The section on reindeer pastoralism coprises 8 research projects. Full description of the programme is here . The main page of the MAB programme is here . The program also aims to assess the reasons for loss of thousands of reindeer over the past decade and to identify factors of influence on the Todja Small Numbered Peoples of the North and their traditional reindeer breeding lifestyle which is now under serious threat. Significant exploration and mining developments are taking place around the Bathurst caribou herd s calving grounds and migration routes.
Caribou seem to be attracted to mining infrastructure such as tailings ponds, airstrips and roads.
In this project, researchers and remote cameras observed caribou behaviour around mine sites and tested two methods of diverting caribou from mine sites and other developments. Sustainability of Arctic Communities Project This is an interdisciplinary project involving 22 researchers and four Alaskan and Canadian Porcupine Caribou users communities. The Totem Peoples Preservation Project of Siberia and Mongolia, started by Dan Plumley, works to insure the survival and sustainability of traditional, indigenous, and nomadic cultures whose lifestyle, spirituality, and culture are inextricably linked with totem animals. In the wake of past decades of assimilation, repression, ongoing resource exploitation, economic disparity, and a decline in health, spirit, and cultural awareness, the welfare and continuation of indigenous Siberian and Mongolian peoples has been put in danger. Efforts are currently underway to make their plight known, but facets of their culture are subject to imminent extinction, unless the concerns of these peoples are immediately addressed.