The effect of industry and transport on reindeer pastures: The example of Taymyr

Abstract

The tundra and forest‐tundra of the Taymyr Autonomous Okrug support over 50,000 domesticated reindeer and almost 600,000 wild reindeer. However enormous areas of rangeland have been destroyed, or their quality drastically reduced, by atmospheric pollution from the Noril'sk metallurgical complex. Grazing is further at risk from the unrestricted use of tracked vehicles in exploration for oil and gas and in pipeline construction and in the building of electricity transmission lines. Since 1978 legislation has been in place for establishing levels of compensation for damage to reindeer pastures, but has had little effect, largely since all the factors involved in costing the restoration of reindeer pastures were not taken into consideration. The author proposes an equation for calculating the true cost of such damage based on the loss of productivity in terms of potential yield of reindeer meat, distinguishing between winter and summer conditions. Her estimate of the true cost of the damage inflicted by the Noril'sk metallurgical combine is 4.4 billion rubles.