Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry Final Report

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Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry

Arctic Council 2000 - 2002

Konstantin Klokov

Russian Co-ordinatorSt. Petersburg State University

Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten

Project ManagerUniversity of Troms


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Published by Centre for Saami StudiesUniversity of Troms 2002

Cover drawing Bjrn Hatteng 2002Graphic Design Bjrn Hatteng

Printed by Gjvik Trykkeri AS


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Contents

Executive Summary ..........................................................1

Introduction .......................................................................9

Basic Consepts in the Reindeer Industry ........................17

Reindeer Husbandry in Russia ........................................23

Reindeer Husbandry in Alaska ........................................73

Reindeer Husbandry in Norway ......................................85

Reindeer Husbandry in Sweden ....................................111

Reindeer Husbandry in Finland ....................................125Appendix A ...................................................................143

Appendix B ...................................................................157


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Preface

This report puts reindeer husbandry on the circumpolar agenda as part of the activity of the Arctic Council.

Reindeer husbandry represents a traditional way of life and is of great economic and cultural importance for manyindigenous peoples. At the same time the industry is vulnerable to external inuences and changes. Today the circumpo-lar reindeer industry is facing major challenges and in some geographical areas the situation is extremely serious. Thesituation in the reindeer herding industry therefore calls for the full attention of the international community.

In October 2000 a project on sustainable reindeer husbandry was approved at the Ministerial Meeting of theArctic Council in Barrow, Alaska. As a preparation for the project an international workshop on sustainable rein-deer herding and husbandry was arranged in Kautokeino, Norway, in March 2000, with participants from Russia,Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Sweden and Norway. The workshop strongly recommended that reindeerhusbandry should be included in the future work plan of the Arctic Council.

The project is a joint Norwegian-Russian initiative with support from several countries. The composition of theinternational steering committee is evidence of this. The cooperation with all the countries involved and with the vari-

ous national reindeer herding organizations and the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) in the ArcticCouncil has functioned extremely well.This report is based on eldwork in Russia, Alaska, Sweden, Finland and Norway, and on an examination of

the management plans and written material on the reindeer industry in the various Arctic countries. The project alsoorganized a workshop on the development of national legislation on reindeer husbandry in the Arctic in April 2002in Kautokeino, Norway.

On the basis of the reports review of the current situation in the circumpolar reindeer husbandry industry, theinternational steering committee has agreed on specic recommendations to national authorities, to the Arctic Counciland to the industry itself. These recommendations are included as an appendix to the report.

We would like to emphasize how much the project has beneted from its cooperation with the Association of WorldReindeer Herders. The Association has been an active partner throughout the project, and has made important contri-butions to the discussions in the steering committee.

The report is intended to be easily accessible for people without a detailed knowledge of reindeer husbandry. There-fore it does not contain extensive background data or references to scientic literature. We hope that the report will givereaders a better understanding of the challenges facing reindeer husbandry in the Arctic countries.

The report has been written in English, and will be translated into Russian.

Troms, September 2002

Jan Tore Holvik Tatjana NikolajevaChairman, International Steering Committee Vice-Chair, International Steering Committee

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Russian Ministry of Agriculture

Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten Konstantin KlokovProject Manager Russian Co-ordinator

University of Troms St.Petersburg State University


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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IntroductionThe project Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry is adirect follow-up of the international workshop held inKautokeino in March 2000. The title of the workshop

was Sustainable Reindeer Herding and Husbandry,and approximately 70 persons from Canada, Russia,Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finlandattended the workshop.

The question of how the Arctic Council can con-tinue its work on reindeer husbandry was an impor-tant issue at the workshop, and one of the statement

from the Chairmens Summary emphasised the impor-tance of bringing reindeer husbandry on the inter-national agenda and that the Arctic Council shouldinitiate a project to survey the situation in the reindeerhusbandry industry.

Norway brought a proposal of such an interna-tional project to the Arctic Council, and the project

was approved at the Ministerial meeting in Barrow,Alaska, in October 2000.

