Tour of the Arctic (1/2) – from Svalbard to Siberia | DW Documentary

Stunningly beautiful. Brutal though. Over generations, the people who live here have learned to survive in this inhospitable landscape. We travel through the Arctic. From Svalbard to eastern Siberia. We want to know how the lives of people in this remote part of the world are changing. Sailing through the Arctic Ocean at 20 knots per hour. We are aboard the Sapphire Princess, one of the large cruise ships that now travels through the Arctic with increasing frequency. An Arctic adventure has never been easier or more comfortable, as long as you are willing to share the experience with many others. Just before 7 a.m. m.

We cross the Arctic Circle and contemplate its rugged nature without being exposed to it. As adventures go, it's the "

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light." Although that will soon change. Why did you get up so early in the morning? To go to the gym. Aah, you're coming from the gym! Yes, but I didn't realize it would look like that. And it's fantastic! You know, it's inspiring. It really helps you get closer to nature. And that's a good thing. If people thought about that more, they wouldn't be littering and driving big SUVs. My wife wants to see the northern lights. I hope she isn't disappointed.

Does that mean you'll stay up all night? I won't do it. She can! The

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landscape is harsh and threatening. However, it is one of the most fragile ecosystems on the planet. The climate in the far north is temperamental. The ship with its 18 decks begins to sway from side to side. The pool transforms into a wave pool. Below deck they are still brewing up a storm. Due to the bad weather we have lost our appetite. But we still meet Stephen Reynolds, who shows us his mastery. With a twinkle in his eye, he says some guests will probably leave the ship heavier than when they boarded.

One: We need it to look like our presentation. Yeah? You have a little bit of potato left. That's good. OK. Happy with that? Arctic cuisine is not what passengers want. Generally, the British market we were just in still wants to come for their roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. They want fried egg and bacon. The Danzls like to travel in style. We met the Tyrolean couple for an aperitif. They have been taking cruises for years. This is number 23. Does it bother you that this type of vacation is increasingly considered harmful to the environment? Life is a commitment.

On the one hand, you want to see places. On the other hand, there are environmental problems... But this makes the region more popular, so people see how it is changing. It is important that the region becomes better known, but that will only be possible if many people can visit it. The cruise industry is attracting people to come to the Arctic while it is still intact. Their boats take guests to increasingly remote locations. To ensure that this booming business does not fall victim to environmental concerns, companies are trying to go green. On board, garbage is separated for recycling.

And some ships now run on liquefied petroleum gas instead of heavy crude oil or marine diesel. Traveling through these icy waters presents special dangers, Captain Paolo Ravera tells us. Therefore, he and his crew have received special navigation training. Full of water navigation. Frozen water. It looks like we don't have much drift ice yet, but there are places where there is. That's why you have to be careful, because ice is like rocks that float. A small iceberg or growlers can damage the propellers. And if we enter a fairly high concentration of ice with the ship itself, we can damage the hull.

Unless it's a boat built for icy waters, which it isn't. This is for normal ice conditions, but not very thick or dense. Tonight we caught a glimpse of one of the Arctic's most fleeting attractions: the Northern Lights. The northern lights once inspired belief in the supernatural. Now it's something that

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ists film and post on social media. We left the warm comfort zone of the ship. From Alta we continue towards the Svalbard archipelago. In summer, huge cruise ships arrive with thousands of passengers. Out of season, smaller ships dock here, not far from the North Pole. It's no longer just well-equipped explorers who venture so close to the North Pole.

The number of

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ists has doubled in the last decade. Every year, 70,000 visitors come to Longyearbyen, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants. For locals, tourism has become a reliable source of income now that mining is in decline. Still, it has its challenges. Svalbard Search and Rescue says the number of distress calls has increased, along with people's expectations. We accompany the air rescue team on a training mission. The use of a protective suit is mandatory. If we fell into icy water, we would avoid hypothermia, at least for a few minutes. Snorre Hagen is in charge of the two Puma helicopters stationed in Svalbard.

