This volume offers a holistic understanding of the environmental and societal challenges that affect reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia today.
Reindeer husbandry is a livelihood with a long traditional heritage and cultural importance. Like many other pastoral societies, reindeer herders are confronted with significant challenges. Covering Norway, Sweden and Finland – three countries with many differences and similarities – this volume examines how reindeer husbandry is affected by and responds to global environmental change and resource extraction in boreal and arctic social-ecological systems. Beginning with an historical overview of reindeer husbandry, the volume analyses the realities of the present from different perspectives and disciplines. Genetics, behavioural ecology of reindeer, other forms of land use, pastoralists’ norms and knowledge, bio-economy and governance structures all set the stage for the complex internal and externally imposed dynamics within reindeer husbandry. In-depth analyses are devoted to particularly urgent challenges, such as land-use conflicts, climate change and predation, identified as having a high potential to shape the future pathways of the pastoral identity and productivity. These futures, with their risks and opportunities, are explored in the final section, offering a synthesis of the comparative approach between the three countries that runs as a recurring theme through the book. With its richness and depth, this volume contributes significantly to the understanding of the substantial impacts on pastoralist communities in northernmost Europe today, while highlighting viable pathways to maintaining reindeer husbandry for the future.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of both the natural and social sciences who work on natural resource management, global environmental change, pastoralism, ecology, social-ecological systems, rangeland management and Indigenous studies.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution- Non Commercial- No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Part I. Reindeer pastoralism as social-ecological system 1. Reindeer pastoralism in Fennoscandia 2. Genetic structure and origin of semi-domesticated reindeer Part II. Reindeer in their environment 3. Reindeer behavioural ecology and use of pastures in pastoral livelihoods 4. Pastures under pressure – effects of other land users and the environment 5. Reindeer husbandry and climate change – challenges for adaptation 6. Large predators and their impact on reindeer husbandry Part III. Governance of reindeer pastoralism 7. Implications of norms and knowledge in customary reindeer herding units for resource governance 8. Unpacking reindeer husbandry governance in Sweden, Norway and Finland – a political discursive perspective 9. Governing maximum reindeer numbers in Fennoscandia Part IV. Challenges for productivity, health and adaption of reindeer 10. The productive herd – past, present and perspectives 11. Bioeconomics of reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia 12. Role of supplementary feeding in reindeer husbandry 13. Health and diseases of semi-domesticated reindeer in a climate change perspective Part V. Prospects and synthesis 14. Tipping points and regime shifts in reindeer husbandry – a systems approach 15. Pathways for action: the need for Sámi self-determination 16. Final reflections
Tim Horstkotte is a senior research engineer at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden. Øystein Holand is a professor, at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway. Jouko Kumpula is a senior research scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland. Jon Moen is a professor at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden.
