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Adapting to Climate Change in Adapting to Climate Change in Reindeer Herding:Reindeer Herding:

The Nation-State as Problem and The Nation-State as Problem and SolutionSolution

Erik S. Reinert (Saami University College, Kautokeino, Norway), Iulie Aslaksen (Statistics

Norway), Inger Marie G. Eira, Svein Mathiesen (both Saami University College), Hugo Reinert, (University of Cambridge) & Ellen Inga Turi (University of Oslo)

Paper presented to Living with climate change: are there limits to adaptation?Tyndall Centre for Climate Change and Royal Geographical Society, London,

February 7-8, 2008.

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Outline of presentation

• Ecological economics: New perspectives on value of nature, taking into account uncertainty, precaution and sustainability

• Reindeer herding as sequential usufruct of ecological niches

• 1770s: Consolidation of nation-states blocked cross-border operations of ethnic groups (Saami,Jews)

• Today’s mismatch between agricultural models and pastoral practices in reindeer herding

• Adaptation to climate change: the state as problem and potential solution.

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Perspectives from ecological economics

• Nature is the basis for life: Economics within ecological constraints

• Value of nature qualities may be incommensurable with other values

• Sustainable development

• Value of nature and culture are intertwined

• Traditional ecological knowledge and resilience capacity

• Ethical perspectives

• Uncertainty and precautionary perspectives

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Perspectives from different disciplines.

• German Geographer Carl Troll (1899-1975): Extreme climatic zones of the earth produce a huge number of ecological niches relatively close to each other

• American Anthropologist John Murra (1916-2006): This large number of niches provides the very basis for human habitation in these inhospitable areas. Sequential usufruct (utilization) of ecological niches, as in migration between summer and winter pastures, forms the basis of the economic systems

• Migration between ecological niches provides flexibility and resilience in response to climate variability. John Locke’s (1632-1704) key role in reducing indigenous rights

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Saami languages and nation-state borders

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Historical perspective on reindeer herding

• Before nation-state borders were established in Northern Scandinavia, reindeer herding migration patterns followed ethnic/linguistic areas formed around a complete set of ecological niches needed for herding.

• In 1751 borders were drawn between Norway, Sweden and Finland. The supplementary legal document, Lappecodicilen, ensured the right for reindeer herding migration across borders.

• However, the 1770s represented a turning point in European view of ”native” peoples: John Locke and the view that indigenous people do not have property rights to pasture land.

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Reindeer herders’ migratory pattern in Finnmark, Norway

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Historical perspectives on reindeer herding

• A qualitative change in the view of rights to land: From traditional rights and the "noble savage" to colonialism and the superiority of agriculture.

• In 1852 the border between Norway and Finland/Russia was closed to reindeer herding, seriously affecting access to niches and sustainability, breaking up the traditional siida (extended family group). Result: mass migration of Saami to Sweden and the US, and the Kautokeino Revolt.

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Cyclical behaviour of temperatures in the Arctic, 20th century

Source: ACIA, 2005. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Cambridge University press, p. 3, Fig. 1.2.Annual average near surface air temperature from stations on land relative to the average for 1961-1990,for the region from 60° to 90° N (updated from Peterson and Vose, 1997).

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Cyclical movement of number of reindeer in Sweden, 1900-2000

Source: Statistics Sweden.

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Agricultural models vs. reindeer herding

• In 1976 agricultural principles and a “planning paradigm” were introduced in herding

• Slaughtering and marketing - the most profitable activities in the value chain - came under government regulation and non-Saami ownership

• Inflexible target price mismatch to natural fluctuations in production: short term maximization of annual meat production seriously increased the vulnerability of the herds and of the whole economic system

• Loss of diversity: of the ”beautiful herd” and the ”gentlemen of the tundra”

• Severe mismatch between agricultural model and traditional knowledge

• Questioned today when climate change requires traditional knowledge and practices in order to improve adaptation

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Adaptation to climate change The basic insurance mechanisms employed by human cultures

under extreme variation in climate are DIVERSITY and FLEXIBILITY. Saami herding will be able to cope and adapt if these elements are restored.

• The need to restructure herds to decrease vulnerability to climate change. Modify government incentives in Norway to improve herd diversity.

• The need to re-establish Fenno-Scandinavian reindeer herding across nation-state boundaries, allowing the siida to regain its transnational character, in a process involving Saami organizations.

• The need to limit the increasing permanent loss of ecological niches available to herders, due to pastoral land being used for other purposes, including new infrastructure.

• The need to improve the economic basis of the herders by giving them back the ownership of the most profitable activities in the value-chain: slaughtering and marketing. This will enable them to absorb the costs associated with climatic change.

MAIN PROBLEM: NORWAY’S MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE.