Local Perception of River Thaw and Spring Flooding of the Lena River

Abstract

This chapter explores the cultural ecology and feasible methods of adaptation used by the Sakha people in response to spring river flooding. Flooding or overflow occurs during every spring thaw of the Lena River, primarily because of the breakup of ice jams. The Lena flows from the Baikal region in the south and discharges into the Arctic Ocean in the north. Traditionally, the local population or Sakha rural communities in the middle river basin have based their subsistence calendar on the expectation of this natural phenomenon. Recently, the hazard from this spring flooding has increased in both scale and frequency, which in contrast to the traditional benefits of the spring thaw, has had disastrous effects on the local communities. In this paper, I consider the relationship between the human population and the river in the area, and detail indigenous knowledge of the river freezing and thawing and subsistence activities related to this cycle. Sociocultural contexts behind the disastrous flooding are elucidated, and a role for indigenous knowledge in local adaptation policies is advocated.