Reindeer need large and undisturbed areas during the whole year. For many years, reindeer husbandry in Norway has had to grapple with intrusions, such as mining, defence activities, wind power development and hut-building areas. New activities are continually encroaching on reindeer pastures. Encroachments into reindeer pastures grazing conditions are seen among both reindeer herders and many researchers to be the largest threat to the future of Sámi reindeer husbandry. And the biggest threat may be that there is no overview of how these various activities combined impact on reindeer husbandry.

Encroachment means for the most part that reindeer pastures are lost irreparably. According to the report "Inngrep in reinbeiteland" which was published in 2004, more than 30 % of Norway’s reindeer pastures have been lost due to encroachment and exploitation. UNEP’s estimates show that if encroachment continues at the same pace then within 50 years, traditional reindeer herding, with some exceptions, will not be able to continue in the way it does today.

This means that, even if the Sámi reindeer herding area even extends its large grazing areas, the critically important areas will be so heavily affected that traditional reindeer herding will not be possible. Protecting pastures, in the form of informing other authorities on the special needs of reindeer husbandry for pastures among other things, is the work of the Reindeer Husbandry Administration and this is an area that they will need to prioritize in the coming years.

Predation

Figures from 2006/2007 based on reports from reindeer owners in Norway to the Reindeer Husbandry Administration, show that the greatest losses of reindeers, about 80 % or 51 000 reindeer, due to predators. The predators that in all areas impact most extensive are wolverine (Gulo gulo) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). What concerns the lynx (Lynx lynx) for example researches from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) shows that a mail lynx (Lynx lynx) eats on average 22,5 reindeer per month and a female lynx 8 reindeer per month, but also that the lynx can kill up to 20 reindeer during one night. Reindeer herders mean that it is difficult to prove how much is killed by lynx, as it naturally is difficult to find killed reindeer in nature and for example because it can be completely disappeared the next day or be killed at a place where they will not be found.

If a reindeer has been killed by a lynx (Lynx lynx), wolverine (Gulo gulo), wolf (Canis lupus), bear (Ursus arctos) or golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), the reindeer owner is entitled to full compensation for the loss. The reindeer owner applies for assistance annually through the Siida unit he/she belongs. The compensation is calculated on the basis of the respective district slaughtered reindeer average weight over the last three years, and the index price as it sells reindeer meat for to the slaughterhouse.

In Norway the Ministry of the Environment (Miljøverndepartementet) has overall authority for all predator management, and manages it through the budget, legislation and management dialogue. The Ministry does government policy and follows up those areas of development within predator policy and the guidelines the government has added. The Directorate for Nature Management (Direktoratet for naturforvaltning) is subordinate to the Ministry of the Environment, and is the responsible agency for predator management on the national level. The State Nature supervision (Statens Naturoppsyn, SNO) is part of the Directorate for Nature Management and is the operative fieldbody which, among other things, assist pet owners with documentation of predator damage to semi domesticated reindeer, does field work in connection with the monitoring of predators, works with preventing / prevent environmental crime directed toward predators.

The Predator Committees (Rovviltnemnden) are politically selected for each management region. The Committees have an overall management responsibility for predators within the region, and prepares and adopts, among other things, regional management plans for predators.

According to the Predators Portal, (Rovviltportalen) where information about the five large predators is found, the number of lynx in 2008 in the whole of Norway is between 429 and 452, and about half of them are within the Sámi reindeer herding area. In 2007 the number of wolverine were approximately 362 + -39 in Norway and about three-quarters of them are in the Sámi reindeer herding area. The number of bears is in 2008 were 128 and about three-quarters of these were in the Sámi reindeer herding area. Also in 2008, the number of nesting golden eagles in Norway was 850-1 200 and the number of documented wolves was 12-18.

(Resursregnskap for reindriftsnæringen, reindriftsåret 2006/2007, Reindriftsforvaltningen 2008)

(www.rovviltportalen.no)

 

Climate change

Large areas of pastures are being lost to different industrial activities. Climate change is likely to add new set of stresses. The Arctic Council Arctic Climate Impact Assessment – ACIA (2005), reflects more than 250 researchers' assessments of how climate change will affect the Arctic environment and the communities that live there. The report also demonstrates that temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than elsewhere in the world. These changes will involve, inter alia, shorter and warmer winters, and new varieties of wildlife in the Arctic. Climate change is also likely to result in increased development, for example in the form of roads and facilities in the Arctic, which both directly and indirectly have impacts on reindeer husbandry and reindeer pastures.

Since reindeer herding is conducted in nature and is very much dependent on the conditions that nature provides, any changes that occur have special impacts on the practice of reindeer husbandry. But no one can yet know with certainty when, how and how much reindeer herding will be affected as a result of increased climate change.

Sources of indigenous knowledge across the Arctic report according to ACIA that the weather seems more variable, unfamiliar and is behaving unexpectedly and outside the norm”. According to the ACIA report autumn weather in some areas has fluctuated between raining and freezing, often creating an ice layer on the ground that has reduced reindeer’s access to the underlying lichen. These conditions represent a major change from the norm, and in some years, have resulted in extensive losses of reindeer. Future changes in snow in extent and condition have the potential to lead to major adverse consequences for reindeer herding and the associated physical, social and cultural livelihood of the herders.

Frozen ground underlies most of the region and if warming degrades this permafrost, traditional reindeer migration routes are likely to disrupt. Warming is also projected to cause earlier melting and later freezing. The biodiversity of the reindeer herding region is quite vulnerable to climate change. There remains uncertainty about how the mountain flora will withstand warmer climates coupled with the impacts that a warmer climate will have on different insect varieties and how they will affect reindeer. Since snow free time is when reindeer collect important fat and protein reserves, reindeer may according to some researchers, take advantage of this benefit for a longer period of time.

(Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, 2005)