Reindeer Blog

According to an article in the Financial Times, StatoilHydro plans to have a drilling rig working continuously looking for gas in the area around the Snøhvit development, over the next 18 months, to see if there is justification for the construction of a second LNG line. Eni of Italy, leader of the Goliat project, in which StatoilHydro is a partner, is planning to develop oil reserves off the north coast of Norway, as was evidenced recently by Romano Prodi’s visit to Finnmark two weeks ago after which he visited Moscow. In an interview with the Financial Times, Helge Lund suggested that he wanted Norway to work with Russia on future development of Arctic resources.

“During the next five to 10 years, I think we’ll learn a whole lot, and you can see perhaps an industrial scenario being developed in the Norwegian and the Russian side of the Barents sea that will qualify the industry to work on even more challenging areas,”

Although StatoilHydro is the first company to ship LNG from the Arctic, their plant in Hammerfest has just been closed down for maintenance, and may remain closed for the rest of the year, according to DN.no. The plant has received negative publicity nationally as black smoky emissions from the plant were stated to be carconigenic. Hammerfest is the summer grazing pastures for reindeer from Katuokeino/Guovdageaidnu, inner Finnmark.

Jan Egeland, current Director of NUPI (Norwegian Institute for International Affairs), and former State Secretary to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an interview on Sami Radio (23 October, 2007), spoke clearly of the threat that rapid oil and gas development will mean to the region’s indigenous people, the Sami:

The threat for indigenous peoples is first and foremost against their culture…The cooperation with Russia has increased. I think we will have economical progress but I think this could increase pressure on the culture, if there will be a new with increased immigration, construction of new buildings, huge bases etc in their traditional areas this means that peoples’ traditional ways of living will be very threatened…. Maybe we can have a Norwegian model that can be used in the North-west Russia which includes more co-determination, more possibility to influence. But when talking about millions of dollars of values, then the economical power usually win over the culture.

Foto: Tor Schulstad. A driver who hit and killed a reindeer in Porsanger, has refused to pay compensation to the reindeer herder from Karasjok who owned the animal. The case has dragged on for some time and has now made its way to  the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and a large insurance company.  A representative of the insurance company stated that responsible companies normally pay out compensation claims, according to a report in NRK Sami Radio today.

 (Pic: Nrk) It is at Christmas time that global interest in reindeer is heightened, as reindeer have long been associated with Santa Claus’ preferred method of transportation. In fact a quick look at Google analytics shows that it is only at christmas time that large numbers of people type ‘reindeer’ into their google search window. According to historian and journalist Roy Anderson, in a story on today’s NRK Sami Radio , the story of the connection between reindeer and Santa is connected to the migration from inner Finnmark of 500 reindeer and several Sami families to Alaska in the 1800’s, as part of ‘The Reindeer Project’, the goal of which was for Sami to teach Inuit how to herd reindeer. From Baiki, the North American Sami journal,

“To promote the sale of reindeer meat and furs, Lomen and Company collaborate with Macy’s Department Stores to stage annual Christmas parades with Santa Clauses and teams of reindeer driven by Sami and Native herders from Alaska. Matthis Ivar Klementsen Nillika is the first Santa. These parades extend into the 1930s. Participating cities include Portland, St. Paul, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Brooklyn. The Lomen brothers write fake children’s letters asking about Santa Claus, which are published in U.S. newspapers. Because of the letters and the parades, Santa Claus and reindeer become an integral part of the North American Christmas story”.

Andersen also pointed out that Coca Cola and Walt Disney used reindeer in their advertising campaigns, solidifying the connection between reindeer, Santa and the North Pole.

A goods train travelling at night killed at least 20 reindeer in Saltfjellet on the route between Bolna and Lønsdalen, according the Rana newspaper, when it collided with a herd of at least 100 reindeer. Regarding reindeer locations, A research project on wild reindeer in Norway is to use GPS satellite navigation to track wild reindeer movements in their range in Southern Norway - a wild population that has been considered at risk from human activity for several years.

