Post-Soviet Period Changes in Resource Utilization and Their Impact on Population Dynamics : Chukotka Autonomous Okrug

This study examines changes that have occurred in the resource utilization sector and the impact of these changes on population dynamics in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug during the post-Soviet period. This paper sheds light on the sorts of population-dynamics-related differences that have emerged in the region and how these differences relate to the use of natural resources and the ethnic composition of the population. Through this study, it was shown that changes have tended to be small in local areas where indigenous peoples who have engaged in traditional natural resource use for a large proportion of the population, while changes have been relatively large in areas where the proportion of non-indigenous people is high and the mining industry has developed.


Introduction
The demographic economic systems in the North are in an extremely unstable situation. The reasons for this are the region's dependence on the extraction of mineral resources, the fact that most human settlements are company towns, and the extremely high mobility of northern labour forces [Heleniak, 1999;Motrich, 2006;Petrov, 2010].
On the other hand, some researchers believe that the presence of northern indigenous peoples who continue to utilize resources in traditional ways has maintained local stability [Mulvihill and Jacobs, 1991;Duerden, 1992;Khaknazarov, 2013].
Nevertheless, it is not yet fully clear what sort of characteristics make the local demo-economic systems and settlements in the North stable on the whole, and what kinds of factors have affected this stability. The question of what differences exist at the regional or intra-regional level in terms of instability/stability also remains unanswered.
Societal changes in the post-Soviet period, which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and has seen the implementation of market reforms, have resulted in clear and widening differences between regions in the North, within individual regions, and at the local level [Pilyasov, 1996]. Because the demo-economic system in the North is dependent on firms that utilize natural resources [Petrov, 2010], to understand the aforementioned issues, it is necessary to identify spatial regularities concerning the ways that resource utilization affects population. Furthermore, with regard to ethnic regions, it is also essential to clarify what sort of roles ethnic factors have played in this process of societal change.

Study subjects, methods, and data
This study covers the Chukotskii Autonomous Okrug (Chukotka). Chukotka is located in the far northeast of Eurasia, and juts out between the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Sea. Around half of the Okrug is located north of the Arctic Circle, and the climate is harsh. Chukotka contains 10% of Russia's estimated gold reserves, 16% of its estimated tin reserves, and unique biological resources. It also Russia's most sparsely populated region. Besides non-indigenous people, most of whom are Russian, the region is also home to 16 indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, who possess distinctive cultures and use the resources in a traditional way that has remained unchanged for centuries [www.chukotka.org, 2014].
The objectives of the study are to shed light on (1) the characteristics of changes in population dynamics in the entire Chukotka region and at the intra-regional level that have occurred as a result of transformation of natural resource utilization in the post-Soviet period and due to the impact of existing objective and subjective factors, (2) the roles that ethnic factors have played in this process, and (3) conditions that have caused stability and instability of local socioeconomic systems and settlements.
Economists and economic geographers hailing from the Far East have conducted various studies. These include studies on the natural resource development process in north-eastern Russia during the 1990s reform period [Pilyasov, 1996], the development of the mineral resource industry in Chukotka [Lomakina, 2002;Minakir, 2006;Lomakina, 2009, etc.], Litvinenko, 2013]. The task for this paper is to analyse the empirical data obtained in more detail and draw out general rules and scientific interpretations from the data.
Besides official statistics, this study also employs, as its data, documents in the possession of regional or local government bodies, archives from companies and others, and interviews carried out during on-site surveys of regional and local experts and Our method to study the interrelationships between resource utilization and population dynamics at the intra-regional and local level consisted of several steps (stages): 1) Stage 1: Statistical survey. Included in this stage is the analysis of official statistics for the purpose of shedding light on the interrelationships between population dynamics at the regional, intra-regional, and local levels and At this stage, we identify settlements that have been abandoned by surveying regional or local experts and comparing maps of settlements from the Soviet era with modern maps, shed light on the reasons that these settlements have been abandoned. Here, in addition to performing a questionnaire survey of the aforementioned regional and local experts and company representatives, we analysed the company materials to find out new temporary workers' settlements emerged in conjunction with the establishment of new resource-utilizing enterprises and labour migration during the post-Soviet period.
