Trust Matters – Social Capital in Herding Cooperation in Finland

Reindeer herding is a nature-based livelihood of the indigenous Sámi people in northern parts of Europe and Russia. During the last decades, reindeer herding has become a more significant issue in the context of the market economy: the livelihood has transformed toward entrepreneurship, and the subsidies demand growth in the scale of herding. According to the national administration, the market values are highlighted. However, for herders, market economies are only one part of their livelihood. Another important part is their experience of reindeer herding as a way of life; for many reindeer herders trust in their livelihood and the social relations associated with their way of life are of equal or greater importance than economic aspects. In this paper, the role of social trust in the changing process of reindeer herding is discussed. Inherited tacit and cultural knowledge, as a part of social capital, strengthen reindeer herders’ experience of trust.     

Komi reindeer herding: the effects of socialist and post-socialist change on mobility and land use

This paper contributes to the discussion concerning the way in which Soviet state policies have influenced the lives, social organization, economy and culture of a group of indigenous Komi reindeer herders of northern Russia: its main focus is to explain how these policies have changed the herders' patterns of migration and land use. Extensive anthropological fieldwork—to determine current and past herding practices—was carried out and archives were thoroughly investigated to document land use changes in relation to state reindeer herding policies. It was found that compared with those of several decades ago, the migration routes are now much shorter, as the herders have abandoned large areas of winter pastures located in the southernmost part of their herding territory. This "abandonment" phenomenon is endemic amongst reindeer herders generally, throughout the Komi Republic. Whereas the reasons for the abandonment of winter pastures are diverse, they can be attributed mostly to the state sedentarization policy, which has modified the family structures of herders, and the continuing decreases in state subsidies that have changed the balance between state and private ownership of reindeer. Both these factors have greatly contributed to the herders' dependence on visiting towns, where they now own flats, and on selling reindeer products, upon which they are increasingly reliant for financial security.     

Research planning in the face of change: the human role in reindeer/caribou systems

Reindeer/caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) constitute a biological resource of vital importance to the physical and cultural survival of Arctic residents since time immemorial. Recent and possible future economic, social and ecological changes raise concern for sustainability of these resources and the well-being of those who depend on them. In February 1999 eighty scientists, reindeer/caribou users and resource managers gathered in Rovaniemi, Finland, for an interdisciplinary workshop to develop a circumpolar research plan that addressed the sustainability of humanreindeer/caribou systems. Small working groups addressed six themes: hunting systems, herding systems, rengeland/habitat protection, minimizing industrial impacts, maintaining the strength of indigenous cultures, and responding to global change. The resulting Research Plan cells for interdisciplinary comparative studies, advancement of tools for assessing cumulative effects, implementation of regional and a circumpolar monitoring and assessment programmes, and cultural studies on the transmission of knowledge. Cross-cutting directives for future research include:
• improving humans'ability to anticipate and respond to change;
• understanding better the dynamics of human-reindeer/caribou systems;
• developing research methods that are both more instructive and less intrusive;
• facilitating open communication among groups with interests in reindeer/caribou resources;
• organizing researchers into a strong, coordinated network;
• re-framing the conventional research paradigm to be more inclusive of differing cultural perspectives.
Three follow-up initiatives are proposed: 1) development of a web-based resource on the human role in reindeer/caribou systems (www.rangifer.net); establishment of a Profile of Herds database to support comparative research; and 3) convening of working groups to address specific problems identified by workshop participants.     

Response of reindeer and caribou to human activities

Petroleum and mineral exploration and extraction, hydroelectric development, atmospheric transport of contaminants, timber harvesting and tourism are increasing worldwide, especially in the Arctic. This development may adversely affect populations of reindeer/caribou ( Rangifer tarandus ) which are the basis of subsistence economies for northern indigenous peoples. Our purpose is to present a survey of the literature that has investigated the response of reindeer/caribou to human activities. Individuals and groups of reindeer/caribou: 1) move away from point sources of disturbance; 2) increase activity and energy expenditure near disturbance; 3) delay crossing or fail to cross linear structures; 4) shift away from areas of extensive and intensive development; and 5) are killed by collisions with vehicles and by hunting along roads. Cows and calves during the calving season are the most easily disturbed group. Bulls in general and all reindeer/caribou during insect harassment are least likely to avoid development areas. Estimation of the proportion of a population that is exposed to disturbance and the implications of this exposure to annual energy budgets, survival and productivity of reindeer/caribou has received little attention. Future advances in understanding the implications of human disturbance to reindeer/caribou will require cumulative effects assessment at annual, population and regional scales. Although some level of cumulative effect is likely, clear separation of cumulative effects of development from natural variation in caribou habitat use and demography will be difficult.     

