Environment, economy and community of the upper Angara and middle Yenisei regions: impact of climate change and water reservoir cascades built on the Angara and Yenisei rivers

Abstract : This article is dedicated to the aggravation of negative natural and anthropogenous changes in Central Siberia in the Yenisei River geo-system. These changes are probably the result of global warming and climate destabilisation combined with intensified destructive processes in the region. The last decades were characterised by the following: 1.Growth of mean annual temperatures and change of annual climate structure resulting in extreme weather and hydrologic situations; 2. Large-scale degradation of insular permafrost with corresponding decrease of their water-cut; 3.Dry thunderstorms, fires, forest disease outbreaks became more frequent and abundant in the large areas; 4. Forage resources failures and game animals’ depletion in numbers became more frequent; 5. Overgrowing of the Angara and the Yenisei Rivers. Significant drop of spawning sites’ reproductive functions; 6. Northern borders of some wild populations’ habitats started moving further north; 7. Aggravation of boat traffic conditions and traditional use of natural resources; 8. Taiga lost its fire-suppression and chemical-protection functions almost completely; 9. Some issues have emerged regarding protection of people and domestic animals against natural-endemic diseases as well as predators. There are good reasons to believe that these processes display an unprecedented environmental crisis of the regional biosphere.