From Russia to Norway, Greenland, Canada and Alaska, Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen have explored many of the key issues affecting the Arctic – from the opening of new trade routes to the militarisation of borders, the search for mineral resources and polar tourism – and their impact on local communities. Underpinning it all is the slow but constant melting of the polar sea ice.

Yuri Kozyrev travelled the route of the Arctic’s Russian maritime ports. He accompanied the last remaining nomadic people of the region, the Nenets, during their seasonal reindeer migration. Yuri followed the coast of the Barents Sea, and travelled aboard the Monchegorsk container ship. He encountered people who had been made ill by nickel mining in Norilsk, and travelled to Murmansk, where the first floating nuclear power plant is under construction.

Kadir van Lohuizen began his journey in the Svalbard archipelago, following the Northwest Passage, now the shortest route between Europe and Asia because of the melting ice. Off the coast of Canada, he lived in the small community of Resolute, recently host to a training facility for the Canadian Army following the expansion of openings in the Arctic ice. Finally, he travelled to Kivalina, an indigenous village in northern Alaska, which could be under water by 2025.

Because of the amplified warming observed at the poles, the Arctic is considered a sentinel of climate change. These regions deserve our attention, all the more since they are among the most vulnerable, with planet-wide consequences in terms of sea level, ocean circulation and greenhouse gas emissions Jean Jouzel, Director Emeritus of Research at CEA

“The melting of the polar sea ice is changing the map of the world for ever. By visiting all the affected regions and countries in one expedition and by showing how the different parties – starting with Russia and the US – are working to conquer the north pole, we will reveal how the impact of climate change in the Arctic is of global significance for the rest of the world.” Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen

The Yamal Peninsula, Russia

The Serotetto nomadic herding family move their reindeer northward from winter pastures to summer pastures. ©Yuri Kozyrev

In western Siberia, the Yamal Peninsula is home to nomadic Nenets reindeer herders. In Nenets language, yamal means “end of the world”. The Nenets migrate annually with their herds, which range from 50 to 7,000 reindeer. The migration pattern depends on seasons and on the continuity of lichen pastures. For the first time, the Serotetto family could not finish their transhumance this year because of the permafrost melting.

The Nenets people building chums, conical-shaped tents made of reindeer skins laid over a skeleton of long wooden poles.

“I have always been deeply fascinated by the Arctic. My father, a Soviet helicopter pilot, flew civilian sorties to the region over a period of five years, supplying scientific and meteorological bases there. It was during one such mission, in 1969, that he died in the Arctic, when I was only six. Ever since I was a child I have felt drawn to the region, not because it took my father’s life but because his work there is a telling example of the great importance Soviet authorities gave to the colonisation of the Arctic.” Yuri Kozyrev

The Yamal LNG plant and the Sabetta sea port on the Yamal Peninsula.

The Novoportovskoye is one of the biggest oil fields in the peninsula. Oil was first discovered here in the 1960s, although development only began in 2011. It lies 30km from the Ob Bay coast. Gazprom Neft operates the Novy port project, which is built to deliver up to eight million tons of oil per year.

Cape Kamenny, Yamal Peninsula, Russia, May 2018.

Every other day on average, the icebreaker Baltika supports the mooring and loading operations of tankers at Gazprom Neft’s “Arctic Gate” terminal in the Gulf of Ob. The terminal was built 700km away from the existing pipeline infrastructure, so Yamal gas, oil and condensates are being shipped by sea for the first time in the history of Russia’s energy industry.

Resolute Bay, Canada

Operation Nunalivut is conducted every year in Canada’s high Arctic. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

The Canadian army is increasing its presence in the high Canadian Arctic. Operation Nunalivut involves patrolling the high Arctic, learning about winter survival and training with the Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, an Inuit unit.

An attempt to start up the snow scooters at extreme temperatures is an effort; fuel pumps often freeze.

The Canadian Rangers train the soldiers to operate and survive in harsh conditions, with temperatures as low as -45C. Soldiers have to start up their snow scooters indoors, as fuel pumps often freeze.