High-resolution spatial assessment of population vulnerability to climate change in Nepal

Current, spatially explicit, and high-resolution assessments of population vulnerability to climate change and variability in developing countries can be difficult to create due to lack of data or financial and technical capacity constraints. We propose a comparative, multiple-approach framework to assess the spatial variation of population vulnerability to climatic changes using several high-resolution variables related to climate, topography, and socioeconomic conditions with an objective to detect the spatial variability of climate vulnerability in Nepal. Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change due to frequent climatic hazards and poor socio-economic capacity. We used a climate vulnerability index (CVI) approach to derive climate vulnerability maps at the one-kilometer resolution and test an additive and a principal components-based composite method of data aggregation. In this work, we attempt to answer three questions. 1) How do different methods of assessment inform the spatial variation of the climate vulnerability in Nepal? 2) How do different variables interact to shape climate vulnerability in Nepal? 3) What proportions of the population in Nepal are vulnerable to climatic disasters and why? Our analysis uncovered significant spatial variations in population vulnerability to climate change across Nepal, with the highest vulnerability being experienced by the High Mountain region followed by the regions in the lower elevations. We find that although the lack of adaptive capacity is the biggest cause of population vulnerability to climate change in Nepal, a resilient community is shaped by both biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics. By performing an iterative sensitivity analysis of our thirteen variables both at the aggregate level (nationally) as well as at the more disaggregated (physiographic region) level, we contribute to identifying important, multi-scalar driving factors for vulnerability that can be employed as leverage points for lowering vulnerability at different scales. After performing analyses at multiple regions, we conclude that region-specific variable selection is needed for more detailed assessments and in order to prioritize adaptation strategies at scales that go beyond the hierarchy of administrative divisions.     

Homeland Orientation of War-torn Diasporas: Remittances and Cultural Practices of Tamils and Somalis in Norway

Wild reindeer are under pressure from human development projects throughout their habitat. Norway is currently making a significant move to establish a new management model based on national reindeer regions and regional management plans. A focus on wild reindeer as a flagship species allows the species to be included as a broad conservation objective in complex land-use plans. The authors surveyed a representative sample of residents in the Rondane and Setesdal regions to examine their perceptions of the current status of reindeer and how management relates to other social and development issues. Local actors and institutions, including hunters, were perceived as more responsible and suited to make decisions about reindeer population sizes and management objectives than non-local actors. There was little local consensus on the role of human impacts on wild reindeer, and residents rated local knowledge higher than scientific knowledge for management purposes. Rondane residents attached more importance to reindeer than Setesdal residents, but the latter saw reindeer as more threatened by human development. New management approaches will need to take a social-ecological perspective and recognize that the inclusion of reindeer can enhance broader conservation goals at regional, national, and international levels, but may also escalate local social conflicts.     

Chukotkan reindeer husbandry in the post-socialist transition

Reindeer herding in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, as in many other regions across the Russian North, has been experiencing a progressive collapse since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The collapse is typically blamed on Russia's privatization programme, which broke up collectivized reindeer farms into supposedly privatized enterprises. While this process did indeed bring significant changes to the practice of reindeer herding in Chukotka, this paper argues that a more fundamental issue is the political and economic change at the local level that most likely makes the collapse irreversible. Áccording to the rhetoric of the new "democratic" framework, the majority rules, and their priorities take precedence. As a result, the indigenous peoples and their priorities - chief among which is reindeer herding - have been squeezed into the political margins. This has been exacerbated by the development of a relationship of internal colonialism between dominant urban Russians and village-dwelling indigenous reindeer herders, which has led to greater inequalities between the two groups as the Russians monopolize both resources and power in the region.     

