Oil over the Nenets tundra
As oil production spreads to the country’s farthest corners, local people and activists are warning that the country risks not only ecological catastrophe but also a serious threat to the native cultures that have inhabited these Arctic regions for centuries, the Moscow Times reports.
-There is so much work going on — roads, pipelines — and several oil companies working at once. It disrupts the path of the reindeer herders, and that’s quite painful,” said Nikolai Latyshev, a vice president at Yasavei, a local organization fighting for indigenous rights. “There’s enough land and reindeer for now, but what if that changes?”
Critics also say that the expanding oil industry poses an growing threat against the environment in the region.
-A number of areas are simply too crowded with installations and tracks that destroy the vegetation so that the area is deteriorated, said Winfried Dallmann, a senior research fellow at Norway’s Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research.
-They don’t clean up after themselves, local reindeer herder Mikhail Kanev said about the oil companies. -Metal from the pipes lies around everywhere, he said to the Moscow Times.
Photo: Barentsphoto.com
