RUSSIA. Yakutia. Yunkyur. June 2021. Yunkyur has one of the richest agricultural traditions in the region; however, the inhabitants of these village faces serious consequences of permafrost degradation. The earth is slowly sinking, more and more lakes are appearing and less unstable earth, as ice-rich permafrost, called thermokarst, is melting and formed new lakes in the past years. Yunkyur marks the southern border of Permafrost region. Territories affected by thermokarst also drop out of agricultural use. Due to thawing permafrost, along with the collapse of Soviets farm structures, the area of cultivated land in Yakutia has plummeted by more than half since 1990. The region's cattle herds have shrunk by about 20 percent. "Federov say the degradation of crop and pastureland caused by the thawing permafrost helped bring about the collapse of the region's agriculture".