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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
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen G. Perz, 2014. "The promise and perils of roads," Nature, Nature, vol. 513(7517), pages 178-179, September.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
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