Reindeer herders of northern Europe confront climate change
The S谩mi people have lived on the edge of the Arctic Circle, in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, for聽. Their traditional livelihood is reindeer herding and subsistence fishing. The relationship between the S谩mi people and the reindeer is rooted in a deep spirituality, and it relies on the existence of the unique landscape of northern Scandinavia. Unfortunately, the environment that the S谩mi depend on, and thus the S谩mi culture, is being threatened by聽聽and land rights issues.
The land the S谩mi occupy is one of Europe鈥檚听, and it is rich in biodiversity thanks to the S谩mi鈥檚 care. The S谩mi鈥檚 traditional reindeer grazing lands have been lost due to infrastructure development such as聽. However, the S谩mi have made some progress in protecting their lands and their culture both nationally and internationally.
The Laponian area in northern Sweden, where the Swedish S谩mi live, is designated as a聽(UNESCO) World Heritage cultural landscape. According to UNESCO, the Laponian area is the largest area in the world where the ancestral way of life based on seasonal livestock movement still exists. The area has been well preserved and continues to be home to a wide array of large mammal predators,, and over聽. Traditional reindeer husbandry is a right guaranteed by the Swedish government in the Laponian area. Unfortunately, in Finland,聽of the S谩mi land belongs to the government, and the use of that land for forestry threatens reindeer herding. The S谩mi in Norway have had similar challenges with land rights, but increased activism by the S谩mi people helped to give them rights to聽聽of the land and water in Finnmark County.
Reindeer herding today looks much different than it once did in the region. Herders no longer walk or ski for hundreds of miles to find the best grazing grounds. Instead, they use mechanization and technology to make their livelihood feasible. According to聽, the Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the modernized lifestyle still depends on traditional knowledge, especially when there are changing climate conditions.聽 The聽, written by indigenous representatives of the聽聽(IPBCCA), states, 鈥淥n Skolt S谩mi lands, waters don鈥檛 freeze in the same way anymore; and the in the autumn, instead of proper snow cover, ice rain falls on the ground, impacting reindeer food cycles.鈥�
With climate change disrupting the reindeer habitat, traditional S谩mi foods are also at risk of being lost. The聽聽established a聽聽to support the continued production of reindeer meat as a food supply. Suovas are made by dry-salting reindeer meat and smoking it over an open fire for eight hours. They were developed to last for long periods of time while herders moved from place to place.
As the S谩mi across Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Russia unite to protect their lands and their way of life, they are also protecting unique food practices and knowledge around reindeer herding and reindeer meat. One S谩mi reindeer herder explains, 鈥�.鈥�
