow conditions and pasture quality. Precipitation in this part of the region is low, but wind is high - making a case based study in Chukotka, a valuable counter point to previous EALAT workshops that have been held in the Sami region and the Yamal Peninsula.

In the afternoon, we arrived at the Yaranga (the Chukchi lavvu, or traditional dwelling) which was part of Brigade 4, where a herd of several thousand animals was being tended adjacent, a traditional slaughtering was performed (which in Chukchi society is only done by women), reindeer races were held (prizes included lasso's brought from Kautokeino), followed by the serving of traditional foods and the final part of the seminar which was held in the Yaranga, attended by the Brigadier, the former Brigadier, elders who had participated in the seminar in Anadyr and reindeer herders from other nearby Yarangas and brigades who had travelled to participate. Discussions were free flowing and there were short presentations made by Vladimir Etylin, Anders Oskal, Alex Polezaev, Anne Marja Magga and Svein Mathiesen. 

"It is not us reindeer herders who have been the cause of climate change. The reindeer know which routes to take. Many people have lost their connection with nature, but the animals maintain this connection and that is why we follow the reindeer," said Vassily Vassilievich Nomchayvin, father of the current Master herder of the brigade.

Late into the evening, the delegation packed up and made the long trip back to Anadyr, travelling overnight. March 2nd was election day in Russia, and Anadyr also was the scene of many election posters of the Udina Rossiya party of eventual victor Alexander Medvedev. Chukotka was in the global media briefly, as it is the first region in Russia to vote, given the 9 hours time difference to Moscow. Turnout in the region was one of the highest in Russia with over 80% voting. Reindeer herders and tundra dwellers had voted already in advance on February 16th. Voters also included the Governor, who was also in town (he resides in London) as evidenced by the presence of his personal plane in the airport. Final discussions were held over the final report of the seminar and the wording of a resolution that is to come out of the workshop and discussions that were held in Kanchalan and the tundra workshop.

IPY EALAT-Outreach/Information is an IPY outreach initiative and part of a Norwegian project in the Arctic Council organized by the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR) in cooperation with the Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH) and others. A part of this project is local case based study workshops organized in reindeer herding societies in the circumpolar areas, including the Yamal Peninsula in Western Siberia and Chukotka in the far-east northern part of Russia.  Other EALÁT activities, seminars and workshops have already been held in Kautokeino (Norway), Nadym and Yar Sale (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia).  Ealát means ‘good pasture' in the Sami language, Aween means pasture in Chukchi.