Reindeer Blog

(Press release from the Saami Council) The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticizes Sweden for numerous forms of discrimination of the Saami people in unusually concrete and strong language, in particular with regard to the Saami people’s right to land.

The United Nations has for several years condemned Sweden for not recognizing the Saami people’s right to land and resources. Sweden has ignored this criticism so far taking no single action to end the discrimination of the Saami people identified by the UN. The UN now sharpens its criticism further. The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination released on Monday 18.8 its Concluding Observations on Sweden in which it calls on Sweden to take several concrete actions to end the human rights violations Sweden subjects the Saami people to. Read the rest of this entry »

(Pic - Moscow Times, Kopin sworn in, as Abramovich watches) Yesterday, the new Governor of Chukotka (Roman Kopin) was sworn in and not long afterwards, the former Governor Roman Abramovich - whose personal riches completely transformed the province’s fortunes - announced that he would be running for the post of speaker in the Chukotka Duma.

This is a surprising move, as it seemed that he had grown tired of governing Chukotka (he spends only a handful of days a year there), but he may have been moved to action by the pleas of the former speaker Vasily Nazarenko who offered to step down if Abramovich promised to return.

New Governor Kopin is part of the young team that Abramovich created to transform the region - and he has been head of the Chaunsky and Bilibino regions, has a good knowledge of the issues facing reindeer husbandry and other traditional livelihoods in the region. Quoted in a Times article from 2003, Kopin said,

To love this place you have to be a particular kind of person or to have been born here.

While this story might seem more appropriate elsewhere, for the residents of Chukotka, the majority of whom are Chukchi (there are also Yupik, Yukaghir, Even and others) several thousand are engaged in reindeer husbandry, it it is important news. The collapse of the Soviet Union was a disaster for Chukchi reindeer husbandry, and the decline in herd size was more dramatic there than anywhere else in Russia (from nearly half a million to 100,000 reindeer). Abramovich’s tenure as Governor saw a enormous investment in the social and cultural capital of Chukotka as he poured millions of his personal fortune into the regions infrastructure and housing. He also prioritised reindeer husbandry and the livelhood has stabilised, been reinvigorated (See EALAT Information presentations from Chukotka) and seen substantial investment. He has not been without his critics, but noone doubts that citizens of Chukotka are better off now than they were when he started as Governor, 8 years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

(Pic - Philip Burgess, Reindeer in downtown Hammerfest) A media fury has erupted in Finnmark surrounding comments by a parliamentary representative Olav Gunnar Ballo who claimed that reindeer herders did not have the right to live and that reindeer husbandry was acting as a brake to development and that as a livelihood ‘it was just culture’. Many of these comments arose from a public meeting in Kvalsund regarding plans to expand copper mining in the area, as reported in the Reindeer Blog a few weeks ago.

The debate took a darker turn this week when 5 reindeer were found shot dead in Upper Alta in a farmers field, an event being investigated by police. The recently reappointed leader of the Sami Reindeer Herders Association  (NBR/NRL) retorted that such events are the result of the inflammatory remarks by Ballo. Ballo claims that his remarks have been misrepresented. Read the rest of this entry »

Predation is a serious problem for reindeer herders in the spring and early summer after calving season, as young calves are particularly vulnerable to predation. Kristian Jåma, a Sami reindeer herder from Sør-Fosen in Sør-Trøndelag region said to NRK Sami Radio that he feels that his claims about predation loss are not believed. In a small area, he has lost 24 reindeer, many of which are claves to predation, particularly eagle.

I feel that Statens naturoppsyn (SNO) do not believe me because they have not come to document the carcasses before they are eaten up.

Without documentation by SNO, reindeer herders do not receive compensation. Another risk to reindeer at this time of the year, when so many reindeer are moving or have arrived in their summer pastures is traffic, with a high number of reindeer fatalities being reported along the E6, Norway’s main North South artery.

Finally, a board member of the Finnmark branch of Norway’s right wing Progress Party (FrP), currently Norway’s second largest political party  has claimed in a local paper that reindeer husbandry is acting as a hindrance to industrial development in Finnmark, and went on to opine that as reindeer herders use such large areas and block development they should pay a tax on land use.