IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i3p1751-d1038289.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Taiga Landscape Degradation Evidenced by Indigenous Observations and Remote Sensing

Author

Listed:
  • Arina O. Morozova

    (Department of Geography, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

  • Kelsey E. Nyland

    (Department of Geography, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

  • Vera V. Kuklina

    (Department of Geography, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
    V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia)

Abstract

Siberian taiga is subject to intensive logging and natural resource exploitation, which promote the proliferation of informal roads: trails and unsurfaced service roads neither recognized nor maintained by the government. While transportation development can improve connectivity between communities and urban centers, new roads also interfere with Indigenous subsistence activities. This study quantifies Land-Cover and Land-Use Change (LCLUC) in Irkutsk Oblast, northwest of Lake Baikal. Observations from LCLUC are used in spatial autocorrelation analysis with roads to identify and examine major drivers of transformations of social–ecological–technological systems. Spatial analysis results are informed by interviews with local residents and Indigenous Evenki, local development history, and modern industrial and political actors. A comparison of relative changes observed within and outside Evenki-administered lands ( obshchina ) was also conducted. The results illustrate: (1) the most persistent LCLUC is related to change from coniferous to peatland (over 4% of decadal change); however, during the last decade, extractive and infrastructure development have become the major driver of change leading to conversion of 10% of coniferous forest into barren land; (2) anthropogenic-driven LCLUC in the area outside obshchina lands was three times higher than within during the980s and 1990s and more than 1.5 times higher during the following decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Arina O. Morozova & Kelsey E. Nyland & Vera V. Kuklina, 2023. "Taiga Landscape Degradation Evidenced by Indigenous Observations and Remote Sensing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:1751-:d:1038289
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/1751/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/3/1751/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Tysiachniouk & Andrey N. Petrov & Vera Kuklina & Natalia Krasnoshtanova, 2018. "Between Soviet Legacy and Corporate Social Responsibility: Emerging Benefit Sharing Frameworks in the Irkutsk Oil Region, Russia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    2. Stephen G. Perz, 2014. "The promise and perils of roads," Nature, Nature, vol. 513(7517), pages 178-179, September.
    3. Vera Kuklina & Oleg Sizov & Elena Rasputina & Irina Bilichenko & Natalia Krasnoshtanova & Viktor Bogdanov & Andrey N. Petrov, 2022. "Fires on Ice: Emerging Permafrost Peatlands Fire Regimes in Russia’s Subarctic Taiga," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vera Kuklina & Andrey N Petrov & Natalia Krasnoshtanova & Viktor Bogdanov, 2020. "Mobilizing Benefit-Sharing Through Transportation Infrastructure: Informal Roads, Extractive Industries and Benefit-Sharing in the Irkutsk Oil and Gas Region, Russia," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Noah Kaiser & Christina K. Barstow, 2022. "Rural Transportation Infrastructure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Impacts, Implications, and Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-48, February.
    3. Burtseva Evdokia & Bysyina Anna, 2019. "Damage Compensation for Indigenous Peoples in the Conditions of Industrial Development of Territories on the Example of the Arctic Zone of the Sakha Republic," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, March.
    4. Svetlana Tulaeva & Soili Nysten-Haarala, 2019. "Resource Allocation in Oil-Dependent Communities: Oil Rent and Benefit Sharing Arrangements," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Sergey I. Nosov & Boris E. Bondarev & Andrey A. Gladkov & Violetta Gassiy, 2019. "Land Resources Evaluation for Damage Compensation to Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic (Case-Study of Anabar Region in Yakutia)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Jiang, Xuemei & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "Determinants of global CO2 emissions growth," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1132-1141.
    7. Natalia Krasnoshtanova, 2023. "Sustainability of Local Communities in a New Oil and Gas Region: The Case of Eastern Siberia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Andrey N. Petrov & Maria S. Tysiachniouk, 2019. "Benefit Sharing in the Arctic: A Systematic View," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Evdokia Burtseva & Anatolii Sleptsov & Anna Bysyina & Alla Fedorova & Gavril Dyachkovskii, 2020. "Mining and Indigenous Peoples of the North: Assessment and Development Prospects," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-20, August.
    10. Svetlana A. Tulaeva & Maria S. Tysiachniouk & Laura A. Henry & Leah S. Horowitz, 2019. "Globalizing Extraction and Indigenous Rights in the Russian Arctic: The Enduring Role of the State in Natural Resource Governance," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-20, November.
    11. Maria S. Tysiachniouk, 2020. "Disentangling Benefit-Sharing Complexities of Oil Extraction on the North Slope of Alaska," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-31, July.
    12. Ellie Martus & Stephen Fortescue, 2022. "Russian coal in a changing climate: risks and opportunities for industry and government," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Maria S. Tysiachniouk & Laura A. Henry & Svetlana A. Tulaeva & Leah S. Horowitz, 2020. "Who Benefits? How Interest-Convergence Shapes Benefit-Sharing and Indigenous Rights to Sustainable Livelihoods in Russia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Jiang, Xuemei & Green, Christopher, 2017. "The Impact on Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Geographic Shifts in Global Supply Chains," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 102-114.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:1751-:d:1038289. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.