More Like this

1. Investigating Land Use Changes with Development of the Informal Road Networks: Case-Study in Siberia

   Kuklina, V. ; Petrov, A. N. ; Shiklomanov, N. I. ; Yu, Q. ; Bogdanov, V. ( December 2019 , American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2019)

   null (Ed.)

   While researchers of social-ecological systems acknowledge existence of formal and informal institutions affecting social-ecological governance, the role of informal sector in the land use change remains understudied. Moreover, existing studies of informal land use are focused mostly on urban areas, such as informal settlements. We argue that the remote regions would be another important area for inquiries. Informal, e.g. unobserved by official records, land use changes there are related to high-speed dynamics of resource extraction projects and location mostly in the regions of traditional land use practices of indigenous people. In particular, we focus on informal roads, which in the Arctic and Subarctic remote regions often remain understudied due to their small size, chaotic, temporal or even seasonal nature, private ownership or traditional subsistence functions. Despite their absence on official maps, they have significant social, economic and environmental impact on local, predominantly indigenous, communities. The study area: the north of Irkutsk region and Republic of Buryatia that the last decades has undergone rapid changes of traditional way of life of "old settlers", native Buryats and Evenks, collapse of the Soviet economy, development of oil and gas extractive industries and infrastructure, environmental regulations to protect the Lake Baikal and tourism development. The data was obtained in 2016-2018 at the municipal and local levels using interviews, observations, statistics and cartographic tools. As a result, we identified formal and informal elements of transportation infrastructure with common set of characteristics (e.g. time of development; purpose; present conditions; changes in location; use) and distinguished the specifics of their maintenance requirements, the forms of ownership, seasonality and local traditions. The future plans to use remotely-sensed data, coordinated visual mapping sessions, and field studies for understanding land use changes due to development of informal road networks will be discussed in the presentation. 

   more » « less
2. Mobilizing Benefit Sharing through Transportation Infrastructure: Informal Roads, Extractive Industries and Benefit Sharing in the Irkutsk Oil and Gas Region, Russia.

   Kuklina V., Petrov A. ( February 2020 , Resources)

   Road infrastructure development is an existing, but not a frequent element of extractive industry benefit-sharing frameworks in remote northern regions. However, it is often at the center of extractive activity and inflicts major impact on environment and communities. This paper examines the benefits and impacts derived from development of informal roads, i.e., vehicular roadways beyond the current publicly-governed road networks constructed, maintained and/or used by various entities and individuals based on private, special purpose and/or informal practices and regulations. Based on several field studies, GIS analysis of road networks and examination of secondary sources, the article investigates the use of informal roads as a form of benefit-sharing and details their impact on mobilities, environment and livelihoods of local and indigenous communities in the Irkutsk Oil and Gas region, Russia. We argue that construction, maintenance and use of the industry-built roads can be a part of benefit-sharing agreements, albeit mostly semi-formal and negotiated. The gains and problems stemming from ‘trickle-down’ (i.e., unintended) effects of the road networks are the most significant. The community-relevant implications of informal roads go far beyond immediate impacts on surrounding environment, but deeply affect subsistence activities, mobility, food security, personal safety and even consumer preferences of the indigenous residents. 

   more » « less
3. Mobilizing Benefit-Sharing Through Transportation Infrastructure: Informal Roads, Extractive Industries and Benefit-Sharing in the Irkutsk Oil and Gas Region, Russia

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9030021  

   Kuklina V., Petrov A. ( February 2020 , Resources)

   Road infrastructure development is an existing, but not a frequent element of extractive industry benefit-sharing frameworks in remote northern regions. However, it is often at the center of extractive activity and inflicts major impact on environment and communities. This paper examines the benefits and impacts derived from development of informal roads, i.e., vehicular roadways beyond the current publicly-governed road networks constructed, maintained and/or used by various entities and individuals based on private, special purpose and/or informal practices and regulations. Based on several field studies, GIS analysis of road networks and examination of secondary sources, the article investigates the use of informal roads as a form of benefit-sharing and details their impact on mobilities, environment and livelihoods of local and indigenous communities in the Irkutsk Oil and Gas region, Russia. We argue that construction, maintenance and use of the industry-built roads can be a part of benefit-sharing agreements, albeit mostly semi-formal and negotiated. The gains and problems stemming from ‘trickle-down’ (i.e., unintended) effects of the road networks are the most significant. The community-relevant implications of informal roads go far beyond immediate impacts on surrounding environment, but deeply affect subsistence activities, mobility, food security, personal safety and even consumer preferences of the indigenous residents. 

   more » « less
4. Service roads as a factor of transport accessibility.

   https://doi.org/10.21782/GIPR0206-1619-2019-5(114-118)  

   Bogdanov, V.N. ; Dugarova, G.B. ( October 2019 , География и природные ресурсы)

   The development of the transport network affects the socio-economic development of the territory and it is one of the most important factors in the growth of the level and quality of the population life. There is the need for a study of transport accessibility. In our work, we presented the mapping and assessment of changes in transport accessibility after the construction of service road. After the construction of the ESPO pipeline, a service road was built along it to maintenance the pipeline, which is located close to the district centers and crosses the local roads. This new road connected them into one network with year-round traffic. The object of our research is the Area of Oil and Gas Extraction in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the North Irkutsk region.We have created transport accessibility maps with and without all service roads, separately for winter and summer seasons. We have created maps for several district centers. We calculated transport accessibility using the method of constructing isochrones — lines of equal travel time to overcome the space relative to given points, using open GIS GRASS GIS. After construction, the company owner of this road gives permission to the municipal and federal services and local population use for free, but a preliminary application is required. There is a payment requirement and compliance with restrictions for transportation of commercial goods. After the construction of the ESPO pipeline, people who live close to the pipeline can reach to the district centers and neighboring districts by car year-round theoretically. The materials of this study can be useful in calculating the travel time on these roads, and finding priority areas for the construction of new roads. 

   more » « less
5. Taiga Landscape Degradation Evidenced by Indigenous Observations and Remote Sensing

   https://doi.org/10.3390/su15031751  

   Morozova, Arina O. ; Nyland, Kelsey E. ; Kuklina, Vera V. ( February 2023 , Sustainability)

   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. 

   more » « less