Reindeer Blog

A multi stakeholder seminar was held in the Kautokeino, Norway yesterday which focussed on the issue of mining in Finnmark, an issue of some controversy in the region since the passing of the Finnmark Act which devolved desicion making powers over multiple resource issues to the region of Finnmark. The seminar was attended by the [...]

In northern Norway, summer pastures for reindeer are often located on the coastal islands of Finnmark and Troms counties. Traditionally, reindeer swim across from the mainland to the islands but with increasing pasture losses and migratory route fragmentation, since the early 1970s, many herders use a reindeer ‘ferry’ to transport reindeer over distances that have [...]

by Catherine Marciano.  JARFJORD, Norway (AFP) – On Norway’s border with Russia, the consequences of climate change are affecting the reindeer population as rising temperatures hit food stocks and industry growth eats into vital grazing land. “Over the past three years, I’ve had to give some hay to my 800 reindeer during the coldest months. It’s more [...]

On Wednesday, October 7th, the Ministers of Agriculture in Norway and Sweden signed the new Norwegian-Swedish Reindeer Grazing Convention. The Convention contains provisions for how reindeer herding is conducted over the border. The background to the negotiations is that the 1972 Reindeer Grazing Convention expired in 2005 and had to be replaced with a new [...]

On September 14th, people in Norway will go to the polls – for the national elections, for the Sami Parliament elections and the municipality and regional elections. As a result, the Norwegian media has been full of little else, these last few weeks. NRK Sami Radio ran a piece recently that asked where all the [...]

(Pic and story Ságat) By using GPS transmitters on reindeer in the Skæhkere reindeer husbandry district in southern Norway, reindeer herders hope that in time it will be easier to document their large losses caused by predators. Herders in this district in Trøndelag spend a great deal of time looking for carcasses for documentation purposes.

24 reindeer were killed by a train last week near Majavatn in the southerly area of reindeer husbandry in Norway. while compensation is paid, reindeer herder Nils Johan Kappfjell said “It seems that it is cheaper for the NSB to pay for the animals than to put up fencing along the line” The NSB press [...]

(Photo J.E. Kalvemo, NRK) The Bessaker wind power station in the Fosen region in the southernmost parts of reindeer husbandry in Norway has just opened and was visited by reindeer herders from Norway and Sweden (in Jamtland and Trondelag) who fear the impact that it will have (there are plans for large expansion) on reindeer [...]

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 [...]

Sami reindeer herder Olav Mathis Eira was in London recently to make a direct appeal to the British Prime Minister. “Climate change is threatening our economy as reindeer herders. Because this is part of our traditional way of life, if the economy goes, probably the entire Sami culture would go with it.” The story was [...]