Inherent vulnerability of agricultural communities in Himalaya: A village-level hotspot analysis in the Uttarakhand state of India

Mountain regions are characterized by complex biophysical and marginal socio-economic conditions that contribute to the vulnerability of agricultural communities. Owing to the extremely heterogeneous conditions in mountains, it becomes imperative to understand the spatial distribution of vulnerability at fine-scale. This study assesses the inherent vulnerability of agricultural communities at village level for the entire state of Uttarakhand. Inherent vulnerability, conceptualized as an internal property of agriculture dependent communities, is measured as a function of sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Data on 36 indicators, reflecting the social and ecological dimensions of sensitivity and adaptive capacity, was collected from secondary sources for 15,285 villages. Each indicator was weighed according to its importance in determining vulnerability using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and finally aggregated to map the spatial distribution of inherent vulnerability under five classes. To enable more effective adaptation planning, identification of vulnerability hotspots was done using local Moran's I. Our analysis reveals that majority of the villages have very low (36.1%) and low (19.6%) adaptive capacity characterized by the poor developmental and high agricultural constraints. Overall the state observes high vulnerability (0.66 ± 0.15), with about 23.6% and 24.7% villages classified under very high and high vulnerability class respectively. The spatial pattern of inherent vulnerability shows significant altitudinal gradient with most of the vulnerability hotspots villages located in middle altitudinal zone. The outcomes of the study assist the policy interventions in prioritizing allocation of resources to enhance the capacities of agricultural communities inhabiting the identified inherent vulnerability hotspots.     

Managing reindeer and wildlife on Alaska's Seward Peninsula

When reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus tarandus ) were introduced to Alaska's Seward Peninsula between 1892 and 1902, other ungulates were not present and large predators were either absent or less abundant than after reindeer were established. During the next 100 years reindeer numbers and distribution increased and declined precipitously on the Seward Peninsula; wildlife species repopulated this region through natural processes or translocations by man; the non-Native human population of Alaska increased dramatically and wildlife management became an issue of national concern creating diverse public desires regarding resource use; and both range and wildlife became intensively managed through complex, politicized processes. This paper provides an historical overview of reindeer and wildlife abundance on the Seward Peninsula during the 20th century and describes the effects of wildlife on the reindeer industry. Cooperative public processes have been initiated to bring diverse public interests together; meld indigenous, scientific and local knowledge of resources; and supplement governmental wildlife management programmes. Even so, the Seward Peninsula reindeer industry has been severely impacted by wildlife, especially caribou ( R. t. granti ).     

Reindeer Herders Without Reindeer. The Challenges of Joint Knowledge Production on Kolguev Island in the Russian Arctic

Kolguev Island in the Russian Arctic has a unique tundra ecosystem and an indigenous Nenets population whose livelihood is traditionally based on reindeer herding. The Nenets faced a major crisis in 2013–2014 when the reindeer population collapsed. Widely different explanations for this collapse were put forward. This lack of a shared perspective points at the failure of genuine joint knowledge production (JKP) in the island’s UNEP–GEF’s ECORA project (2004–2009). The ECORA project aimed to achieve integrated ecosystem management by stimulating dialog and mutual learning among indigenous people, state agencies, and scientists. This paper analyses the failure of ECORA’s JKP, using a recently developed framework of conditions for successful JKP. The results suggest that ECORA met none of these conditions. It failed at bringing the scientific and indigenous knowledge systems together, and the produced knowledge did not resonate with indigenous people’s perception of living in Kolguev.     

