Reindeer Blog

The Board of the University of the Arctic (UArctic) has approved the establishment of UArctic Institute for Circumpolar Reindeer Husbandry, as a result of the International Polar Year (IPY) project and the IPY EALÁT project.

In northern Norway, each year, reindeer migrate from the interior to the coast in an ancient movement coupling animals and people. In contemporary times, with dramatically increased settlement and development on the coast this has meant that summer brings stories of conflict between reindeer husbandry and cabin dwellers, farmers, mining interests, municipalities and others. Unfortunately, [...]

Газпром приступает к выполнению обязательств по компенсационным мероприятиям при освоении месторождений полуострова Ямал. В этом году в рамках заключенного с администрацией ЯНАО договора ООО «Газпром добыча Надым» выделяет на строительство жилья, объектов социально-культурного и хозяйственного назначения для коренных малочисленных народов Севера 2 млрд. 689 млн 90 тыс. рублей.

Wind power, power lines and hydroelectric power development in the years ahead may lead to new huge encroachments in the Sámi reindeer herding areas in Norway. Around 260 such projects are now being examined in the offices of the  Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), according to a story in today’s NRK Sami Radio.
The leader [...]

Вице-президент ассоциации «Оленеводы мира» бьет тревогу
«Дайте оленеводу Якутии оленей и пастбища!» – такой простой призыв прозвучит на Международном семинаре «ЕАЛАТ», который пройдет в феврале в селе Хатыстыр Алданского района. Представитель всех пяти народов, занимающихся оленеводством в республике, вице-президент ассоциации «Оленеводы мира» Мария Погодаева привезет на семинар проект, который может стать актом справедливости по отношению [...]

Russia Today have a short video that features a reindeer herding family in the village of Varyogan, Khanty Mansisk, Russia. Khanty and Mansi peoples are ancient reindeer herding peoples, but their traditional livelohoods have come under a great deal of pressure from development, most particularly the oil and gas industry, which has been active for [...]

Al Jazeera is not the first network that springs to mind when thinking of reindeer, but this is an excellent overview of the threats faced by reindeer herding Sami in Sweden, and these are the same threats that reindeer herders and other indigenous peoples practicing traditional livelihoods face elsewhere. You can watch the video here [...]

The Norwegian company Fred Olsen Renewables has received rights for two years to examine the possibility of a windmill park in Stekenjokk in Västerbotten. Tomas Nejne, leader of the Vilhelmina Southern sameby (Sami village) is quoted as saying to the regional newspaper

We hoped to the end, that our interests would come first. For us reindeer [...]

Although on paper, Sami reindeer herders have a statutory right to graze their reindeer over half the surface of Sweden, in practice, industrial activities such as mining, hydropower, logging, infrastructure and the new kid on the block, windpower development culminate in a progressive loss and fragmentation of pastures.
There are now 14 wind power parks planned [...]

Smoke from intense fires in southeastern Russia poured over the Sea of Okhotsk on June 30, 2008. This natural-color image of the fires (marked in red) is made from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites on June 30. The fires are affecting Amur, Khabarovsk, and [...]