Journalists from Figaro (France), Eesti Paivalehti (Estonia) and TVR (Romania) were in Chukotka this week (home of ICR board member Vladimir Etylin, whose comments on the importance of castration in traditional herd management are now avaialable for viewing on the Reindeer Portal). The journalists visited Kanchalan and Anadyr, and visited reindeer herders on the tundra and made a visit to the new reindeer slaughter house (from Finland), according to a new report in Rosbalt Nord. 

В этом году предприятие должно заготовить 30 тонн оленины. Как обычно забивать оленей будут на временной площадке вблизи Тазовского. В настоящее время все шесть бригад сельхозкооператива уже отделили животных, предназначенных на мясо, от основного стада и гонят их к райцентру. Им предстоит преодолеть от нескольких десятков до полутора сотен километров. Определить, как близко подошли стада к Тазовскому в СПК смогут только с началом регулярных полётов по тундре выборных вертолётов. Рации остались в стойбищах и связаться с оленеводами нет возможности. © МУП «Студия Факт»

(Pic and story, Reuters) Dozens of Scandinavia’s indigenous Sami people, and one reindeer, marched through the streets of Stockholm on Friday to demand protection of their rights to herd reindeer freely in the Scandinavian north. About 70 Sami from northern Sweden delivered a petition to the Norwegian embassy complaining the country does not respect Swedish Samis’ rights, as documented in an 18th-century treaty, to herd reindeer in the Norwegian highlands in the summer. Read the full story here

Brev til Norge

Brev til UD

(pic - donga.com)Parliamentary elections are approaching in Russia, and among the first to vote are reindeer herders, as most live in remote areas, making them, along with sailors and researchers in Antarctica, eligible for early voting, according to a report in AFP.

Earlier this year, the conflict between Sami reindeer herders in Sweden and the Norwegian state boiled over several times, with harsh words and protests that were covered in the Norwegian and Swedish media, and the reindeerblog. A major protest is planned for this Friday, 23 November, that is designed to draw attention to the fact that the Norwegian state in 2005, chose to no longer renew the border conventions that had existed between Norway and Sweden over grazing rights, and as a result is in breach of the landmark international treaty, the Lapp Codicil, which was signed in 1751. The Chair of Saarivuoma Saami village Mr. Per-Anders Nutti stated,

This is totally unreal. We cannot live with a state that terrorizes and hunts us, in spite of the fact that we are on our own lands that we have lived on and cultivated for thousands of years – long before there was a Norwegian state…We have to draw attention to this matter. We cannot fight against a hostile state, on our own. This is why we are going to Stockholm now, to show our intentions and hand over protest letters to both the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Norwegian Embassy.

The Saarivuoma Sameby have planned a protest in Stockholm for Friday, and it will feature speeches by Per Anders Nutti, Mayor of the Sameby, Sami politicians, reindeer herders and researchers, including Hugh Beach of Uppsala University.

Visit the Saarivuoma Website here

Download the press release and event programme (Swedish) here

Download the press release (English) here

Coverage in Dagbladet (Norway)

(Pic - Statens Naturoppsyn) Last week, the Green Warriors of Norway (Norges Miljøvernforbund) a Bergen based environmental organization announced that “Reindriftsnæringen svindler staten for rovdyrerstatning” , that reindeer husbandry was swindling the state over predatation compensation and called for an investigation. The Vice Chair of NBR NRL (the Sami Reindeer Herders Assn. of Norway) welcomed the call for such an investigation stating that it would bring clarity to the matter. Fred Johnsen, the leader of the Finnmark Bondelag (Finnmark Farmers Association) called for support for reindeer husbandry, no doubt partly because farmers in Finnmark also suffer considerable losses from predation. Predation is not just an issue in Norway - the southernmost reindeer husbandry area in Finland, Kainuu, has never had such high losses from predation as this year - with over 700 reindeer being lost to predators such as wolves and bear, as reported in today’s NRK Sami TV News .