Report of the RIEVDAN project 2016-2022 led by Sámi allaskuvla and International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry is available for download. This final report from Rievdan research project to Research Council of Norway was prepared by the researchers and the professional team of the research project: Prof. Svein D. Mathiesen, Dir. Anders Oskal, Ass. prof Inger Marie Gaup Eira, Ass. prof. Ravdna Biret Marja Eira Sara, Ass. prof. Marina Tonkopeva.
The Research Council of Norway granted the project in the program Strategic University Projects (SHP) in 2015. The project manager was Sámi University of Applied Sciences with the cooperation partners International Centre of Reindeer husbandry (ICR) and Association of World Reindeer Herders. ICR confirmed active participation in the development and implementation in the project, in accordance with the project description including work efforts from their staff, including the Executive Director and our Scientific Advisors. ICRs participation in the Rievdan project is seen as part of the UArctic EALÁT Institute at ICR, as well as our initiative Arctic Indigenous Peoples ́ Culinary Institute. This research design, and the way it elaborated show substantial innovation in the way we understand both the role traditional knowledge and practices can play in the future of Sami livelihoods in the Arctic and what the challenges may be in combining this traditional knowledge and practice with modern science-based public management strategies.
The project have combined the question of how Sámi reindeer herders adapt to adverse and changing weather conditions with the epistemological question of how one can bring together and integrate the two different knowledge-domains of a) the knowledge and practice of traditional reindeer herding and b) the knowledge and practice of modern science and public management. Although the project have been working through 4 working packages, WP1 and WP3 hhave had close cooperation and collaboration;
● Work package 1: Basic understanding of what sustainable Sami reindeer husbandry entails.
● Work package 2: Legal status of reindeer husbandry in a changing world.
● Work package 3: Traditional knowledge of food culture - navigation towards future sustainability - two ways of knowing?
● Work package 4: Summarise, discuss, and communicate findings.
