The Evenki people, custodians of the resources of Yakutia – photo essay | Russia
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On 29 July 2022, on a shore of Lake Baikal, Evenki people from all over Russia gathered for the first time. The Evenki are Indigenous people of reindeer herders, and at the Tungus congress they had the opportunity to visit their original homeland, the cradle of their culture. More recently, the Evenki have occupied a vast territory from the Yenisei River to Kamchatka, from Yakutia to China.
Nature is everything for the Evenki people. They are traditional hunters who have been roaming the eastern forests of Siberia for centuries. The Evenki settled in the taigas of Yakutia, among larch, blueberry and reindeer moss. They lived in the presence of deer, elk, brown bear, fox, capercaillie, sable, taimen, pike, whitefish, perch and trout. It is therefore no coincidence that names of many natural sites here have Evenki roots.
For their nobility and courage, these nomads were called “the aristocrats of Siberia”. It was the Evenks of Yakutia who guided Russian prospectors to the riches of the subsoil, playing the role of mushers for geologists whom they taught to survive in a harsh climate. Like many Indigenous peoples elsewhere in the territory, they enabled the industrial development of the Soviet Union.
Today, Russia is the third largest producer of gold, while one out of three diamonds mined in the world comes from Yakutia. Somehow, the Evenki cohabit with the industrialists who exploit their lands, sacrificed on the altar of economic growth. They regret it all the more because they hoped for a better tomorrow for their children.
The taiga is massively demolished, the beds of rivers are ransacked and the water tables are polluted.
The preservation of nature is the priority for the Evenki. Without the reindeer and the environment that nurtures them, they will no longer be able to exist as a people. They are native and attached to their land, and an integral part of the ecosystem.