Each of them can transport up to 20 people in an emergency. Svalbard is an arctic desert, but it is becoming wetter. There is more rain and less snow. We have been here for many years and it is noticeable that all the glaciers are getting smaller and retreating. On average, the temperature in Svalbard is rising quite a bit. The captain of this expedition ship agreed to participate in the rescue maneuvers. Like our cameraman, who is now being lowered with a rope. The ship's crew also participates in the exercise. They know the importance of this type of maneuver in case of emergency.

After a small snack, we return to work. If a ship is in trouble, Snorre's crew rescues passengers one by one by helicopter. Once everyone has been evacuated, there will still be another problem to solve. A shipwreck full of diesel, stranded in an extremely fragile ecosystem. To give guests an unforgettable experience, Snorre says some captains take great risks in this dangerous region. Rescuers must travel long distances. He considers these cruises to be the most problematic. The point is that we should always be able to help, but it may take us much longer than we would like. So it's all a question of?

It's a bit harsh to say, but it's a matter of carrying out the rescue before people die. So if we start saying, yes, we're going to rescue a ship with 7,000 people on board, it could take a week. People here say tourism needs to be steered in the right direction to ensure Svalbard's spectacular nature is protected. And may all visitors return home safely. Norway has sovereignty over Svalbard, but the archipelago is a visa-free zone. Russia has an Arctic outpost here in Barentsburg. To get to it we must take a boat. There is not a single road that leads to Barentsburg.

This sign in Cyrillic is a reminder of times past: "Our goal? Communism." The Soviet spirit where geopolitics has long spoken another language. Valeriy comes from eastern Ukraine, a region plagued by divisions and a war backed by pro-Russian forces. He works in Svalbard for a Russian state coal company. My wife stayed home. I'm here alone. There are no jobs for women here. They can't make much money here. Coal mining is no longer profitable. But prospectors are attracted to other natural resources. There are believed to be huge oil and gas reserves off the coast of Svalbard. Norway and Russia disagree over who owns them.

The Russian Consul General in Svalbard serves us tea. Sergey Gushchin says that his country has a good neighborly relationship with Norway, a member of NATO. Such conciliatory tones are rare in Russian diplomacy these days. Gushchin says the Arctic climate is too harsh for conflict. Although the friendship is short-lived when it comes to oil: Do you have any idea of ​​the enormous profits it would generate? In billions. Everything will turn to gold here, if the Russian interpretation is applied. That is why we have not been able to reach an agreement with the Norwegians on this matter. Once an oil or gas field is found here, legal disputes are sure to begin.

A few nautical miles away, in the Barents Sea, Russia is conducting military maneuvers. That fuels concerns here that worse things than legal action could happen, even if they invoke “world peace” on the hillside. To find out what happens to a remote northern town when fossil fuel deposits are found offshore, we visited Hammerfest. In winter, northern Norway is plunged into darkness for two long months. For a long time people left in droves. But then “Snow White” appeared, that's what they call the natural gas field off the coast of Hammerfest. Since 2007, Snow White has been a fairy tale dream come true for the city's finances.

And the high wages paid have attracted many skilled workers. This is a good day for Anna. Her little daughter Ava doesn't make a fuss when she's dropped off at daycare. Anna then heads straight to the office. Her partner currently works abroad, as always in two-week periods. Sometimes you have a meeting you can't miss and then you really have a challenge. Balancing motherhood with a career at Equinor, Norway's state-owned energy company, is no easy task. For Anna it is not only a question of time, but also of ideology. She drives a hybrid car, avoids plastic and recycles her waste.

For her, as for most Norwegians, protecting the environment is important. However, she works for a company that makes money from fossil fuel extraction. The 21-year-old assures that there is no contradiction in this. In this plant, Equinor liquefies natural gas and places it in tanks. He also operates a pilot project. The company separates CO2 from natural gas and pumps it back to the ocean floor. This process reduces the amount of harmful greenhouse gases reaching the Earth's atmosphere. Norway cites such projects as proof of its green credentials. However, it continues to license exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean and its finances depend on petrodollars.

