What drives reindeer management in Finland towards social and ecological tipping points?

Abstract

Reindeer management (RM) in northern Fennoscandia is an example of social-ecological systems (SESs) providing social, cultural, ecological, and economic values. Changing climate and pasture conditions and societal changes continue to transform the operational environment of RM. These key drivers, and resulting transformations including alternative SES states, have not been studied in detail before. Our comprehensive literature review and interviews with herders reveal that land use, climate change, and governance drive the emergence of SES tipping points. The basis of successful RM depends on the quantity and quality of pastures to secure animal fitness. However, intensive forestry, extreme weather, and predators constrain the availability of forage and suitable calving grounds. Maintaining RM by means of predation compensation mechanisms and regular supplementary winter feeding to adapt to changes brought about by land use and warming climate comprises an alternative system state. However, if negative impacts increase remarkably or rapidly and compensatory mechanisms become insufficient, long-term impacts on system identity, and even local collapses, are expected. Although some environmental and societal changes are perceived as pressures by herders, they can be beneficial for other livelihoods in the region. Therefore, our study raises questions for future studies on social justice, such as who has the right to decide what constitutes a desirable system state, or what collaborative efforts to maintain RM in Fennoscandia would entail. Our work is applicable also in other Arctic/sub-Arctic regions where nature-based livelihoods, such as small-scale forestry and agriculture, hunting, traditional fishing, and gathering are practiced.

Potential for cascading impacts of environmental change and policy on indigenous culture

“…Social relations or intentional revitalization of cultural practices during ecological disruptions can significantly mitigate the effects of environmental change (Stephens 1995;Baggio et al 2016;Berman et al 2021). Conversely, the above processes that can potentially erode the cultures of IPLC may be further amplified by socioeconomic changes (Broderstad and Eythorsson 2014;Baggio et al 2016;Landauer et al 2021), such as a greater frequency of purchasing alternate resources from supermarkets instead of achieving them through local harvest or community trade. Thus, when there is awareness of potential impacts of environmental perturbation on culture, a community can purposefully organize activities that maintain their identity and cultural heritage despite environmental change (Stephens 1995 Finally, our results suggest that the impacts of environmental change and policy can feed back to ecosystems by altering the ability of the Nga ¯tiwai to successfully interact with, and manage, the environment.…”

“…access to culturally significant places) often rely on sea ice (Sheremata 2018). Another example is Fennoscandian Sami reindeer herders who are experiencing climate change, increased predator pressure on reindeers due to conservation policy and increased pressure of landuse change in reindeer management areas, resulting from climate change mitigation actions (Landauer et al 2021).…”

Resource Extraction and Arctic Communities

“…Many reindeer herding communities in Sweden bear witness to how pressures are mounting (e.g., Larsen et al, 2021). The story is the same also for reindeer herding communities in Norway (Lien, 2023, see Chapter 12) and Finland (e.g., Kivinen, 2015;Landauer et al, 2021) and also for Nenets in Arctic Russia (Forbes et al, 2009). The problems are in essence the same; traditional pastoralism developed in a landscape with a low degree of industrial impact now experiences increasing encroachments.…”

Cumulative Effects on Environment and People

“…Many reindeer herding communities in Sweden bear witness to how pressures are mounting (e.g., Lawrence & Larsen 2019;Österlin & Raitio 2020;Larsen et al, 2021). The story is the same also for reindeer herding communities in Norway (Lien, 2023, see Chapter 12) and Finland (e.g., Kivinen, 2015;Landauer et al, 2021) and also for Nenets in Arctic Russia (Forbes et al, 2009). The problems are in essence the same; traditional pastoralism developed in a landscape with a low degree of industrial impact now experiences increasing encroachments.…”