3) Stage 3: The survey data is processed and a generalization of the research findings from Stage 1 and Stage 2 is performed. Here we produced a map showing differences in population dynamics that occurred within the region.
We also classified changes in human settlements during the post-Soviet period and produced lists concerning the following points: (1) settlement status, (2) characteristics of population dynamics including the population migration process, (3) ethnic composition, (4)  According to a population census carried out in 1939, 69% of the total populace were Chukchi, Evens, and Eskimo peoples ( Figure 1). Tin and tungsten deposits were also found in Iultin. Industry then began to be developed in Chukotka, with prisoners from the gulags constructed in Chukotka during the 1950s providing the main source of labour. During the Second World War, the region supplied metals and other resources to the military industry, and mining continued to be the region's main industry even after the war.
In 1958, the first gold was produced for industrial purposes, and a gold-mining industry began to be established. But it was not until the 1960s that the core components of industry, namely GOKs (mining and processing complexes), industrial firms, power stations, power transmission cables, and transportation infrastructure, were completed.
After the gulags were dismantled and their inmates pardoned in 1953, physical measures to encourage people to work in various districts of the Far North were adopted as a means of attracting workers, particularly skilled ones. The construction of new human settlements and the growth of the urban population gave a huge boost to the development of the regional economy and resulted in an inflow of people ( Figure 2).
Widespread industrial development in Chukotka continued from the 1970s until the 1980s.
The period from the 1960s until the early 1970s marked the peak in the number of domesticated reindeer ( Figure 3). This was also a time during which the state was active in constructing housing for Chukchi, Eskimo, and Evens people after their setting [Vasil'ev et al., 1966].
During the Soviet era, the population of Chukotka, and the urban population, in particular, climbed as a result of both population inflow and natural increase (because the age structure of the population was relatively young, the rate of natural increase was higher than that of other regions), and reached a peak of 158,000 people in 1990 ( The transition to a market economy proved to be a painful experience for Chukotka. This was because the situation in the region was wholly and directly dependent on the circumstances in Russia. The crisis that swept the region became even more severe as a result of a decline in output from major sectors such as gold and tin mining. As a consequence of the shift to market economics, these industries were no longer profitable, and as a result, operations at the GOKs in Pevek and Iultin, which had been the largest in Chukotka, were suspended during the 1990s, and more than half the gold mining companies shut down. During the period from 1990 to 1998, the decline in production in the region was much greater than the Russian average and other eastern regions (Eastern Siberia and the Far East) [Litvinenko, 2013], with power production and the output of coal and gold mines plunging by over 50%.
At the time of the economic crisis, traditional forms of economic activity also declined as they no longer benefitted from state support. Fishing hauls dropped by 80% (Table 1). To make matters worse, economic conditions in Russia as a whole were worse than ever [Litvinenko, 2013], and because support from regional government was unavailable, the decline in the number of domesticated reindeer was more marked in Chukotka than in any other region of Russia. By 2002, the number of domesticated reindeer had plummeted to less than a fifth of the figure in 1991 to just 90,000. The number of reindeer in Chukotka had never been as low as this during the entire post-war period (see Figure 3 earlier in this paper).  Here we present insights on the nature of the interrelationships between natural resource utilization, population dynamics, and human setting during the 1990s, when the economic crisis occurred. These insights were obtained from surveys conducted in Iultinskiy district.
During the Soviet era, the Iultin Mining and Processing Complex was a company that mined and refined tin and tungsten ore and dust in that district. In 1953, an urban-type settlement was established in Iultin, and in 1954 Iultinskiy district was organized within Chukotka. From 1991 onwards, market economic conditions saw profitability deteriorate and state support came to an end. For these reasons, the output of the complex dropped. This decline continued, and wages began to be paid late or not at all.
