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1. Snow, ice and permafrost landscapes as ‘frozen commons’: examples from northern Mongolia

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adc7cb  

   Kuklina, Mariia; Kuklina, Vera; Shiklomanov, Nikolay; Shiklomanov, Alexander; Nyland, Kelsey; Sandag, Khadbaatar; Sandag, Enkh-Amgalan; Krasnoshtanova, Natalia; Kobylkin, Dmitrii; Kholodov, Alexander; et al (May 2025, Environmental Research Letters)

   Abstract Cryosphere has a global role as a biogeophysical phenomenon. It affects the livelihoods of people inhabiting permafrost areas and is affected by human activity within and outside of the cryosphere’s geographical span. ‘Frozen commons’ (FCs) are cryosphere resources and landscapes, defined by snow, ice, and permafrost, that are experienced, used, protected and managed by groups of people together. This paper highlights collaboration between herders and scientists aimed at improving the understanding of FCs in northern Mongolia, a region of rapid cryosphere transformation. The impact of climate change on Indigenous and pastoralist communities in Mongolia is profound, leading to the damage or loss of FCs critical to local livelihoods. Therefore, Indigenous and local knowledge becomes crucial in assessing and predicting the climate-driven dynamics of FCs. In 2022, 2023, 2024 a team of permafrost scientists, geographers, and economists conducted interviews in reindeer and cattle herder camps in Khövsgöl Aimag (Province) located in the northern part of Mongolia. Local livelihoods do not depend only on cattle, which allows us to examine a variety of animal–environment interactions and impacts on pastoralism. The analysis of interviews indicates that FCs are a vital resource for the Khövsgöl communities and holds significant importance in their daily lives. Permafrost plays a key role for herders as it provides water resources for pastures and local rivers, which is critical during dry summers. Ice and snow also have many uses, such as a source of water, winter transport and the basis of cultural events. As winters become shorter and ice conditions become less predictable, the sustainability and availability of these resources for local people are under threat. In light of these challenges, it is imperative to formulate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies through collaborative efforts that actively involve and respect the perspectives of Indigenous and local people. 

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2. Christine Heller’s legacy and the potential for integration of traditional knowledge and biocultural labels (U.S.A.)

   https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v20.i1.1468  

   Buckmaster, Channing M; Ickert-Bond, Stefanie M (April 2026, Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas)

   Christine A. Heller (1907–1989) was a nutritionist, author, and botanist whose work in the 1960s–1970s had a lasting impact on Alaska’s botanical and cultural landscapes. Her research focused on the nutritional and medicinal qualities of native plants, making important contributions to the understanding of Alaska’s wild flora and its role in human health. Heller’s work is particularly relevant to contemporary discussions on subsistence living because of the historical moment in which her data was collected. Although her documentation often failed to adequately acknowledge the cultural significance of Alaskan foodways, the nutritional and botanical records she compiled remain valuable as time-specific evidence of what people gathered and consumed, enabling meaningful comparison with present-day data on subsistence practices and community health. These areas of Heller’s expertise emphasize the interconnectedness of human well-being, ecological sustainability, and cultural knowledge. In honoring Heller’s legacy, it is important to recognize that her research, while valuable, was conducted at a time when Indigenous knowledge systems were not widely respected or acknowledged as legitimate forms of science. The historical lack of recognition for Indigenous cultural practices and knowledge has perpetuated the belief that Indigenous communities are incapable of making autonomous decisions regarding their own development, including how their scientific knowledge is recorded. This colonial mindset has contributed to the treatment of Indigenous heritage as artifacts of the past that do not require specific attribution to the communities that steward them. One emerging solution to this challenge is the implementation of Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Biocultural (BC) Labels, which are digital labels that seek to safeguard Indigenous knowledge and provide guidelines for its ethical use by attributing this information while remaining compatible with widely used scientific frameworks. This paper seeks to both honor the invaluable work Christine Heller performed in Alaska in the previous century and examine whether integrating TK and BC Labels into Alaska Native ethnobotanical knowledge would be meaningful and beneficial to Indigenous knowledge preservation efforts in the state. 

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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. 

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4. 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. 

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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. 

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