Aleksey Kourbaltinov, 41, is the son of Alla and the father of two children. A reindeer herder since childhood, he stands here near the reindeer herd N20. Every year, he loses between 30 and 40 animals due to the gold mining operations carried out on his hereditary land. The reindeer usually come there to give birth, but the calves cannot walk in the mud and perish on the spot. Additionally, gold prospectors' dogs attack and injure reindeer. Manufacturers take no measures to respect farms. “They have been clearing and digging in this place for 10 to 15 years, the polluted waste goes into the Iengra river, the main source of drinking water for the 1,500 villagers of Iengra and Zolotinka,” testifies the breeder.

Aleksei Kourbaltinov comes to his mother's tent every morning, among the N20 reindeer herd, to transmit information from the field by radio and, if necessary, to ask for help. For two days, he has been searching for four of his reindeer who left in the direction of the mining sites.

Nikita Zimov, director of the Northeast Science Station in Yakutia, observes the thawing of the permafrost in Duvanny Yar, located along the Kolyma River above the Arctic Circle. This landslide was driven by land degradation accelerated by the warming temperatures in the Arctic region. This layer of permafrost formed during the Pleistocene and is called Yedoma. Decomposition of organic matter stored in permafrost can produce between 2 billion and 12 billion tonnes of carbon each year in the from of CO2 and methane per year. For comparison, the CSIRO estimates that the human activity adds 9,1 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere annually. Nikita Zimov also manages the Pleistocene Park in which he leads the project of restoring the mammoth steppe ecosystem in order to keep the permafrost cold. He believes that a large number of herbivorous animals, as reindeer, would be needed to graze the land to protect it from melting permafrost. It could help to restore grassland ecosystems because animals will eat weeds and shrubs in summer and remove thick layers of snow in winter, in order to free the ground from the protective layer of heat and allow the earth to breathe and cool down.

Ksenia Savvinova, an Evenki native from the Syuldyukar region, reports to government representatives of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) the problems that residents encounter: poor electricity (180 volts), frequent cuts in the telephone network, lack of summer road to the village, collective bathing, water pollution, lack of studies on harmful substances in the river, and presence of industrial waste abandoned in the forest.

The diamond industry organized drilling and extraction in the forest near the rural town of Syuldyukar, attached to the town of Mirny – the richest region of Yakutia – without warning its residents or local authorities. Here, the Mayor came to meet the site manager to invite him to speak to the locals and offer to pay them compensation. The site is known for its mine 525 meters deep and 1200 meters in diameter, closed following flooding of the quarry.

Eduard Romanov, a construction worker and activist from Yakutsk, he was the initiator of the draft law "On the protection of permafrost in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)», is visiting Oymyakon, the coldest village in the world. Considering himself to have shamanic gifts, he asks the spirits to keep this place cold, because it is the anticyclones of Yakutia that regulate the planet's climate.

Following the failure of diamond producer Alrosa's dams in August 2018, polluted water flowed into the Irelyakh, Malaya Botuobiya and Vilyui rivers, exceeding the permitted concentration of “suspended solids” by 20 times. Since then, certain rare species of fish, such as the taïmen, have almost disappeared. In Syuldyukar, it was only 3 years later that the government set up water treatment facilities, but residents found that the water was too sterile and had "no taste or beneficial elements for health ". The water around Syuldyukar never regained its transparency.

In the Syuldyukar store alone, prices are four times higher than in Yakutsk. In this rural settlement, fruits and vegetables are often among the missing products.

Three 14-year-old cousins spend their vacation with their grandmother, among the N20 reindeer herd. Young Evenks ask themselves a lot of questions about their future. While some people like to spend time in the taiga at the family reindeer camp, they still don't see themselves devoting their entire lives to it.

Herders spend the night in a tent near the N20 reindeer herd, in the taiga. Many Evenks from Yakutia agreed to work for Russian geologists, acting as mushers and guides to help them not only discover the riches of the subsoil, but also teaching them how to survive in a harsh climate and warning of dangers.

Galina Lazareva, 80, now lives alone in her wooden house in Iengra. In the late 1960s, she worked with her husband along side the mining company geologists in the taiga.

Near Iengra, reindeer herders are employed by gold prospectors to guard their huts and tools during the winter. During this season, gold mining is actually not possible.

The patterns of traditional Evenki costumes are inspired by nature. The amulet worn on the women's chest reproduces the shape of the capercaillie in parade. Here, Nadezhda Grigorieva, 68, a master craftswoman from Khatastyr, a rural settlement in the Aldan region known for its gold, holds the feathers of a female and a male that she hunted herself two years ago.

