Reindeer Husbandry and Barents 2030

Anna Degteva

understanding of, and techniques for, reducing their vulnerability towards the effects of climate change. To date, the official reindeer husbandry management’s principal tool has been regulating the number of reindeer and reindeer herders. A continuous loss of reindeer pastures has and will lead to a situation in which there will always be “too many” reindeer and herders in an area. Movement beyond this negative focus requires lifting the general level of competence locally and within central management through re- search and training. This will also involve a paradigm shift in terms of the perception of and importance at- tached to reindeer herders’ traditional knowledge, a knowledge with embedded key adaptive strategies that will enable reindeer husbandry participate more effectively in support for strong, healthy indigenous communities in the study region. Reindeer herders have experience with adapting to sudden changes in climate or political conditions, and understanding this ability to adapt is important for a future sustainable development of the circumpolar regions. Further- more, it will be vital to communicate this adaptability

to oil and gas developers, the mainstream societies and national authorities.

It will therefore become important to document the elders’ knowledge, in this case particularly in rela- tion to climate, local weather, pasture loss and the responses of herders and herders’ institutions to vari- ation in these parameters (Ferguson et al . 1998, Usher 2000, Kendrick et al . 2005). As the older generation decreases, the sum of non-written knowledge stored in peoples’ memories and, thus, remaining in the Sámi society, is also declining. This knowledge is effectively irreplaceable. We believe that valuing both traditional and scientific knowledge and, hence, integrating herd- ers’ experience and competence within the scientific method, will enable us to contribute towards reducing the vulnerability of reindeer husbandry to the effects of coming changes (Kitti et al . 2006). Local effects of warming of the global climate during the next 30 to 50 years are likely to be pronounced over reindeer pas- tures in the north. We should use the best methods and practices available to meet these challenges.

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