Point Hope, Alaska

Ben Lane Jr, a young whale hunter, takes a nap when the rest of the crew is on watch to spot Bowhead whales. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

The Inuit community of Point Hope is allowed to catch 10 bowhead whales per year. Native communities are allowed to hunt whales for their own use. The quota is determined by the International Whaling Commission. The early disappearance of the sea ice has made it much harder for the community to catch whales, which threatens their livelihood.

Steve Oomittuk, a whaling captain, celebrates his birthday.

Normally, hunting starts when the sea ice starts to break in the spring. As the whales migrate up north, they use the channels to come up for breathing. If there is no ice, they spread out over a wider area and are much more difficult to track.

Svalbard and Spitsbergen

A weather balloon is launched twice a day to the upper atmosphere to take measurements used by global weather stations. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

There are many research facilities on Svalbard run by agencies from 10 countries, largely centred around environmental and earth sciences. There is a seed bank where millions of species of seeds are stored to insure against the loss of seeds in other gene banks during large-scale regional or global crises.

Longyearbyen, Svalbard Islands, Norway, July 2018.

The archipelago and its main island, Spitzbergen, are under Norwegian sovereignty. Their population of 2,500 more than doubles when a 300-metre cruise ship like the Mein Schiff 3 (My Ship 3) drops off its 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members.

Although Svalbard is under Norwegian sovereignty, the Svalbard Treaty of 1920 allows for commercial activity of signatories, and Russia and Norway have mining operations on Svalbard as a result.

The Norwegian coastguard, part of the navy, patrols the Isfjorden.

Coast guards from the Norwegian army patrol the Isfjorden, where most of the largest settlements of Svalbard are located. The coastguard is not allowed to be based on Svalbard, but operates from Norway.

Murmansk, Russia

Cadets attend the Nakhimov naval school. ©Yuri Kozyrev

Nakhimov naval school in Murmansk is a Russian government-funded initiative to promote patriotic education among a new generation of Russians. Under President Vladimir Putin, nine presidential Cadet and Nakhimov schools have been established countrywide over the last five years.

The floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov, the first of its kind.

The Akademik Lomonosov, a floating nuclear power plant, is made of two miniature naval propulsion reactors, and its reactors will generate 70 megawatts of electricity when it comes online to take over from the nearby Bilibino nuclear power plant. In spring 2018, it was towed out of Saint Petersburg shipyard to Murmansk, where its nuclear reactors have been fuelled. It is scheduled to be towed to the port of Pevek, in Russia’s far northeastern region of Chukotka, in summer 2019.

On board the Monchegorskin the Kara Sea, August 2018 on the way to Murmansk.

The Monchegorsk was the first icebreaking container ship and cargo vessel to sail the entire Northern Sea Route without assistance.

Workers at Bovanenkovo gas field working on a gas well.

The Bonavenkovo gas field is one of the largest natural gas deposits on Earth, and Russia’s gas field on the Yamal Peninsula. Discovered in the early 1970s, it was deemed too expensive to develop until Putin made it a priority in the context of European markets opening.

Hudson Bay, Canada

Sea ice on the Hudson Bay close to Rankin Inlet. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

The Canadian Arctic is immense and remote. There are no deep sea ports and hardly any roads, and Canada has few icebreakers operating. Flights are incredibly expensive due to monopolies and few passengers. The search for mineral and fossil resources is at an all-time high. Diamonds, gold, zinc, tin, copper, oil and gas are all seemingly ready to be mined. The melting of the sea ice and permafrost makes mining easier.

“For a number of years I have been working on large- scale projects about migration, mineral resources and last but not least, climate change. Being from the Netherlands, a country where we live for the most part below sea level, I gained an interest in the issues surrounding rising sea levels” Kadir van Lohuizen

Greenland

The edge of the ice sheet close to Kangerlussuaq and the rivers of meltwater. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

Climate change is making the ice sheet slowly melt, and glaciers are retreating rapidly, forming melting streams, reservoirs and underground rivers.

