Koryaks, Khailino Village

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Credit: Drew Gerkey

Khailino village is an Indigenous community of Koryak, Chukchi, and Even people, located in Northeast Siberia. Khailino is experiencing  unprecedented challenges arising from the amount and timing of snow and ice formation. The strong connections created between Indigenous culture and environmental conditions, provide the foundations for adaptation of traditional livelihoods.

kamchatka - geoloc map

THE KORYAK, CHUKCHI, AND EVEN PEOPLES

Khailino, with a population of over 600, emerged in the Soviet era on Indigenous ancestral lands. The integration of traditional livelihoods during collectivization brought significant changes. In the post-Soviet era, they face challenges in adapting to market economies.

Mapa Kamchatcka

Credit: Victoria Sharakhmatova

ACTIVITIES

Icono Reno

Herding: Collective enterprises manage reindeer herds that pasture around the village.

Fish - Ico

Fishing: Spawning salmon provides food and income that help sustain families.

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Mixed economies: Cash from wage labor and markets help sustain traditional livelihoods.

TERRITORY AND CLIMATE

Credit: Victoria Sharakhmatova

Subartic. Tundra and Taiga

CLIMATE

Changes in the climate

Thermomether - Ico

Min: -28,1 °C avg. winter
Max: 22,3 °C avg. summer

Increasing temperatures reduce snow quality and alter the freeze-up and break-up of river ice.

Icono Viento
Avg. speed: f 7-10 m/s

Intensive wind regimes are characteristic of the territory.

Water - Ico

Long, cold winters with heavy snow Short warm/cool summers with rain.

Snow is now unpredictable and there’s more rain in winter.

ACCESS TO NATURAL RESOURCES

Changes in the territory

Glass water - Ico
Local watersheds support salmon and freshwater fish.

Seasonal transitions that hinder transportation are now highly variable and lead to periods of shortages.

Icono Nieve

Frozen rivers and snow cover allow transportation to access other resources.

The post-Soviet era has largely impacted the infrastructure and economy of the region: fewer and lower paying jobs, and reduced helicopter flights.

Icono Reno cuerpo
Expansive tundra provides pasture for reindeer herds.

VOICES OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

People in Khailino have extensive individual experience and collective knowledge about the connections between social and environmental systems in Kamchatka. They are adept observers of climate change and its impacts. Their insights demonstrate how changing climates intersect with and exacerbate ongoing processes of social change.

Drivers of change

Bolas Kamchatka

IMPACTS ON LIVELIHOODS AND CULTURE

when driving on ice

Credit: Drew Gerkey

When driving on ice is the safe option
Unpredictable weather disrupts ground travel during longer seasonal transitions. With no roads, melting snow and water floods immobilize vehicles, hampering food and resource transport and putting a stop to fishing and hunting.

kamchatka - Rain on snow

Credit: Drew Gerkey

Rain on snow, or surviving despite nature
Changes in winter increase “rain-on-snow” events, making it difficult for reindeer to reach food beneath the snow and requiring herders to migrate in search of better pasture.

kamchatka - When it rains

Credit: Drew Gerkey

When it rains, it pours
The new, erratic environmental conditions exacerbate existing challenges following Post-Soviet social changes in transportation infrastructure –including reduced helicopter transportation– and traditional subsistence linked to legacies of colonization.

ENVISIONING A CLIMATE CHANGE-PROOF FUTURE

Sustainable mobility, a global priority to combat climate crisis
Changes in temperatures and precipitations throughout the year limit people’s mobility in Kamchatka, making it difficult to travel and access natural resources. People in Khailino rely on transportation infrastructure to pursue economic opportunities, maintain social relationships, and sustain traditional livelihoods.

Adapting to the new Arctic
People in Khailino report significant changes in river ice formation and break-up, as well as increases in “rain-on-snow” events. These forms of climate change have been observed in other Arctic regions and anticipate a transformative shift in polar regions.

Contextual understanding for grasping climate change impacts
Observations and impacts of climate change in Khailino interact with ongoing forms of cultural, economic, and political change. People’s explanations of the impacts on their ways of life establish clear connections with human systems, which in Khailino cannot be understood fully without considering legacies from the Soviet era.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING

Recognizing the intricate links between climate and social change is essential to document and act on current and future climate shifts. Policy makers and researchers should collaborate with Indigenous communities to create monitoring networks that combine multiple forms of knowledge to implement effective and sustainable mitigation and adaptation measures.

AUTONOMY VS SUPPORT: STRIKING A BALANCE

The harsh, remote conditions of Kamtchatka have historically demanded a delicate balance between local autonomy and governmental support for the well-being of both the residents and the natural environment. This region is home to communities extremely vulnerable to climate change and new policies should prioritize empowering the local population while ensuring resources and infrastructure to address unforeseen challenges.

Credit: Drew Gerkey

PUBLICATIONS

Gerkey & Sharakhmatova (2023). “Local Observations of Climate Change and Impacts on Livelihoods in Kamchatka, Russia” in Routledge Handbook of Climate Change Impacts on Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

Gerkey, D. (2016). The emergence of institutions in a post-Soviet commons: salmon fishing and reindeer herding in Kamchatka, Russia. Human Organization, 75(4), 336-345.

Sharakhmatova, V.N. (2014). Adaptation to Climate Change and the Importance of Traditional Knowledge of the Indigenous peoples of the North in the International Projects and Negotiation Processes. At the Crossroad of Continent: Materials of the XXXI Krasheninnikov Reading; Publishing house of the Information-publishing center of the Kamchatka Regional Scientific Library named after S.P. Krasheninnikov; Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, 2014;   pp. 363-370. Available online: www.kamlib.ru/resourses/sharakhmatova.htm (accessed on 12 December 2022).

FIELDWORK CONDUCTED BY

Victoria Sharakhmatova and Drew Gerkey