Status, directions and priorities of reindeer husbandry research in Sweden

Emerging out of small-scale reindeer farming, large-scale reindeer husbandry in Sweden and Norway was developed to counteract resource scarcity caused by depleted wild reindeer numbers and human population growth above what the former subsistence economy could sustain. Current numbers of reindeer are likely lower and fluctuate less than before wild reindeer were depleted and reindeer husbandry started on a large scale. Productivity is about 7-8 kg of meat per head in winter stock. Current problems arise from a multitude of circumstances, some of them related to the problems of practising a subsistence type of living in close connection with a modern industrialized society. Problems include: low production, typical for harsh conditions and use of an unimproved animal stock; the inability to support a modern standard of living solely from reindeer; the collective access to grazing grounds which makes internal management difficult; unclear legal rights resulting in conflicting interests with other land users and formal owners; and the relatively low number of people directly involved in reindeer husbandry. Possible long-term consequences are marginalization and the loss of land use rights, with negative consequences for the Saami as an indigenous people. Reindeer husbandry research addresses these problems by integrating human-ecological and socio-economic aspects with traditional natural science orientated research on reindeer husbandry problems. This research is funded by a multitude of sources. Independently of this, research is conducted on Saami life and culture in relation to reindeer husbandry at various universities, especially within social sciences and arts.     

高温影响下西安市人口脆弱性评估及其空间分异

高温给城市人口健康和社会发展带来的脆弱性后果愈发严重,如何科学量化与评估城市高温人口脆弱性,为制定更具针对性的高温适应对策提供科学依据成为当前国际研究热点。在城市高温人口脆弱性分析框架基础上,以西安市为例,整合遥感影像、手机信令、POI、社会经济等多源数据,从高温暴露、敏感性、适应能力3个维度构建高温影响下人口脆弱性评估指标体系和脆弱性测度模型,揭示高温人口脆弱性等级分布特征和空间异质性,识别人口脆弱性空间地域及其致脆因子类型。结果表明：① 西安市高温暴露、敏感性和适应能力都表现出显著的空间集聚特征,且总体上均呈现出“中心-边缘”结构,即城市中心地区形成“高暴露、高敏感、高适应”,城市边缘表现为“低暴露、低敏感、低适应”。② 西安市人口脆弱性以低值和较低水平为主,脆弱性也具有显著的空间集聚性,脆弱性较高地区主要集中在城市三环以内,形成断续的“岛状”分布形态,脆弱性低值和较低值地区分布在城市边缘。③ 不同致脆类型的面积占比依次为综合主导型（37.3%）>高温暴露主导型（33.3%）>适应能力不足主导型（23.6%）>人口敏感主导型（5.8%）;高温暴露主导型广泛分布在城市中心、北部和西部等地,人口敏感主导型相对集中在城市中心偏南地区,适应能力不足主导型主要分布在城市边缘,综合主导型主要集中在城市南部,北部也有大量分散式分布。本研究可在城市高温人口脆弱性评估方法,城市高温人口脆弱性的减缓与治理等方面提供借鉴和启示。     

Many a little makes a mickle: Cumulative land cover changes and traditional land use in the Kyrö reindeer herding district,northern Finland

Traditional land use systems are threatened by land use intensification and resulting land cover transitions in northern areas. This article examines cumulative land cover changes and their impacts on reindeer grazing grounds in the Kyrö reindeer herding district in northern Finland. Land cover transitions were studied using Landsat TM and OLI images and topographic maps. The results showed that the herding district has experienced notable land cover changes during the past decades, and most of these changes were directly related to forestry. The proportion of continuous coniferous forests of the total forest cover declined from 92% to 78% between 1987 and 2013. Approximately one third of the forests outside current conservation areas were disturbed by forest management by 2013, and remaining forests were notably more fragmented than forests within conservation areas. The extent of the road and path networks expanded considerably between 1960s and 2010 as a result of increasing logging and tourism. Accumulation of disturbances gradually results in loss of key resources and declined quality of the landscape mosaic from the reindeer herding perspective, which can pose a serious threat to long-term sustainability of the livelihood. Rapid land cover changes in non-protected areas highlight an increasingly important role of conservation areas in maintaining resources for reindeer husbandry in the face of intensifying land use. Sustainable management of resources outside conservation areas requires careful participatory planning and efficient cumulative impact assessment of different land use activities.     