In Greenland I witnessed the rapid disappearance of glaciers, and the enormous impact this has already had on the delta of Bangladesh and countries such as Kiribati in the Pacific, not to mention Miami, a city that cannot be protected Kadir van Lohuizen

Scientists at EastGRIP science camp studying the ice currents that push the ice towards the ocean, contributing to the rising of sea levels.

In the EastGRIP (East Greenland Ice-core Project) science camp, at an altitude of 3,000 metres, international scientists drill through the 2,550-metre-thick ice sheet to reach the bedrock and study ice streams. These frozen rivers cause the ice sheet to move 15cm a day toward the ocean, a phenomenon that contributes to the rising of the oceans.

Batagaika, Russia

The Batagaika crater, Verkhoyansky district, Yakutia, Russia, July 2017. ©Yuri Kozyrev

Near the Yana river basin, in a vast area of permafrost, there is a dramatic tadpole-shaped hole: the 1km-long Batagaika crater, nicknamed the Door to the Underworld. This hole is the result of thermokarst, a phenomenon caused by the permafrost melting, which provokes soil compaction and ground collapses and has been happening since the 1960s. The soil around the crater’s edge may hold thousands of years of biological and geological history.

The thawing of the permafrost is affecting structures and coastal erosion affects towns such as Shishmaref, which will be evacuated in the near future Kadir van Lohuizen

Norilsk, Russia

The copper factory in Norilsk, Russia, August 2018. ©Yuri Kozyrev

The nickel factory, the copper factory and the metallurgical complex Nadejda (hope) were built successively in 1942, 1949 and 1981. At one point, more than half of Norilsk’s population worked there. In June 2016, Norilsk Nickel shut down the nickel factory, which emitted 350,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide per year.

Kivalina, Alaska, US

Residents collect water from the communal tap, August 2018. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

With a population of about 400 people, the community of Kivalina is, like other communities along Alaska’s west coast, severely threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion. It has been decided that the community needs to relocate to higher grounds, and there is a budget for an evacuation bridge and a school, but not for housing. Kivalina has no sewage system and households have no running water.

In Alaska I saw the impact of climate change on the indigenous communities: offshore oil drilling is becoming less complicated due to the melting of the sea ice and is affecting local communities Kadir van Lohuizen

A chunk of multi-year ice from a large ice shelf from the north pole that broke off and drifted south, in Barrow, Alaska.

The erosion of the coast around Barrow is speeded up by the early disappearance and late arrival of the sea ice, which usually provides a natural barrier against storms.

Deadhorse, Alaska, US

The end of the road: Deadhorse. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

At the north end of the Pan-American Highway, Deadhorse has a population of 5,000, mostly Americans and South Americans. The town, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, was actually born alongside the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, built between 1974 and 1977 following the 1973 oil crisis, when oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968. The oil deposits are the largest in North America, largely located on native land and leased to the oil companies, which control access.

Baker Lake, Canada

Meadowbank gold mine, Canada, June 2018. ©Kadir van Lohuizen

The Agnico Eagle gold mine at Meadowbank in the Canadian Arctic. The mine opened in 2010 and produced 352,000 oz (9,979kg) of gold in 2017. The nearby Inuit community of Baker Lake benefits from the employment the mine offers.

A primary tool for scientists deployed in the polar regions, photography is an indispensable witness in the fight against climate change in the Arctic Ségolène Royal

Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen won the ninth edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism award, dedicated to the Arctic and chaired by the climatologist Jean Jouzel, the winner of the 2012 Vetlesen Award and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Award as director of the IPCC, and under the patronage of Minister Ségolène Royal, French ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic Poles.

Arctic: New Frontier catalogue is co-published by Reliefs Editions and Fondation Carmignac and is available at the Saatchi Gallery bookstore and throughout the network of bookstores in the UK and Europe.