The Impact of Environmental and Anthropogenic Factors on the Migration of the Rural Arctic Population of Western Siberia

Abstract

Environmental and anthropogenic factors represent challenges impacting the lifestyle and demographic rural population’s behaviour in the Russian Arctic that threaten its social and food security. We aim to explore (1) which key “push” factors are jeopardising social sustainability and increasing migration outflows in the Arctic rural communities of Western Siberia (2) and how the Siberian population’s sustainable development could be secured. The methodology and analysis were based on Lee’s theory of migration factors with the main focus on the “push” factors forcing people to migrate to other Arctic and non-Arctic territories. The primary sources included fieldwork data and interviews collected during expeditions to the Arctic zone of Western Siberia between 2000 and 2021. Both men and women confirmed the insignificant impact of environmental factors on their emigration plans. However, they signified social and personal motives related to low standards of living that threatened their social and food security. The rural Siberian population’s migration strategies could be re-evaluated only by increasing the physical availability of food products and developing the social infrastructure of the settlements as either “models of rural cities” or “service centres for nomadic and rural population”.

Challenges of Changing Water Sources for Human Wellbeing in the Arctic Zone of Western Siberia

“…This is a result of the traditional lifestyles of the Indigenous population changing and the development of the infrastructure of the big settlements. Nowadays, these populations are more motivated to migrate from the tundra to modern settlements, which guarantees a higher quality of life for their residents [66]. Subsequently, the choice of water from the water supply system is explained by its high availability and filtering.…”

The population migration attitudes in the Arctic territories of the Komi Republic and their spatial differentiation

“…Особое значение И. Ли придавал пространственной дифференциации факторов миграции, подчеркивая их уникальную картину для каждой территории, а также фактору относительности сравнительных преимуществ и недостатков территории, лежащих в основе эффектов «притяжения» и «отталкивания». Применительно к Российской Арктике данный подход был реализован на актуальном материале в работе Е. Богдановой и соавторов (Bogdanova et al, 2022). Т. Хелениак прогнозирует к 2055 году довольно сильное сокращение населения большинства арктических регионов России (кроме Ненецкого автономного округа и Чукотки) при росте численности населения на большинстве арктических территорий зарубежных стран, компенсирующем указанную убыль в масштабах Мировой Арктики (Heleniak, 2021, p. 147-149).…”

The Multifaceted Nature of Food and Nutrition Insecurity around the World and Foodservice Business

“…Vindigni et al [19] presented the results of an online survey carried out in Italy with 700 randomly selected participants on consumer attitudes towards food obtained by new plant breeding techniques. Bogdanova et al [20] developed a study that aimed to reflect on appropriate policies for strengthening resilience and reducing migration outflows in the Arctic Siberian population.…”