Reindeer pastoralism in modern Siberia: research and survival during the time of crash

In many areas across Siberia, the reindeer herding economy of the native people went into a deep recession during the post-Soviet transition of the 1990s. However, as a larger cross-section of data indicates, the reindeer stock decline is not a universal phenomenon. Nor is the present-day crisis in native Siberian herding economies an unprecedented event, as pastoralists did suffer tremendously in "traditional times", due to the devastating epizootics and other natural disasters, and even more so, during the Soviet-induceed collectivizsation. While such a historical review by no means diminishes the scale of the present-day crisis in native herding economies, it helps to identify both the experience and traditional adaptations once used by the native Siberians during the previous times of hardship. Of those, the most efficient were: maintaining cultural and ecological diversity in local herding systems; the ability to shift quickly between nomadic population as the invaluable source of cultural knowledge, technological expertise, and of domestic reindeer stock for ultimate recovery. The modern situation in Siberia, in fact, favours increased local diversity and helps to produce a steady stream of new "winners" as well as new "losers." This new experience has to be comprehensively documented, to produce both a reliable general overview and a detailed summary of the specific regional and local transitions.     

The dynamics of vulnerability: locating coping strategies in Kenya and Tanzania

We investigate how smallholder farmers at two sites in Kenya and Tanzania cope with climate stress and how constraints and opportunities shape variations in coping strategies between households and over time during a drought. On the basis of this analysis, we draw out implications for adaptation and adaptive policy. We find that households where an individual was able to specialize in one favoured activity, such as employment or charcoal burning, in the context of overall diversification by the household, were often less vulnerable than households where each individual is engaged in many activities at low intensity. Many households had limited access to the favoured coping options due to a lack of skill, labour and/or capital. This lack of access was compounded by social relations that led to exclusion of certain groups, especially women, from carrying out favoured activities with sufficient intensity. These households instead carried out a multitude of less favoured and frequently complementary activities, such as collecting indigenous fruit. While characterized by suitability to seasonal environmental variations and low demands on time and cash investments, these strategies often yielded marginal returns. Both the marginalization of local niche products and the commercialization of forest resources exemplify processes leading to differential vulnerability. We suggest that vulnerability can usefully be viewed in terms of the interaction of such processes, following the concept of locality. We argue that coping is a distinct component of vulnerability and that understanding the dynamism of coping and vulnerability is critical to developing adaptation measures that support people as active agents.     

Arctic climate change discourse: the contrasting politics of research agendas in the West and Russia

In this paper we explore how Western scientific concepts and attitudes towards indigenous knowledge, as they pertain to resource management and climate change, differ from the prevailing view in modern Russia. Western indigenous leaders representing the Inuit and Saami peoples are actively engaged in the academic and political discourse surrounding climate change, whereas their Russian colleagues tend to focus more on legislation and self-determination, as a post-Soviet legacy. We contribute to the debate with data from the Nenets tundra, showing how different research has employed the three crucial Western research paradigms of climate change, wildlife management and indigenous knowledge on the ground. We suggest that the daily practice of tundra nomadism involves permanent processes of negotiating one's position in a changing environment, which is why "adaptation" is woven into the society, and cosmology as a whole, rather than being separable into distinct "bodies" of knowledge or Western-designed categories. We argue that research agendas should be placed in their proper local and regional context, and temporal framework: for example, by collaborating with herders on the topics of weather instead of climate change, herding skills instead of wildlife management, and ways of engaging with the tundra instead of traditional ecological knowledge.     

High voltage transmission lines and their effect on reindeer: a research programme in progress

We review literature on high voltage transmission lines and their effect on wild reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) migration patterns and area use. We conclude that reliable knowledge is lacking on the effects of transmission lines on reindeer ecology. This condition relates to the lack of long-term monitoring of reindeer migration patterns in relation to existing lines. It is also related to the fact that nothing is known about hearing in reindeer (or any other deer species in Norway) in relation to transmission line noise, which is considered an obstacle for migrating reindeer.
We then outline a research programme that includes a laboratory study to determine the audiogram in reindeer and two field studies to examine the proximate effects of transmission lines - independently as well as combined with ambient environmental variables - on reindeer behaviour. The audiogram in two yearling male reindeer has been determined; this part of the study will be completed this year with the determination of a corresponding audiogram in two female yearlings. The behaviour study of domestic reindeer under high voltage transmission lines was completed in September 1999. The behaviour study of wild reindeer in the area crossed by a 420 kV power line will continue this year and its completion is anticipated in 2001.     

