In February, the Chukotka Autonomous Area Government reported a 20% average increase in support for reindeer herders and marine hunters. For 2023, regional authorities have allocated nearly RUB 1.5 billion to support traditional environmental management practices for farms involved in reindeer breeding and RUB 427 million for whale, seal, and walrus hunters.

This practice, in one form or another, is common throughout the entire territory of the AZRF — as part of a federal program, indigenous minorities receive various types of help and benefits to support their traditional lifestyle. This includes the development of educational programs that will foster the training of specialists needed to preserve the traditional lifestyle. However, some experts argue that the system for training reindeer herders should be reformed — fewer and fewer indigenous people are choosing this specialty in vocational schools.

Today, one can train to become a reindeer herder-mechanic at the Usinsk Polytechnic College in the Komi Republic, the Arctic College of Northern Peoples and the Arctic Workers Training Center in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Evenki Multidisciplinary College in Krasnoyarsk, the Olenegorsk Mining and Industrial College in Murmansk with a branch in Lovozero village, the Nenets Agrarian-Economic College named after V.G. Volkov, and Yamal Polar Agro-Economic Technical School. However, the number of applicants is not large — Natalia Filippova, a professor at the Department of State and Municipal Law at Surgut State University, notes a decline in student numbers in her article on the Project Office for Arctic Development website. She gives the example of the Beloyarsk Polytechnic College, where indigenous people make up about a quarter of the students. In 2015, not a single student enrolled in the new reindeer herder training program there, and the number of students in other colleges and technical schools is decreasing. She attributes this to the low prestige of the profession.

Sergey Sizonenko, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, points out the need to increase the wages of reindeer herders. The harsh living conditions of the tundra are driving out a significant portion of young people, who are sent "to the city" by their parents in search of a better life. He believes that resuming exports, particularly to China, could help. The introduction of an additional financial incentive could encourage those willing to return to their native settlements.

Natalia Filippova suggests a possible solution to the problem could be to establish preferential training programs for indigenous people in related specialties that could be associated with traditional environmental management. Professions such as gamekeeper, veterinarian, zootechnician, and others would allow indigenous people to return home and work in their native environment, being in demand. She also suggests borrowing from foreign experience, where indigenous peoples are offered not only production specialties but also fields related to culture, art, and social work.  

It should be noted that many indigenous people who want to stay in the tundra and engage in traditional farming activities are not prepared to study them at a college or technical school. They acquire their knowledge and skills as they grow, carrying out household tasks from an early age. Moreover, some teenagers in the Nenets Autonomous Area return to their native camp immediately after finishing secondary school, re-engaging in family life and reindeer herding. According to the Laptander family, Nenets reindeer herders, their traditional nomadic lifestyle is once again in demand, and this trend is becoming more common.

In the future, it is likely that the two existing trends will converge. Modern farming is impossible without agrotechnical knowledge and skills — productive animal breeding, whether in the tundra or in the moderate climate, requires veterinarians, zootechnicians, and other specialists. Through federal and regional support and benefits, conditions are created for the development of traditional economic activities of indigenous minorities, which should encourage those who want to get an education to return home with a useful profession. However, there will still be those who simply want to live in the tundra according to their ancestors' traditions — and they will roam with their herds, whether they have a vocational education diploma or not.