Posted by Philip Burgess on July 30th, 2008
Is Oil and Gas Development Good for Reindeer Husbandry?
The story from Tyumenskaya News posted in the Reindeer Blog yesterday reflects an earlier “oil and gas and reindeer and good news” story that appeared in Rosbalt Nord a few weeks ago entitled Ямальские газовики подарят оленям комфорт / Yamal gas industry gives comfort to reindeer. The article quoted Sergei Khudi (who attended the EALAT workshop in Yar Sale and the ENSINOR workshop in Rovaniemi). Khudi works for Yamaltranstroy as an advisor on environment and indigenous issues.
According to Khudi pipeline passages for reindeer are being built on the traditional nomadic routes of reindeer herds and these are arranged with the brigadiers of the reindeer herding households. To date, 15 such passages that are 100 metres in width have been built. Khudi also said that reindeer are even allowed migrate on roads and fishing areas in the area of Bovanenkovo. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on July 1st, 2008
(Pic - Svein Mathiesen, NAO) У оленеводов свои проблемы, решение которых, к сожалению, может затянуться на неопределенный срок, в связи с передачей полномочий от НАО к АО и реорганизацией управлений по делам малочисленных народов и сельского хозяйства окружной Администрации.
О том, что жизнь людей, ведущих традиционный для НАО образ жизни (оленеводов, охотников и рыбаков), во многом отличается от жизни строителя, геолога, учителя или врача, никто спорить не будет. Тут свои «кричащие» особенности: тундровое становище, продуваемое всеми ветрами, без каких-либо привычных для деревни (не говоря уж о городе) удобств, круглосуточное дежурство по охране тысячного стада в любую погоду, днем и ночью, однообразная пища, оторванность от семьи и, как в космосе, одни и те же лица соседей по чуму в течение нескольких месяцев. И это только малая часть обыденных проблем, с которыми приходится сталкиваться тундровикам. English summary below
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Posted by Philip Burgess on June 30th, 2008
(Source - The Kremlin) Many Finno Ugric Peoples are reindeer herders - Sami, Komi, Khanty, Finns, Nenets, to name a few. While reindeer were not on the agenda at last weeks Finno Ugric Peoples congress in Khanty Mansisk last week, reindeer were not too far away..as seen in this picture with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Finnish President Tarja Halonen. Medvedev promised to visit to Finland in the near future - perhaps Reindeer will feature then?
Posted by Philip Burgess on June 18th, 2008
(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 »
Posted by Philip Burgess on May 16th, 2008
(Pic Barents Observer) With soaring energy prices, alternative energy from domestic sources are increasingly of interest to nation states. Espcially if they are touted as being ‘green’ (low CO2 emissions) and are promoted by state subsidy programs.
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Posted by Philip Burgess on May 7th, 2008
(Photo: Mette Randem) International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry Director Anders Oskal accompanied Lars Kullerud (University of the Arctic) and Dagbladet journalist Andreas Viestad and photographer Mette Randem to Salekhard, the capital of the Yamal Nenets Autonomous Okrug. One outcome was the below article on Nenets, reindeer husbandry and food. See below for a Reindeer inspired carpaccio..
….Av alle cowboybyer i hele Vest-Sibir, må Schuch’ye være en av de røffeste. Det er i hvert fall det mest eksotiske stedet jeg har vært, på en ekte villvestmåte. Først våkne opp i Salekhard, den oljerike administrasjonsbyen ved utløpet av Ob-elva hvor skiltene henger skeivt på skeive hus, og smilene er så godt gjemt at det kan virke som om folk ikke helt har kommet seg etter Andropovs plutselige død. Så kjøre i en time på humpete veier over permafrosten, og deretter klyve over i en beltebil, som i tre lange og støyende timer arbeider seg utover på Yamal-halvøya. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on May 5th, 2008
According to a story in NRK Sami Radio, 400 reindeer in the Pitea region in Sweden have had to be slaughtered as a result of a mysterious eye disease that has rampaged through a herd which leave afflicted reindeer completely blind. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Philip Burgess on April 28th, 2008
(Picture / story Russia Today 21042008)Reindeer breeding accounts for 90% of the agriculture in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in northern Russia. The industry’s export markets include Germany, Italy, Greece and Latvia. But producers are facing logistics problems trying to expand.Reindeer have been the main source of income for the Nenets people for centuries. There are 600,000 head of the animals in the region.
But Russia has yet to develop the domestic market for reindeer meat. Today, all the produce is exported.
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Posted by Philip Burgess on April 28th, 2008
(Wolverine - Gulo Gulo) The number of reindeer killed by predators rose sharply last year. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reimbursed reindeer herders more than two and a half million euros for lost livestock, the highest figure in 20 years.
The figure was one-fifth higher than the year before. Herders sought recompense for more than 4,000 lost reindeer. The ministry says the increase is partly due to growing predator populations.
However the amount of kills by wolverines also climbed steeply even though the number of these medium-sized predators has actually declined. There are only about 120 wolverines in the country, mostly in the north and east. The ministry is looking into why the number of wolverine kills has jumped. (Story/ Pic Source YLE News 21.04.2008)
Posted by Philip Burgess on April 17th, 2008
(From CBC North, 03042008) This historical photo from an Iqaluit museum shows Saami with a reindeer on Baffin Island in the 1920s. (Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum)
A Saami woman from northern Norway has followed the travels of her ancestors to Nunavut, looking for what happened to hundreds of reindeer that were relocated from Norway to Baffin Island in the early 1900s.
Karen Monika Paulsen, in Nunavut for a month-long research expedition, said her great-grandparents sailed with more than 600 reindeer to southern Baffin Island in 1921.
Using her family’s recollections and reports from the Hudson’s Bay Company, Paulsen has learned the company relocated the Norwegian reindeer as an experiment aimed at helping Inuit avoid starvation by teaching them how to herd reindeer. Read the rest of this entry »
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