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The preliminary programme for the 5th World Reindeer Herders Congress, to be held in Aoluguya, Genhe County, Inner-Mongolia, China 25th – 28th of July 2013, is now available and can be downloaded here, or from the Document Centre. The Congress programme is an event filled week of scientific, cultural and organisational activities, and is being held in China for the first time.
More information about Genhe can be found here, about this years Congress here, photos from the previous Congresses here, and the registration page can be found here.
The UArctic EALÁT Institute was established as a legacy of the International Polar Year and grew out of the IPY EALÁT research project. The Institute was established in a formal ceremony in 2011 at the Sami Univesrity College in Kautokeino, Norway (photo galleries here) and since then has not only offered an online course (Adaptation to Globalisation – the Case of Reindeer Husbandry), but has coordinated numerous events and liased closely with other Arctic and indigenous peoples academic and other institutions across Scandinavia and Russia.
The UArctic EALÁT Institute now has its own web pages here on the Reindeer Portal where you learn about the Institutes work, and where future courses will be offered. Here you can also access a growing resource centre with documents and materials related to reindeer husbandry.
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Northern Norway is bracing itself for the energy and mineral rush that is affecting the entire Arctic. Development plans, mining projects, LNG plants, offshore oil drilling plans are all swirling around the region as the rush for Arctic resources progresses. A fascinating website has been launched by Trine Hamran, a journalist, documentarist and social anthropologist who has a passion for the region. Border Stories is a venue for very different northerners to relate their stories in first person to give context to what this rush for development means for people on the ground.
When our politicians speak about resources, they speak about oil, gas and minerals. Not people. When they say we need more knowledge, they mean higher education. And when they say higher education, they mean studies relevant for the industry sector. Not studies to strengthen identity, language or critical thinking. (Borderstories)
One of those featured is Mariann Wollmann Magga, a reindeer herder and member of the Sami Parliament who lives near Kirkenes, one of the development hotspots of this newly envisioned resource region. The calving grounds of her families reindeer is an area that has been mooted as a possible site for an LNG plant.
It is one of the 20th century’s most memorable photos: the one Edmund Hillary took of Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953, standing at the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on earth. You might not know that he was wearing boots made from reindeer. Tenzing obviously had learned what peoples in the Arctic have always known, that if you want warm feet, wear footwear made from reindeer. Style and fashion blogs have just alighted on these boots in the last week, because Bally, the Swiss company that in the ’40s began custom-making boots for serious mountaineers, among them the pair that Tenzing wore for his storied ascent are making reindeer boots again. In honor of the anniversary of that climb — and the fact that the old-fashioned mountaineer has become a style model in men’s fashion — Bally is issuing a new version of the boots. The sole is lighter in weight and they lace more easily. But like the originals, they are available only by order, and they are still made of reindeer fur. They may never help you get to the top of a mountain, but, at $2,495 (USD), they will certainly help you scale your credit limit.
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According to Professor Lauri Oksanen of the University of Turku, grazing by reindeer keep arctic vegetation in check, thus reducing the solar heat absorption that leads to a self-reinforcing cycle of climate change.
Snow cover and mostly barren tundra reflect large portions of the sun’s rays. When darker shrubs and trees spring up in arctic areas they absorb more energy, heating up their surroundings and the earth’s atmosphere.
Researchers in Finland have now carried out a comparison between an area in Norway where reindeer are not allowed to graze in the summer, and a similar area in Finland where grazing reindeer have kept shrubs and tree from growing.
They have found that the heat radiated by the overgrown area in Norway is at a much higher level.
“The heat difference between what happens there and in the Finnish area during three spring months, March, April and May, would be enough to melt a cubic kilometre of ice. That is no small matter,” explains Professor Lauri Oksanen.
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Late last year a workshop was organised by the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry and the Stockholm Resilience Centre to further the work being undertaken in the Arctic Council Arctic Resilience Report. The Arctic Resilience Report is a science-based assessment that aims to better understand the integrated impacts of change in the Arctic. Its goals are to:
• Identify the potential for shocks and large shifts in ecosystems services that affect human well-being in the Arctic.
• Analyze how different drivers of change interact in ways that affect the ability of ecosystems and human populations to withstand shocks, adapt or transform.
• Evaluate strategies for governments and communities to adapt.
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Reindeer herding is one of the cornerstones of Sami culture and Sami reindeer herding is practiced across the three Nordic countries and North West Russia. Every year, various Sami organisations send represntatives to the United Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. This year, two young members of the Sami Reindeer Herders Association of Norway were in attendence and spoke to UN Radio about the challenges facing reindeer herders in Norway today. You can listen to Berit Marie Lise Eira, leader of the organization’s youth committee and Eva Jaama in their interview with UN Radio here
When people think of reindeer and reindeer herding, they generally think of Scandinavia and Russia, and with good reason, this being where the vast majority of reindeer and herders are to be found. However, reindeer herding has been practiced in Canada since 1935, with the arrival of reindeer that were imported to Canada via Alaska from Norway during the ‘Reindeer Project‘ in the Mackenzie Delta where it is still practiced today by the descendents of those early reindeer herding pioneers.
Canadian Reindeer, the company that operates reindeer herding there today is looking for (in the words of Lloyd Binder) a ‘Chief Herder-Trainee’ to learn the country and take over a herd of 4,000 during a 3-year period. Contact lloydbinder@gmail.com.
Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia – 3 June 2013 – During the World Environment Day celebrations – hosted this year by the Government of Mongolia – the Nomadic Herders’ project held a seminar/workshop on Monday 3rd June entitled “The Future for Reindeer Husbandry and Conservation in Mongolia’s Biodiversity Hotspot”.
The seminar gathered together reindeer herders from East and West Taiga, the Ulaan Taiga Protected Areas Administration, the Hovsgul Aimag regional government, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Green Development, the Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH), the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR) and GRID-Arendal.
The focus of the seminar was to provide an update and information sharing session on the topics of the new Special Presidential Decree on Reindeer Husbandry; a new potential project to transport reindeer from Sakha Republic to Mongolia; recent developments in the establishment of the Tengis-Shishged Protected Area; and a presentation on the Nomadic Herders UNEP/GEF project.
Opening the session, Tsogtsaikhan Purev from the Ministry of Environment and Green presented the new Special Decree on Reindeer Husbandry. The Decree, which was recently enacted by Parliament, will have a focus on providing increased access for the reindeer herding community to social welfare, education, and cooperation opportunities. A total of 36 activities under four pillars will be implemented over 5 years.
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The Nomadic Herders Project is in Ulan Bator, Mongolia this week as invited guests of Mongolia’s hosting of UNEP’s World Environment Day events this week. Today, the team met with the President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj. The President has taken an active interest in the Nomadic Herders project, not only visiting herders in Tsaaggaanuur to hear first hand of the challenges they are facing (Dukha/Tsataan herders are among the world’s most vulnerable reindeer herding peoples) but also in passing legislation (in 2007) and implementing this year, beginning June 1, that reindeer herders children under the age of 18 will receive money equivalent to 50 percent of the minimum cost of living in the Khangai region, while adults will receive the full sum each month (read this full story here on the Nomadic Herders site).
This is the second time that the Nomadic Herders team have met with the President, the first being in October 2012 when a Mongolian delegation led by the President visited Oslo, Norway (see story here and here).
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The preliminary programme for the 5th World Reindeer Herders Congress, to be held in Aoluguya, Genhe County, Inner-Mongolia, China 25th – 28th of July 2013, is now available and can be downloaded here, or from the Document Centre. The Congress programme is an event filled week of scientific, cultural and organisational activities, and is being held in China for the first time.
