Climate change and land-use practices threaten traditional food sources in Russia’s Far East

Climate change and land-use practices could significantly alter the composition and availability of wild traditional foods in Russia’s vast Far East. This area is home to many indigenous peoples who rely on indigenous food.

Native plants, animals, and fungi from the nature of these regions are essential to the health and livelihoods of people in remote and rural areas, but traditional food systems are increasingly threatened by climate and land use change. Exposed. However, little is known about the actual contribution of wild traditional foods to supporting rural households and how future environmental changes may undermine these dependencies.

Now, an international team led by Associate Professor Jorge García Molinos of Hokkaido University’s Arctic Research Center is investigating the use of wild traditional foods in rural indigenous settlements in the Sakha Republic, and predicting future climate and land use changes. Assessed the potential impact on the planet. Those food systems. Their findings are published in PNAS Nexus.

The survey targeted 400 households in 18 rural settlements across Sakha. Data were collected on demographics, dietary habits, and income-generating activities such as hunting, fishing, and collection of traditional wild food species.

Analysis of the data showed that dependence on wild food sources varied by region, with intakes significantly lower in settlements in the more developed and accessible central and western regions, but in remote and isolated northern regions of the Arctic Circle. It was revealed that the intake was relatively high in the communities of

In Arctic settlements, diets focused on wild fish and mammals, while rural households in the South and West preferentially consumed wild plant-based foods such as berries and nuts. I did.

There was a similar pattern in terms of economic dependence on wild food sources. Wild food (mostly mammals) accounted for about 11% of household income in some northern communities, but only about 3% (mostly berries) in central communities.

The researchers then used species distribution models to predict future changes in the availability of 51 wild food species under different climate and land use change scenarios. This includes mapping projected changes at regional and local scales. The latter is considered to be within a 100 km radius of the surveyed settlement and represents the area where wild food is likely to be harvested.

The modeling predicted an overall decline in the number of species in the southern regions of Sakha Republic by 2050, and a gradual increase in the northern regions, as species shrink and expand their ranges in response to environmental change. Locally, these broad regional changes mean that the number and variety of food species available to individual settlements is likely to change in the future.

For example, some species, such as elk, are predicted to expand their ranges into the northernmost regions of the Arctic, thus potentially providing new food and economic opportunities for settlers in the region. .

On the other hand, habitat suitability of some species in the south-central region (such as blackcurrant, wild onion, and lingonberry) is predicted to decline rapidly, especially under the most extreme conditions. There is a high possibility that it will not be available in some villages. emissions scenario.

“Our model predicts that these regional losses may be compensated for by the establishment of other new species that experience habitat improvement, but with a significant impact on local wild edible species availability. Predicting how such trade-offs will affect these rural areas in the future is an important open question that requires further research,” García Molinos says.