The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost
Traditional knowledge about snow and ice conditions on and in the ground is essential in the life of the Yamal Nenets. This holistic knowledge helps the Nenets to travel in the tundra, find good pastures for their domesticated reindeer herds, select proper places for making their camps, find firewoo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art6 |
| _version_ | 1797661171421020160 |
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| author | Roza Laptander |
| author_facet | Roza Laptander |
| author_sort | Roza Laptander |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Traditional knowledge about snow and ice conditions on and in the ground is essential in the life of the Yamal Nenets. This holistic knowledge helps the Nenets to travel in the tundra, find good pastures for their domesticated reindeer herds, select proper places for making their camps, find firewood, and locate clean snow or ice for drinking water. It is particularly important for reindeer herders, because looking at different characteristics of snow (layers, hardness, and granularity) enables them to find good pastures for their animals. If there are dangers posed by a crust of ice on the snow, herders have to move their herds to other pastures. Moreover, even reindeer know which kind of snow is easier for them to break with their hooves and where good forage is found. Significantly, the Nenets language has developed a sophisticated terminology describing different types of snow and ice, and similarly permafrost has a special name. Like many other Indigenous peoples of Siberia, the Nenets have noticed that climate change in the Arctic is dramatically affecting their life: it is changing the tundra landscape, the seasons, and the conditions under which they live and herd reindeer. In consequence, the reindeer-herding culture itself helps the people to preserve this knowledge of how to live in the tundra, but to remain relevant, the Nenets’ knowledge of tundra ecology and their words for snow, ice, and permafrost must continuously adapt to new realities of the tundra. However, if that culture disappears in the Yamal, this resource will also be difficult to save. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:40:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-346307e01ee442708ba683e15bf6b8da |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:40:51Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-346307e01ee442708ba683e15bf6b8da2023-10-12T13:07:46ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872023-09-01283610.5751/ES-14353-28030614353The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrostRoza Laptander0University of Hamburg, GermanyTraditional knowledge about snow and ice conditions on and in the ground is essential in the life of the Yamal Nenets. This holistic knowledge helps the Nenets to travel in the tundra, find good pastures for their domesticated reindeer herds, select proper places for making their camps, find firewood, and locate clean snow or ice for drinking water. It is particularly important for reindeer herders, because looking at different characteristics of snow (layers, hardness, and granularity) enables them to find good pastures for their animals. If there are dangers posed by a crust of ice on the snow, herders have to move their herds to other pastures. Moreover, even reindeer know which kind of snow is easier for them to break with their hooves and where good forage is found. Significantly, the Nenets language has developed a sophisticated terminology describing different types of snow and ice, and similarly permafrost has a special name. Like many other Indigenous peoples of Siberia, the Nenets have noticed that climate change in the Arctic is dramatically affecting their life: it is changing the tundra landscape, the seasons, and the conditions under which they live and herd reindeer. In consequence, the reindeer-herding culture itself helps the people to preserve this knowledge of how to live in the tundra, but to remain relevant, the Nenets’ knowledge of tundra ecology and their words for snow, ice, and permafrost must continuously adapt to new realities of the tundra. However, if that culture disappears in the Yamal, this resource will also be difficult to save.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art6climate changeicing eventsnenets reindeer herdingpermafrostsnow terminologytraditional environmental knowledge |
| spellingShingle | Roza Laptander The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost Ecology and Society climate change icing events nenets reindeer herding permafrost snow terminology traditional environmental knowledge |
| title | The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost |
| title_full | The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost |
| title_fullStr | The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost |
| title_short | The Yamal Nenets’ traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow, ice, and permafrost |
| title_sort | yamal nenets traditional and contemporary environmental knowledge of snow ice and permafrost |
| topic | climate change icing events nenets reindeer herding permafrost snow terminology traditional environmental knowledge |
| url | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rozalaptander theyamalnenetstraditionalandcontemporaryenvironmentalknowledgeofsnowiceandpermafrost AT rozalaptander yamalnenetstraditionalandcontemporaryenvironmentalknowledgeofsnowiceandpermafrost |