Reindeer Blog

With climate change expected to increase temperature fluctuations and variability most particularly in the Arctic, the population crash of the so called Peary caribou in the Canadian Arctic gives some insight to what happens to rangifer tarandus when pastures are locked out as a result of frequent freezing and thawing.

In northwestern North America, recent warming has led to a dramatic increase in the number of days of above freezing temperatures during the migration period for the caribou (Rangifier tarandus). Thawing and subsequent re-freezing of snow results in ice layers in the snow pack which hinder travel of Rangifer and make it harder to cater for food. There have been catastrophic declines in the Peary caribou on the Arctic islands of North America and they are now considered endangered. The formation of ice layers that prevent the caribou from accessing food has been identified as the chief cause of the declines. Graphic and Text Source:UNEP Global Outlook for Ice and Snow

(Pic: BBC News) ‘Viewing every problem through the prism of reindeer’ was the theme of a recent report by the BBC in a pre election visit to the Khanty Mansisk region, which in common with other regions that have experienced oil and gas wealth have seen a vast improvement in facilities, but concerns about what the activities of oil and gas companies will mean for reindeer herders, with a widespread feeling that ‘oilmen were pressing the reindeer in on all sides’, along with concerns about how climate change was influencing the behaviour of mosquitoes, meaning they are present for longer in the year and hence the reindeer’s behaviour has been altered.

Reindeer meat is being paid for by alcohol in areas of reindeer husbandry in Russia, according to Kristina Labba,in a story in today’s NRK Sami Radio. Labba worked in a project on Kolgojev island in a Nenets reindeer herding area, which was dedicated to improving the working conditions for reindeer herders. She stated that alcoholism was a huge problem among reindeer herders and that she had seen oil companies paying for reindeer meat with alcohol, exacerbating the problem. She also stated that oil companies wanted to remove reindeer husbandry from many areas, so that they could gain control over the land and resources.

(Pic - NRK Sami Radio) Johan Mathis Turi, General Secretary of the Association of World Reindeer Herders could not confirm that such events had taken place but also that it was unlikely that oil companies were offering alcohol, more that it was the workers in the field who were guilty of this. As to alcoholism, Turi said that he did not see that alcohol was a bigger problem in reindeer husbandry than the mainstream population, where there is high levels of alcoholism.

Watch a documentary on the struggle between reindeer herders and the industrial logging practices of Stora Enso in the Sami area - particularly in the old growth forests of Inari, Northern Finland, which are key winter grazing pastures of reindeer herders who are attempting to herd using traditional methods. The documentary is a production of the Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat in collaboration with Elonmerkki and the Saami Council and is now available on DVD and for download. The DVDs will be distributed to interested Universities in the Arctic Region and/or with a special interest in Arctic Indigenous Issues.

You can shoot a wild reindeer for 300 rubles (8.4 Euros) with a permit in the Kola Peninsula region until the end of February according to a report in the Russian news source B-Port though how hunters would distinguish from wild and semi domestic reindeer is left to the imagination, given an earlier reindeerblog story of the chaos that has overwhelmed reindeer husbandry in the Kola Peninsula.

В Мурманской области открыта охота на лося. Она продлится до 15 января следующего года. На дикого северного оленя разрешено охотиться до конца февраля 2008 года. Стоимость разрешения на отстрел лося составляет полторы тысячи рублей, оленя – триста рублей.

За другими зверьками: норкой, песцом и ондатрой - можно охотиться до конца февраля следующего года.

Напоминаем, что продолжается охота и на боровую дичь с легавыми и борзыми, имеющими справку о происхождении, на пернатых – глухаря, куропатку и тетерева, а также на самого крупного обитателя лесных угодий – бурого медведя. Стоимость лицензии на его отстрел - 3000 рублей. Получить их могут лишь охотники с безупречной репутацией, не нарушавшие правил охоты.

