Land and Water Resources of Siberia, Their Functioning and Ecological State

Abstract

Siberia is the backbone of the economy of modern Russia due to huge reserves of gas, oil, land and water. Not only resource extracting and processing industries, but also forestry and agriculture capitalize these resources with implications for local and global processes of nature and society. We analysed the state of land and water resources with regard to the impacts of human activity and climate change. The environmental status of forests, agricultural lands and inland water bodies was evaluated based on our own research and the recent literature. The focus was on agro-ecosystems. Our synthetic review revealed that peatlands and Tundra ecosystems are endangered by resource-extracting industries and industrial air pollution. Mining and industrial activity damage soil and vegetation and accelerate thermokarst processes. Forest ecosystems suffer increasingly from fires, insect outbreaks and improper management. Past and recent mining and industrial activity has polluted soils and water seriously in many regions. Permafrost melting could expose cases of old and inherited pollution. The impact of agriculture on water quality is still low but will increase. Agriculture is in a recession and operates inefficiently, destroying the soil. There is largely a lack of any agri-environmental monitoring in many regions. The rural infrastructure is on the verge of collapse, in the High North and the Far East in particular. State natural reserves (zapovedniks) are endangered by illegal activities and lack integration into scientific monitoring. Overall, monitoring programmes on the status of land and water resources lack consistency and modern technology. Climate change will put a great deal of additional pressure on Siberian landscapes, but hard data are required, and monitoring systems need to be modernized. Siberian landscapes have great potential for the mitigation of climate change through carbon sequestration and for improving people’s livelihoods. Environmentally friendly business activities such as organic food production, environmental tourism and recreational fishing are still underdeveloped. We conclude that the status of food production and the disintegration of rural areas are risks for Russian food security and national security. Modern technologies for monitoring and research ecosystems are needed to generate sustainable developments in managing the land and water resources of Siberia.