In what the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry would like to call the publishing event of the year, Al Gore has received signed copies of a brand new book published by the EALÁT team during the Melting Ice Conference being held in Tromso, prior to the Arctic Council meetings being held there this week. EALÁT project leader Ole Henrik Magga was on hand to make the presentation to the former U.S. Vice President who has become a tireless advocate of international action on climate change.

Entitled EALÁT: Reindeer Herders Voice - Reindeer Herding, Traditional Knowledge and Adaptation to Climate Change and Loss of Grazing Land and edited by Anders Oskal, Johan Mathis Turi, Svein D. Mathiesen and Philip Burgess, the over 150 page book is mid term report to the Arctic Council Council Sustainable Development Working Group and its publication was timed to coincide with the last meeting under the Norwegian chairmanship. 

Copies of the book were also handed out to all the Senior Arctic Officials and Ministers who will also be receiving them over the next two days in Tromso. The Association of World Reindeer Herders has Observer Status to the Arctic Council

From the Foreword....

This book is a two years middle term report from a Norwegian information project in the Arctic Council entitled EALÁT. The term «ealát» is from the language of the indigenous Sámi people of Fennoscandia, and means «good pasture». This word is related to the term «eallu», which means «herd» and the origin of these terms derives from the word «eallin», or «life». In other words, pastures are the foundation for the reindeer herd, and reindeer herds are the foundation for the lives of reindeer herding peoples.  

EALÁT has therefore been initiated by the Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH) to address the challenges of climate change and loss of pastures, in order to maintain and develop robust reindeer herding societies for the future. The project is endorsed by the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) of the Arctic Council, with the full title «SDWG EALÁT Information:Reindeer herding, traditional knowledge and adaptation to climate change and loss of pastures». This is an information project focusing on climate change, loss of pastures and how the traditional knowledge of reindeer herders themselves can be utilized to adapt to these changes. The aim is to build capacity and competence for adaptation in local reindeer herding communities, as well as to increase knowledge on these issues for national authorities, the Arctic Council system, industrial developers, and mainstream societies in the North. EALÁT-Information is also a part of the IPY EALÁT-Network Study, a broader consortium endorsed by the International Polar Year which focuses on the vulnerability of reindeer herding to climate change.

EALÁT-Information is initiated, planned and implemented by the Association of World Reindeer Herders and the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry. Other partner organisations and institutions that are involved in the project include the Saami Council, the Reindeer Herders’ Union of Russia, the Sámi Reindeer Herders’ Associations of Norway and Finland, the Reindeer Herders’ Union of Yamal, the Reindeer Herders’ Union of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Reindeer Herders’ Union of Chukotka, RAIPON, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, the Russian Science Academy, NASA, the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, the Sámi University College, the University of the Arctic, the Arctic Portal and others.

There have also been important contributions from various national and local authorities, both in Norway, Finland, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The project has been financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion, and the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry.  

The project will continue through the Norwegian and Danish chairmanships of the Arctic Council, with a timeframe from 2007 to 2011. This book is to be presented as a middle term report at the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council, while the final report will be presented under the Danish chairmanship.  

The EALÁT-Information project is arranging a series of community-based workshops in local reindeer herding societies across the Arctic, where reindeer herders from different areas, scientists and local authorities are brought together to address the challenges of climate change and land use change while focusing on adaptation and traditional knowledge.  

Seven such workshops have been held in 2007 and 2008 in local reindeer herding communities in Norway, Finland and Russia. This book is exclusively based on materials and pictures from the community based workshops and EALÁT activities. The goal of EALÁT Information is to bring the voice of reindeer herders to the Arctic Council.

In terms of pastures, local climate and topographic conditions the diversity is high in the regions investigated in this project spanning Fennoscandia, the Yamal tundra, the Verkhoyansky mountains, the Aldan taiga and the tundra of Chukotka. This indicates that the adaptive capacity of reindeer herding may be high. The challenge of SDWG EALÁT-Information is to take reindeer herders’ knowledge into action for sustainable development of the Arctic and, in particular, to actively involve circumpolar reindeer herders in this process.

This book intends to offer a small snapshot of how indigenous reindeer herders and their societies look upon the challenges of adaptation to climate change and development of the Arctic.