Summary of Working Paper No. By A. Golovnev, G. Osherenko, Yu. Pribyl'skii, and D. Schindler, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA The Yamal Peninsula is home to over a quarter of the 35,000 Nenets living at the edge of the Arctic and spread across four administrative districts. Yamal is the heartland of their reindeer-herding culture. It is also the locale of extensive gas fields to which the Russian government looks as a major source of energy and hard currency exchange in the next century.
Many questions surround development of the super-giant gas fields.
What impact will development have on Nenets. In order to address these questions, the report provides background on the geography, ecology, archeological resources, demography, political and administrative structures, Native leadership, ethnography and Native economy of Yamal. The authors trace the history of Soviet interest in the Northern Sea Route as it relates to Yamal. The sovkhozy, which were never dismantled on the Peninsula, face a difficult transition to a free market economy given the push to privatize herds, the state farms, and the land. The report describes the existing system of property rights and explores alternative property rights arrangements and the potential impacts of each.