中国天山冰川变化脆弱性研究

冰川是重要的淡水资源,对社会经济发展和生态环境影响显著,而其变化的脆弱性也关乎区域生态服务和经济可持续发展。本文以中国天山为例,基于脆弱性的暴露度、敏感性、适应能力构建涵盖自然地理特征、人口状况、社会经济水平、农业发展和社会服务等因素的冰川变化脆弱性框架,并以此针对性构建评价指标体系,探析天山冰川变化脆弱性的空间特征,采用地理探测器模型探讨自然、社会、经济和人口等因素对冰川变化适应能力的影响及交互作用。结果表明：① 脆弱性等级由西部地区向东部地区呈降低趋势,且水平差异显著。天山东部地区脆弱性最低、中部地区次之、西部地区较高。② 暴露度、敏感性和适应能力在空间上分别存在明显正相关与负相关,表明区域范围内冰川变化具有高暴露、高敏感地区往往适应能力较低,进而导致脆弱性较高;反之,脆弱性较低。③ 天山应对冰川变化能力的空间异质性是自然、社会、经济和人口因素共同作用的结果。其中,第二、三产业产值、城镇人口数、城镇固定资产投资与年末单位从业人员等因素具有主导作用。     

Regional effects of climate change on reindeer: a case study of the Muotkatunturi region in Finnish Lapland

Few studies have investigated current climate changes for high latitude regions, and the impact of such changes on reindeer and indigenous people. Previous work by other authors has identified snow and ice conditions in winter as being critical in determining the availability of forage for reindeer. Deep snow makes it difficult to access food. Lack of food weakens the herd and can reduce the allocation of nutrients to the development of the foetus in the female deer. Climate data for Lapland, northern Finland, and Karasjok, northern Norway, are examined, together with reindeer calf numbers for the period 1977 to 1994 for the Muotkatunturi region (68°N 25°30'E). Between 1883 and 1993, precipitation increased but temperatures showed no clear warming or cooling trend. However, since the late 1980s, temperatures have increased. A regression analysis on the climate and reindeer data found that the warmer the winter prior to the rut, the fewer the live calves recorded the following year (r = 0.529, p < 0.05). Also, the wetter the winter prior to the rut, the fewer the calves recorded (r = 0.427, p < 0.10). In contrast, the warmer the autumn prior to their birth, the greater the number of calves recorded (r = 0.474, p < 0.10). These results suggest that as climate changes and winters become warmer and wetter with increased snowfall, calf numbers will decline. These findings have important implications for the Saami people who are heavily dependent on the reindeer for their livelihood.     

Effects of weather and snow conditions on reproduction and survival of semi-domesticated reindeer (R. t. tarandus)

In this work we investigated the effects of local weather and snow conditions on the reproduction and survival of semi-domesticated reindeer ( Rangifer t. tarandus ) from 1962 to 1987 in four separate study areas in northern Finland. Reindeer density had no negative effect on calf percentage in slaughter (October-January) in any area. The higher the number of very warm days or mean temperatures in summer, the lower was the calf percentage in all forested areas (Sodankylä, Muonio and Ivalo). In the Muonio area, calf percentage was also reduced by winters with abundant snow accumulation. In the open, mountainous Kevo area, calf percentage was reduced with a high number of warm days (mean T>0°C) during the previous December. However, if the previous May was warm in that area, it had an opposite effect. High reindeer densities seemed to increase mortality only in the Sodankylä area. Abundant snow accumulation during winter reduced the survival index of reindeer both in the Sodankylä and Ivalo areas. In the Muonio area, mortality of reindeer was increased with a high number of warm days in December. In the Kevo area, reindeer density or any climatic parameters could not explain yearly differences in mortality. This study indicated that permanent changes in climatic conditions could have different impacts in woodland as opposed to open, mountainous regions. In general, if global climatic change means weather instability in early winter and more snow, it also brings more difficulties for reindeer. However, if climate change means that snow melts earlier in the spring, some conditions could become more favourable for reindeer.