Environmental activists call that hypocritical. Anna considers her criticisms to be unfounded. However, she is used to having to justify her work for the industry. People might think you'd be a hypocrite if you think about the climate crisis and stuff, and you still work in the industry. But I think my company is a place where we grow fossil energy better. Banning the profitable extraction of fossil fuels in Norway would not change anything, says Anna. Customers would simply buy their gasoline elsewhere. And that would not benefit the climate at all. Her mother has always supported her choice. She's always been a tough girl.

She early noted: “I want to work at that company. This is my dream." Norwegians take environmental protection seriously. However, they are not willing to stop selling oil and gas anytime soon, because that is what has made Norway one of the countries richest in the world. We continue our journey eastward, from Hammerfest to Bovanenkovo, on the Yamal Peninsula. In the language of the indigenous Nenets, "Yamal" means "the end of the world." one of the largest economic projects in Russia. We arrived just in time to witness how they exploit a new source of gas. Russian energy giant Gazprom has developed the Bovanenkovo ​​gas field in record time.

Best Gazprom Welder in 2015. He is used to metal, fire and heat. But here he also has to address other elements. “But sometimes it is minus 15 degrees Celsius. There is an accident and you have to go to work, whether you want to or not.” Gazprom has created a small city for 3,000 workers in this remote part of Siberia. We were only allowed to visit Bovanenkovo ​​after receiving special permission from the Russian state company. It took weeks of emails and phone calls to get it done. Workers are made to feel like heroes. They are serving their country's goal of making the Arctic lucrative.

But Sergey tells us the main reason they're all here: on average, workers in northern Siberia earn about twice as much as the rest of Russia. Here they work 30 days straight, then they have 30 days off. Sergey's family lives a day's drive from Bovanenkovo. It's hard sometimes, especially at the end of your turn. Your morale sinks and the monotony affects you. But you pay a price for everything in this life. So this is pretty good. Arctic warming is a boon for Russia's economic ambitions. The Northeast Passage section along the coast of Russia is now more frequently ice-free, facilitating the export of Siberian gas.

Goods from China by ship can also reach Europe more quickly. And Russia plans to take advantage of this. The Port of Sabetta is fundamental to this strategy. But that doesn't leave much room for these nomadic reindeer herders. In the shadow of the drilling platforms,They fear losing their homeland. We are visiting the Vanuito family. They belong to the indigenous people known as Nenets. They have lived here for centuries and are perfectly adapted to the inhospitable conditions of the Arctic. But now this nomadic people must deal with industrial sites, train tracks and streets. Drilling for oil and gas is being carried out in the Nenets grazing lands, endangering their traditions and culture.

You call this refrigerator, I call it "parya". It stands on legs like this one, so we can stack meat, fish, etc. up there. Then they stay fresh for a long time. The gas companies now have a Nenets commissioner, who acts as a mediator between heavy industry and indigenous peoples. They are good public relations. Hello, good to see you. It's yours? How many do you have? Sometimes companies donate firewood or a generator to the Nenets. Although Grigoriy tells us this barely makes up for what they have lost due to industrial expansion. Not good. Because? Shouldn't they help?

They should help. But we have given much of our land to gas workers. There is no longer enough grazing land, neither here nor in the south. Source of food, clothing and transportation: reindeer are everything for the Nenets. The Vanuitos have 200 of them. But the times are changing. Winters are getting warmer. And the animals are losing weight because they have a hard time finding food. Without snow it is more difficult to keep the reindeer together. They go out in all directions. And the groups separate from the flock. The Vanuitos will soon leave for their winter grazing lands, like every year.

But will your journey be different? increasingly determined by the economic interests of distant capital. We continue our arctic adventure. From Sabetta we traveled to the settlement of Chersky, in the middle of the Arctic summer. In the tundra, the temperature can reach 40 degrees Celsius in summer. However, with every step we take, it becomes cooler. And it smells like fish. Because, despite its beauty, this serves as a freezer for the local population. In sub-zero temperatures, the remains of dead plants and animals from bygone eras do not decompose. Permafrost works like an icy safe, keeping its carbon reserve locked away.