As a result, the number of workers fell. The real incomes of residents dropped sharply, and this, coupled with the extremely harsh climate and the fact that the residents were non-indigenous people without strong ties to the region, meant that a population outflow was inevitable. were also liquidated ( Table 2). The decisions described above were accompanied by the obligation to assist the residents of the settlements with relocating to other parts of Russia. In 1995, the Iultin urban-type settlement was officially abandoned, and in 1998 it was removed from the registry of residential areas. The situation at the Iultin GOK also affected the population of the district in which it was located. Because a large outflow of people occurred between 1990 and 1998, the total population dropped by 59% and the urban population fell by 61% ( Subjective factors played a major role in the invigoration of economic activity, and the election of Roman Abramovich as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug was particularly significant in this respect. As a result of pseudo market measures (the registration in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of several companies that were close to Abramovich (and especially that of a Sibneft subsidiary), the revenues of the Okrug increased dramatically. The Okrug's revenues also rose significantly as a result of the income tax paid personally by the governor (it has been reported that the addition of the governor's income tax to the regional coffers resulted in 5.5-times increase in the tax revenues received from residents in 2000 [Litvinenko, 2013]. One example of efficient regional management based on the local natural resources  (Table 1).
Furthermore, from 2003 the number of domesticated reindeer began to rise ( Figure 3).
And as a result of the implementation of a region-specific program to stabilize and spur the development of reindeer husbandry, the number of domesticated reindeer increased by 82% between 1999 and 2008 ( Figure 3).
Meanwhile, the increases in catches of fish and marine animals increased (Table 1) can be explained by the presence of state support from the federal and regional When Abramovich was governor, housing was refurbished or replaced, new housing was built, and public infrastructure was reconstructed. The external appearance of residential areas was also improved ( Figure 6). In ethnic settlements, housing was completely rebuilt, and new public infrastructure buildings were constructed. Figure 6 External appearance of urban streets in Anadyr. Everything has been repainted and roads have been improved. Taken by the authors.
Despite the success of the resource utilization sector, the population outflow continued (Figure 4), though at a far slower pace than had been the case in the 1990s.
Between 1999 and 2008 the population of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug dropped by 25%, but this was only half the rate of decline seen in 1990-1998 ( Figure 5).  (Table). Gold refineries were also constructed at the Kupol, Mayskoe, and Valunistoe mines. The reason is that this policy is vital to provide the foundation of a system for enabling indigenous people to become self-reliant, and has a big impact on regional food safety and security. The federal government and regional governments have adopted a policy of establishing conditions for achieving significant development of this sector regardless of its profitability. An example of state support is  (Table 1).
In contrast to the situation with marine mammal hunting, fish catches have dropped by 80% (Table 1) increase in the amount of reindeer meat produced.
A regional program with specific long-term goals that runs from 2013 to 2020 and is aimed at developing agriculture and regulating the market for agricultural produce and food products in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug has been adopted, and this indicates that the traditional resource utilization sector remains an important component of strategic policy for regional development.
The changes in the resource utilization sector that occurred during this period did not have a major impact on population dynamics. Migration within the region has mainly been from villages to the centre of districts or the centre of the Okrug. Population outflow to other regions ( Figure 4) has been largely offset by natural increase, with the total population only declining by a small margin ( Figure 5).   Districts comprising the group in which the population decline was precipitous at 72-73% were the Bilibinskiy and Anadyrskiy districts, which are located in the northwest, west, and south of the Okrug. In these districts, indigenous peoples account for 21-39% of the population ( Table 3, Table 9). As a result of the outflow of nonindigenous people and the closure of the settlements for gold miners, the population of the Bilibinskiy and Anadyrskiy districts plunged by over 65% between 1990 and 2002.

Interrelationships between intra-regional differentiation in
Although the population decline continued during the 2002-2015 period (Table 1) The districts with the smallest population declines during the post-Soviet period were Anadyr town (37% fall) and the Chukotskiy district (34% fall). In the case of the Chukotskiy district, the fact that indigenous peoples dominate the ethnic structure can be regarded as an explanatory factor. The Chukotskiy district is home to Chukchi, Yukagir, Evens, and Itelmens peoples, and they are engaged in traditional natural resource management related to utilization of renewable biological resources. The indigenous population of this district is over 80% (Table 3). Furthermore, the district contains no settlements that have been closed and are no longer inhabited. In the case of Anadyr town, on the other hand, there is another factor behind the relatively small population decline (though the population actually increased by 29% between 2002 and 2015). This is that the town is the capital of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Although the indigenous population of the town is not particularly high as a proportion of its total population, the outflow to other regions of Russia has been offset by an inflow from other parts of Chukotka. This influx has probably occurred because of the high likelihood of obtaining employment in the town and because the social infrastructure is of high quality.

