The Yamal Peninsula, Russia - a periglacial landscape

Question 1

where is The Yamal Peninsula

Answer 1

• a harsh periglacial environment in northwest Siberia, where winter temperatures fall to -50°C and permafrost penetrates up to 300 m deep.

Question 2

The Yamal Peninsula’s environmental value

Answer 2

The biodiversity of the tundra biome is low but it has global value, particularly for birds, as it provides a summer home for man migratory species and thus plays a role in worldwide food webs.
- The permafrost also has global value as a large-scale carbon sink storing an immense amount of carbon and methane (twice as much carbon as in the atmosphere).
- In the warming climate, permafrost is expected to melt, and these stored gases will be released to add further warming (positive feedback cycle).

Question 3

The Yamal Peninsula’s cultural value

Answer 3

• The Nenets understanding of the harsh climate and fragile ecosystem has enabled them to live sustainably in this inhospitable land.
• The reindeer provide the Nenets with transport, clothing, hides for tents, meat and income.
• The Nenets and their reindeer migrate seasonally to avoid the extreme cold winter temperatures in the north and to prevent the overgrazing of pastures.

Question 4

The Yamal Peninsula’s economic value

Answer 4

• The Nenets herder economy is driven by the reindeer meat they sell. Reindeer herding supports more than 10,000 nomads, who herd over 300,000 domesticated reindeer on the pastures of the Peninsula, 80 per cent of which is privately owned by the herders
• However, the economic value of reindeer herding cannot compete with the natural resources that lie beneath the pastures.
• The Yamal Peninsula contains the biggest gas reserves on the planet, holding almost a quarter of the world’s known gas reserves.

Question 5

Threats to the fragile periglacial landscape

Answer 5

Climate change poses a significant threat to the tundra and to the Nenets. Earlier spring melts and delays to the autumn freeze are affecting the reindeers’ and herders’ ability to cross the frozen tundra, threatening their survival. In July 2014, large sinkholes were discovered on the Yamal Peninsula, which Russian researchers believe to have been caused by methane released as the permafrost thawed. This change to the carbon cycle is a threat to the global climate system, as well as to local culture and biodiversity.

Question 6

Early attempts to exploit gas on the Yamal Peninsula

Answer 6

have posed considerable threats to both the natural environment and the Nenets. In the 1980s the infrastructure constructed to exploit the Bovanenkovo gas field destroyed pasture, forcing overgrazing of the tundra and disruption to migration routes, causing conflict with the Nenets. There had been no environmental impact assessment or consultation with the native people. Eventually, work on this gas field was suspended due to its extremely high costs.

Question 7

the ‘Yamal megaproject

Answer 7

being developed by the majority state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The aim of the megaproject is to exploit and bring to the market the vast natural gas reserves in the Yamal Peninsula, so there will be ongoing cultural and environmental concerns. Several ambitious infrastructure projects are included, such as a 572-km railway line, a gas pipeline (Figure 236) and several bridges. These have already led to the eviction of more than 160 reindeer herders,