The formal start-up for the project was Octo-ber 1st 2000, and the project period is until 31st of

December 2002.

RussiaThe reindeer husbanbandry in Russia today is reced-ing. As a consequence of the transitional period andchanges of economic priorities in the Russian econ-omy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the totalreindeer stock has been reduced twice. Nevertheless,Russia still has two thirds of the worlds population ofdomesticated reindeer.

Unlike other Arctic countries the reindeer hus-bandry in Russia is very differentiated: representativesof 18 peoples are engaged in the industry and preserve

their national traditions due to reindeer husbandry. 16of them are included in the ofcial list of indigenoussmall-numbered people of the North.

The main areas of recession, where the reindeerstock has been reduced 4-5 times, are in the North-Eastern regions of the Russian Federation (RF) andin the Siberian taiga. The number of reindeer in theNorth-Western part of Russia is fairly stable.

The decline of the industry results in poverty forthe indigenous population connected with it. Becausereindeer husbandry is the base of the traditional cul-

ture and way of life of many indigenous peoples this

Executive Summary

Photo Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten


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SUSTAINABLE REINDEERHUSBANDRY

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has a destructive impact on the nomadic herdersfamilies and ethnic traditions.

A specic feature of the reindeer husbandry inRussia (compared with other Arctic countries) is thecentral role of reindeer enterprises with public andstate forms of ownership. The rate of reindeer inprivate property still remains low even after reformsduring the last decade. Enterprises consist of herdersbrigades. A brigade is a group of herders families,usually related to each other, who jointly manage theherds within a designated pasture area. The brigade

was introduced as an organisation principle duringthe Soviet period, and it is generally agreed to considerthe brigade as a the basic productive unit in reindeer

husbandry.Reindeer enterprises are subordinated to the

Departments of Agriculture in the Administrations(Governments) of the Subjects of the RF and to theRussian Ministry of Agriculture on the federal level.

During the latest reforms, the management systemof reindeer husbandry in Russia has been reduced con-siderably. Today, it is not in a position to control thesituation, especially on the federal level.

Reindeer herders in Russia are practically deprivedof the possibility to participate in decision making

processes in the reindeer husbandry management. The

NGOs of the reindeer herders need to be strength-ened. An important NGO is the Reindeer HerderUnion of Russia (RHUR), which works in contact

with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture in Moscow.The RHUR was established 7 years ago, and it is amember of the Association of Word Reindeer Herders.The RHUR suffers under a constant lack of fundingand staff that prevents it from working efciently.

The present economic situation in the Russianreindeer husbandry is not favourable. The domesticmarket is not developed, although its potential capac-ity is enormous. Selling prices on reindeer meat arevery low.

During the last decade the intensity in the reindeer

industry dropped and meat production in the enter-prises was reduced by 3.4 times. At the time beingreindeer husbandry is protable only in Murmanskoblast, where the meat is sold for export at a higherprice. In other regions the industry recedes despitegrants allocated from the federal and regional budg-ets. However, its protableness could be considerablyincreased by value-adding production, including highquality of reindeer meat and other products like softand dried antlers, deer skins, blood, etc.

Pasture resources are sufcient for a further devel-

opment of a sustainable reindeer husbandry in most

Photo Johnny Leo L. Jernsletten


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parts of the Russian North. However, in Yamal-NenetsAutonomous Okrug, which is the greatest region ofreindeer husbandry, pastures are heavily grazed. Thatis especially concerning since the Yamal Peninsula isthe most important area of new oil and gas exploita-

tion development in Russia.The decrease in the reindeer industry has stimu-lated the growth of several wild reindeer populationsin Taimyr, Yakutia and Chukotka. The wild and thedomestic reindeer, as ecological antagonists, constantlyconfront each other. In addition, the wild reindeerhunting produces meat at a low price and becomes acompetitor for the reindeer industry. On the whole,the combination of reindeer husbandry and wild rein-deer hunting is a rather difcult problem solve.