Georgy Sofronov, practices lasso throwing. Aged 19, he is a multiple Russian champion in northern combined events, including lasso throwing and sled jumping, two traditional Evenki sports. From the Evenki origin, he grew up in Oymyakon, a rural Yakut settlement known for being the coldest inhabited area in the world.

Galina Lazareva, converted to Christianity with the Baptist Church in the early 1990s, when her son hanged himself in her home due to sedentarization problems, and her husband and daughter died. Since then, she has renounced Evenki culture and found her calm in prayer. She continues to sew traditional clothes but refuses to sing songs in the Evenki language. She takes care of her great-great granddaughter alone.

Diana, 14, and Luba, 10, are on vacation with their grandmother Alla, among the N20 reindeer herd. They harness the reindeer to form a herd and go for a walk in the taiga.

Galina Lazareva's great-granddaughter sings at the Baptist Church House of Prayer. Representatives of this evangelical Christian movement arrived in Iengra in 1992. The Yudintcev family, whose father plays the piano here, now has 14 children. Every Sunday and Wednesday, they gather to sing in the company of indigenous villagers.

Valery Evseev, 59, was born in the taiga into a family of reindeer herders. With the fall of the USSR in 1991 and the resulting upheavals, they lost all their animals. In April 2020, the government of the Republic of Sakha reopened the Syuldyukar state farm, but brought 150 Yakut cows there for breeding, to which it converted.

During the June solstice, the Evenks participate in Ikenipke, a traditional festival which celebrates the meeting of the sun and the new year. It is an opportunity for the youngest to compete in various sporting competitions: running with a stick, fishing, high jumping, or even traditional wrestling known as “ngortchan” where, as here, an athlete must tear his opponent from the ground and throw it to the ground.

Assailed by mosquitoes, Alla Kourbaltinova climbs an artificial hill to tap into the telephone network and call her loved ones. Here, 20 kilometers from the village of Iengra, the taiga has been completely remodeled by gold mining. Gravel pits and sand dunes surround her camp (reindeer herd N20) where she raises some 200 reindeer.

Since the ban on using chemistry to regulate the number of wolves in the taigas of Yakutia, attacks on reindeer and on humans have threatened livestock farming as a whole. Herders can lose up to 50 reindeer at one time and can only defend themselves with a firearm if they have a license. Many are prosecuted for poaching. In addition, beliefs prevent breeders from touching fur killed by wolves. The new law only authorizes regulation hunting for a period of 3 days. For most, this is how long it takes to get to the taiga. For those who were able to hunt a wolf correctly, the furrier Sakhaboult offers 20,000 rubles (around 222 euros in 2023) to make clothes, shoes and souvenirs.

All the values of the Evenki people are related to the reindeer: the nomadic lifestyle, their esoteric beliefs, household items, traditional clothes, cooking, and any number of sayings such as: “As long as the reindeer live, so do the Evenki people.

Vladimir is of Yakut origin, but he has lived self-sufficiently for 30 years in the forest 20 km from Syuldyukar near the Evenks. Diamond mining is happening all around his cabin. For several years, they have been breeding horses which even give him milk. Seasonal workers come to his house to buy manure before returning home to garden.

In the courtyard of Margarita, an Evenki language teacher, a man who participated in the construction of the Baikal-Amur Magistral (BAM) railway line in the 1970s left a wagon behind as a legacy.

Prokopiï, an Evenki hunter renowned throughout Yakutia, celebrates his sixtieth birthday in the company of his family who came from Zhigansk in the ethnographic complex Chochur Muran, in Yakutsk, rented for the occasion.

On the Iengra fur farm, the Evenks breed sables and foxes. If a sable skin is sold for 3000 rubles, then white fox skin can fetch up to 8000 rubles.

Iengra is the only Evenki village in all of Yakutia where the inhabitants have retained the use of the Evenki language. Teachers transmit this language from kindergarten.

Aliona, 11 years old, of Russian origin, was born in Iengra village from Southern Yukutia. She wears an exemplary Evenki costume decorated with white fox fur and simple geometric patterns on occasion of singing competitions in the Evenki language.

On the occasion of the Tungusian Congress, in July 2022, the Evenks from 9 oblasts of Russia meet at dawn on the shores of Lake Baikal. This region is considered the ancestral homeland of the Evenks. At dawn, they perform a round with repetitive “Deweid” songs to symbolize their union and the hope of transmitting their culture.