Transformation of human settlements
Spatial transformation of natural resource use caused the differentiation of settlements. Currently, five types of transformation of human settlements can be observed in the studied region (Table 4)   (2) The second type is Soviet-period settlements, mainly enjoying the status of a district or Okrug center, inhabited mostly by the Russians. Their population has declined, but they have been maintained as residential areas. Because they have witnessed large population outflows, mainly by non-indigenous people, the population of such settlements declined during the 1990s. For example, the population of the Egvekinot urban-type settlement, which is the center of the Iultinskiy district, dropped by 56% between 1990 and 1998, yet a look at the entire post-Soviet period reveals that the total decline was only 43%, having been softened by a moderate recovery in population since 2000 ( Table 2). What played an active role in maintaining the Egvekinot urban-type settlement and other district centers was the inflow of people from nearby villages, who were attracted by the possibility of securing jobs created by government-funded organizations. The population of Egvekinot stabilized as a consequence of employment by the sea port, construction, and the mining-and energy-resource-utilizing companies serving the local population.
(3) The third type are settlements inhabited by Russians where the population declined dramatically. These residential areas contain both abandoned and still active subdistricts. One example is the Ugolnye Kopi settlement, which includes a residential zone that has now been abandoned but that used to be home to military families and employees of companies providing services to the military. Because the army was disbanded in the 1990s, a large population outflow occurred, but from 1992 onwards it acquired the status as a centre for the Anadyrskiy district. Employment was provided by government-funded organizations, and the settlement managed to survive thanks to employment at the airport and employment by lignite-mining company. The post-Soviet period can be summed up by observing the multidirectional changes that occurred in resource utilization at the intra-regional and local level. The mining of tin and the production of tungsten products ceased completely, coal-mine output shrank to less than a fifth, and power generation for the region halved compared to what it had been initially. Despite the growth that occurred between 2003 and 2009, during the post-Soviet period as a whole, reindeer herding, which forms the basis of traditional natural resource utilization by the Chukchi people, has declined significantly, with the number of domesticated reindeer more than halving. On the other hand, fish catches and marine-mammal hunting have increased dramatically thanks to state support (Table 1).
In 2002 wind power began supplying the local area for the first time, and in 2006 natural gas also started to be used. During the post-Soviet period new mines have been developed, which has increased the amount of gold and silver being extracted. As a result, precious-metal mining now accounts for around 80% of total mining output, and has established itself as a key industry for the regional economy. Between 1990 and 2015, the total population declined to a third of its former level (Table 3) During the post-Soviet period, changes in population dynamics have been akin to a mosaic, with some residential areas being completely abandoned and the exteriors of in ethnic settlements, okrug and district centers being remodelled. Unlike other parts of eastern Russia, where ethnic Russians make up the overwhelming majority of residents, in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, differentiation in spatial changes between settlements with mainly indigenous residents (all of them have been maintained) and settlements with mainly Russian residents (most residential areas have either been abandoned or have been maintained but the population has fallen dramatically) were observed.
As a result of examining changes in population dynamics in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug at the regional, intra-regional, and local levels that have occurred in conjunction with changes in resource utilization during the post-Soviet period, it was possible to confirm the conclusions of previous research that has indicated that the demo-economic systems in Arctic regions are unstable [Heleniak, 1999;Petrov, 2010].
Factors such a settlement being dependent on a single company, settlement not having the status of a district or regional center, non-indigenous residents having weak ties to the region, and the employment in the non-renewable mineral resource utilization sector under the market economic system have resulted in population outflows and the abandonment of residential areas, and Chukotka's experience makes it clear that this results in the destabilization of the sociodemographic systems and human settlements in What has changed during the post-Soviet period is the geographical structure of the Chukotka economy and human setting. During the 1990s, residential areas disappeared along with the mining and processing complexes and the scattered infrastructure that accompanied them. From 2000, however, the development of new, non-labour-intensive mining technology can be seen to have led to the birth of new resource-utilizing companies. These companies were not reincarnations of the old ones. They were started from scratch. They also appeared in geographical locations away from existing residential zones. Temporary settlements for the workers that were now needed were also constructed. Just as it always has, the geographical structure of the Chukotka economy and human setting is continuing to change, this time as a result of the influence of the new projects to extract mineral resources that are currently in progress.