Double the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the entire Earth's atmosphere. It's a climate time bomb. Sergey Zimov thinks he knows how to prevent it from exploding. But first the Russian scientist wants to show us the problem. He takes us for a walk along the Kolyma River, which is frozen most of the year. We hit a sandbar and got stuck. Sergey Zimov, a highly respected member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, needs to come out and press. Our cameraman drives while I film. After more than four hours we arrived at some ice cliffs. But the sound of running water soon makes it clear: Siberia's permafrost is melting.

These microbes sleep for about 50 thousand years. Now they wake up and I hear them start to breathe. And produce odor. The organisms begin eating immediately, and as they do so, they transform carbon into carbon dioxide. There is so much in our area that the climate in Europe will become unbearable if it all melts. The rate at which the soil is releasing greenhouse gases is surpassing scientists' most dire predictions. Let's go back to Sergey's plan. Great creatures once roamed the Mammoth steppe. We gathered evidence of this in a matter of minutes, surrounded by swarms of mosquitoes. Remains of bison, horses and woolly mammoths.

Everywhere where people appear, untouched nature disappears. In Russia there are still many open spaces. It is our duty to restore the natural variety that our ancestors witnessed. Zimov is a scientist who wants to put his theories into practice. Then, more than two decades ago, he began resurrecting the Ice Age with his Pleistocene Park. Together with his son Nikita, he cut down trees and planted ancient grasses. Then they introduced yaks and bison. Herbivores have an enormous responsibility: slowing the pace of climate change. In December, a thick blanket of snow insulates the ground from the cold. The horses, in search of grass, dig in the snow and trample it.

This allows the permafrost to freeze more completely, protecting it from thawing in summer. Animals compact the earth, which can better store the cold. At least that is the basic hypothesis of the Russians. Sergey Zimov puts it more directly. He calls his park a battlefield. The fight is between an ecosystem that is ill-equipped to combat climate change and the ice age it aims to resurrect. His experiment has attracted scientists from around the world, including a German team that is examining the grasses the Zimovs have introduced. Here they try to measure the levels of gases harmful to the environment.

We assume that everything has a much more active circulatory system or exchange with the atmosphere. But ultimately the soil absorbs more carbon, due to greater photosynthesis and the more active grasses that grow here. The Zimovs claim that the soil in their Pleistocene park already retains the cold better. The Russian Sakha Republic is sparsely populated. In summer, most people make their living from fishing. In winter they hunt muskrats and stoats. Leonid and Sergey share a lifelong friendship. But they have different views on climate change. No, I don't believe in that. Period. Nothing has changed. Everything remains the same as always.

However, just a few months earlier, the permafrost shores behind Leonid's house melted, causing an entire lake to slide into the Kolyma River. There are billions of lakes like this, where water enters or leaves. That is normal. It has no effect on nature. In my life, yes. But not about nature. Zimov says that, a long time ago, some people refused to believe that the Earth was round. Today, some refuse to believe that climate change is happening. Or they just don't mind. Russians are not afraid of global warming. They will say: we are waiting for it and preparing for it.

Europeans, Americans, North Africans and Asians must sound the alarm: those who already feel the negative effects of global warming. The Zimovs aim to recreate the steppe landscape that existed in the Arctic 12 thousand years ago. A return to the ice age! They want to create an ecosystem that can regulate itself: whether to live or die. Eat or be eaten. In the end, I let a lion or a tiger in and say: this is your park. Then I turn around and leave. It's a joke, but I want the system to become balanced, resilient, and expand on its own beyond our current borders.

Sergey can even imagine that one day woolly mammoths will graze here alongside bison. I don't want to leave my grandchildren and great-grandchildren this sad northern landscape where only mosquitoes feel at home. I want to leave you the species-rich nature of our ancestors. The kind of nature that stabilizes the climate and feeds millions of people. Sergey has often been accused of playing God. But he maintains that the opposite is true: he is simply trying to restore what humanity began destroying centuries ago. The last leg of our trip takes us to Chukotka, in the Far East of Russia.

