The oil company Surgutneftegas already extracts oil from the park but now they want access to one of its most vulnerable areas: the wetlands, where industrial development is currently prohibited.
Founded in 1997 to help protect the fragile Siberian Uvaly ecosystem, Numto park also has significance for Indigenous peoples of northern Russia. It is here, on the border of Yamal and Khanty-Mansy region, where two ancient Taiga cultures come together:
For generations, the Nenets and the Khanty people have bred reindeer, fished, picked berries and gathered. They travel hundreds of kilometers to come together and conduct sacred rituals at lake Numto. ‘Num’ holds a special place in Indigenous mythology and is often equated with the sky itself. Lake Numto means heavenly lake.
The heavenly lake of Numto is threatened by an oil company Surgutneftegas; oil operations would wreck local communities and spell disaster for its wildlife and ecosystems.