Разрешения на отстрел выдаются ежедневно в межрайонных отделах управления Россельхознадзора по Мурманской области в рабочее время.

Russia’s Gazprom monopoly will start-up a major northern field that will deliver gas to Europe through the future Nordstream pipeline, Chairman of Gazprom Board of Directors and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev (and likely successor to Vladimir Putin told reporters on Thursday. “Gazprom will commission the Yuzhno-Russkoye field at 10:00 hours Moscow time on December 18,” he said, according to a report in ITAR-TASS. This comes hot on the heels of a new report by the Berlin-based German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) that states that Europe faces uncertainty over future energy supplies from Russia, with Russian oil and gas reserves likely to run out if Moscow does not invest more in the sector and boost energy efficiency at home. Meanwhile, GAZPROM have announced that they will build the planned LNG plant for the Shtokman field in the tiny village of Teriberka in the Kola Peninsula.

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT AND AN INVITATION TO A PRESS CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY 11th OF DECEMBER AT 12.30 AT THE ARCTIC CENTRE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On 10-11 December 2007 the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland will host a 2-day workshop involving key stakeholders from northern Russia, Finland and Norway. Among the participants will be indigenous representatives, oil and gas industry personnel, NGO representatives, government personnel, and a broadly international mixture of natural and social scientists.

The workshop is the final activity of the 48-month project “Environmental and Social Impacts of Industrialization in Northern Russia (ENSINOR)”, which was funded by the Academy of Finland January 2004- December 2007. The project has made comparative case studies of oil and gas activities in two key federal districts – the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO). NAO and YNAO contain Russia’s most productive proven energy sources for the present and the foreseeable future and so are of particular importance to the energy security of Europe. The extensive gas and oil fields overlap with the homelands of indigenous peoples whose traditional livelihoods – reindeer herding, fishing, hunting and gathering – are at risk from changes in land use associated with petroleum exploration and exploitation, in addition to climate-related changes. As major clients and/or partners of Russian oil and gas, Finland, Norway and other Western European countries have responsibilities to see that the developments proceeds in a manner that minimizes negative impacts in the affected areas.

The project has involved partners from six academic institutes in Finland and Russia: 1. Arctic Centre, University of Lapland (coordinator); 2. Department of Geography, University of Joensuu; 3. Department of Ecology, University of Joensuu; 4. Department of Biology, University of Oulu; 5. Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; 6. Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg and Labytnangi. Moreover, the project has extensively collaborated with civil society actors in the Russian regions.

The project has undertaken a thorough multidisciplinary analysis of the social and environmental consequences of energy development in the study regions. This has resulted in the co-production of knowledge that stems from different traditions among both scientists and herders and their respective ways of knowing about contemporary social-ecological systems. The workshop will encompass presentations and smaller working groups on a variety of topics, including: scientific assessments of social and environmental impacts; indigenous perspectives on arctic oil and gas development; building local partnerships and the consultation process; and issues of land tenure and legal rights. There will be invited plenary addresses given by experts from Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom. These topics are especially timely, as the Arctic Council will release its first circumpolar “Assessment of Oil & Gas Activities” in January in Tromsø, Norway.
The 2-day workshop at Arctic Centre 10-11 December has been funded primarily by Finland’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. StatoilHydro of Norway provides additional sponsorship. The main workshop languages will be English and Russian, with simultaneous translation between these during the plenary sessions.
A press conference will be held in the Polarium theatre, Arctic Centre at 12:30 on Tuesday 11.12.2007.
Contacts for further information:
Research Professor, Docent Bruce Forbes
Phone: +358-40-8479202 , E-mail: bruce.forbes (at) lapland.fi
Senior Scientist Florian Stammler
Phone: +358-40-0138807 , E-mail: florian.stammler (at) ulapland.fi
Scientific Communicator Riku Lavia
Phone: +358-40-0624435 , Email: riku.lavia (at) ulapland.fi
www.arcticcentre.org