From the town of Anadyr we will go to Vankarem, stopping in Egvekinot. According to Siberian superstition, you should not photograph a helicopter just before taking off. But we can't resist shooting when no one is looking. People here tell us that the Mi-8 is the most reliable helicopter in Russia. But, as passengers, we can't help but feel that it is quite reluctant to stay in the air. Still, the view from the window quickly makes up for it. After an hour and a half, we landed in Egvekinot. Another storm is coming, so we switch modes of transportation: from a helicopter to a three-axle jeep.

We will need 6 wheel drive. North of the Arctic Circle the roads come to an end. We are traveling 200 kilometers in a straight line; Our average speed is only 11 kilometers per hour. Since the top layer of permafrost has thawed, driving here is like taking a mud bath. Sometimes the riverbed is not as bumpy as the road that runs along it. At some point we stopped counting the number of flat tires. There is only one settlement along the route. In the winter quarters of these nomadic reindeer herders, our team attracts quite a bit of attention. They rarely receive visitors.

But music is a universal language. We are in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, home of the indigenous Chukchi people. It is twice the size of Germany and has only 50,000 inhabitants. During the night, our drivers get hungry. Early in the morning we arrived at our destination: Vankarem. Only 180 people live here. But every year they are inundated with visitors: several thousand walruses. We will spend the next few days with Sergey Kavry. A member of the indigenous Chukchi people, he belongs to a family of marine hunters. He wants to pass on his knowledge to his nephew Yuri. As soon as the weather improves, they plan to go hunting together.

Sergey tells us that the Chukchi live on walruses. He takes us to see his colony. Sergey has noticed changes in the pace of life of marine mammals. He says walruses, which can weigh several tons, spend more time on land. Resting on the ice is no longer an option. The ice disappears earlier and continues to retreat. But walruses need a place to rest. They go on vacation with us to Vankarem, from August to October. But panic continues to break out among the walruses. They often trample each other to death. To document the deaths, Sergey must free their bodies that are frozen in the ground.

The extensive expansion of civilization in the Arctic, the use of the Northeast Passage, the rise of military technology and even tourism are possible causes. We need rules and regulations that help the walruses and reduce their panic. Another reason why walruses are scared can be seen at the top of the cliff. Sergey says that he has counted about 200 polar bears around Vankarem. The Chukchi have always coexisted with polar bears, so Sergey knows when it is best to leave. Suddenly, the polar bear seems too interested in us. In our religion, we believe that you are descended from an animal.

My brother, for example, is descended from a polar bear. I was told, to my great disappointment, that I am the descendant of a wolf. Not long ago, a polar bear smelled something edible right outside Sergey's kitchen window. The more their habitat fades, the closer these predators get to humans. Therefore, here even the little ones learn how to use a flare gun. Once a year, Sergey visits Vankarem primary school. Here he teaches children how to avoid a confrontation with a bear. A bear! A bear, right. And who can tell me which direction the bear went? North. Children can go to school in Vankarem until the fifth grade.

After that, they must attend boarding school, far from home. People here say that during that time, they often forget their own culture and language. Vankarem's only general store offers everything from cheese to shoes. But no alcohol, at least not officially. They fear that, in this harsh climate, people will try to drown their sorrows in drink. There is a saying in Chukotka: Here the weather is bad one month a year, very bad two months and nine months terrible! Yuri lives in the city most of the time. He works as a heating technician and has a wife and son.

I don't know what it is, but something keeps drawing me here. Here I forget my fear and my sorrows. For Yuri, today is a special day: for the first time he will lead the harpoon team. People here spend months in winter without seeing the sun. But these men tell me that nothing makes up for that better than walrus meat. They also say that it is safer to kill animals in water than on land. As an indigenous people, the Chukchi are allowed to hunt walruses to satisfy their personal needs. Even though they face extinction. Sergey says that his people are also in danger of extinction.

However, unlike walruses, Chukchi do not have a lobby. Whether in this region or any other, the few indigenous peoples of this Earth have never inflicted great damage on nature. And that's something that can't be said about white people. Here ends our journey through the Arctic Circle, where only the Bering Strait separates Russia from Alaska. We have made our way through thousands of miles of this desolate and inhospitable landscape. The people here have long defied the elements and the forces of nature. But now they face immense changes that will alter their lives, their homeland, and our world forever.