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3.4 Environmental
impacts of drought
Drought was not flagged as being considered a common type of disaster in either of the study regions. However, those who did discuss droughts described them as serious. Most of the information documented on impacts of drought is related to reindeer. A Nenets man from Nel�min-Nos (NAO) said: �Last year we faced awful heat. Bushes start growing after the heat. They did near our house, and there had been none. It changes every year. The elders tell about changes after thunderstorms. A lightning strikes into the ground, and a fire starts�.
Transcript from an interview with a Nenets man from Nes� (NAO):
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Interviewer:
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�Have you noticed that heat has become
more common now?�
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Respondent:
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�In summer it�s hot for a month.�
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Interviewer:
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�It didn�t use to be like that?�
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Respondent:
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�No. Springs are delayed. There is no
grass until June in the Kanin. The grass is low, and there is little of it.
July is hot. Reindeer don�t cope with it well. Heat results in droughts,
water remains in rivers and lakes only, not in the ground.�
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A Nenets man from Viucheisky (NAO) said: �Last year we had a severe drought. It was tough for reindeer, they started gaining weight late, and some failed. All the springs and small lakes dried up�. This was supported by a Nenets man from Narian-Mar (NAO): �I heard that during a drought the ground gets dry. For reindeer breeding it�s a natural disaster�.
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