The legislation on reindeer husbandry has made

an important progress during the last years. Now,three subjects of the RF have special laws on reindeerhusbandry, although the federal law was not adopted.In all legal acts and law drafts the reindeer husbandryis regarded as a traditional economic activity of theindigenous peoples of the North and as an indispen-sable condition for the preservation of traditionalcultures and ways of living. However, at the presentstage the legal system in Russia still does not secure theherders rights in reindeer husbandry. Legal acts arefocused mainly on reindeer enterprises and set asideprivate reindeer owners.

Based on the background information collectedfor this project, we would make the following recom-mendations:

It is expedient to develop the legislation on rein-deer husbandry in Russia further, and to preparefavourable conditions for the ratication of theILO Convention no. 169.

It is expedient to support and develop the NGOsof reindeer herders. The aim is to enable a con-

structive dialogue between the herders organisa-tions and the Russian Government.

In order to get the reindeer husbandry in Russiasustainable, an economic, social and technologi-cal system based on scientic recommendationsand research should be realized. The rst variantof a State programme has been worked out by theRussian Reindeer herders Union and Yakutianscientists.

In areas of considerable recession (the taiga zoneand the North-East of Russia) the most urgent isto prevent a further decrease in the domesticatedreindeer stock and to improve the life conditionsfor the reindeer herders families.

In the North-Western part of Russia where thereindeer husbandry has remained stable it isexpedient to improve the facilities for the produc-tion of reindeer products through:

- investment in slaughtering houses to securehigh quality meat,

- investment in new technologies for full utili-zation of reindeer carcasses (incl. antlers, skins,

blood, glands for medicament and bio-prepara-tions, etc.),

- development of a domestic market for reindeermeat and other reindeer products.

Lack of pastures is a problem mainly in theYamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. This problemis enhanced by the oil and gas exploitation devel-opment in the area. Measures should be taken tosecure the future of reindeer husbandry in thisregion.

The large population of wild reindeer in Taimyr,Yakutia and Chukotka create difculties for thereindeer husbandry in these regions. A manage-ment system focusing on pasture use and exploita-tion of wild reindeer resources based on scienticrecommendations should be introduced to resolvethe wild reindeer problem.

AlaskaFrom the rst introduction of domesticated reindeerin 1892, Alaska experienced a rapid growth in thereindeer population. Around 1930 there were approx-imately 600.000 reindeer, half of these located on theSeward Peninsula. The decline of the reindeer popula-tion began in 1933, and by 1950 only 25.000 reindeerremained. In the period 1950-1992 the number ofreindeer increased to 41.000 animals, but then fell to19.000 in 1999. The estimation for the Seward Penin-


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sula 2001 is 9.000 reindeer and the industry is facinga major crisis at the moment.

The reindeer industry has made up an importantpart of the economy on Seward Peninsula for overa century. It has provided employment, food andincome to residents in the area where employmentopportunities were scarce. During the last 10 years,the industry has employed approximately 150 localpeople in different locations on the Seward Peninsula,in addition to the people employed on the differentislands. The peak income of the industry on SewardPeninsula amounted USD 1.500.000 in the early1990s, when 15 herds were in operation. Today the

reindeer industry suffers direct losses of $1 millionannually due to the caribou problem and the softantlers prices.

The reindeer industry on the Seward Peninsula isfacing a major threat at the moment, and this is thegrowing Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH). Theherd numbers approximately 440.000 animals, andis penetrating further and further into the SewardPeninsula. The economic value of the range resourcethroughout the peninsula is being devastated, andonce depleted, it will take many years to recover.

The huge caribou herd also attracts predators, but

the most serious is the run-off problem. In a situ-ation with a mix-up between domesticated reindeerand caribou, the reindeer will follow the caribou herdon its migration. All efforts to try to keep the caribouherd away from the grazing areas of the domesticatedreindeer have been without result.

The market for reindeer meat in Alaska is good.There is a demand in the local stores and from grocer-ies in Anchorage. All the meat available on the marketis sold. There is also a market for deliveries to thehigh-end restaurants in the lower-48s. The chal-lenges connected to the market are different kinds ofinfrastructure - access to abattoirs, transport, transport

costs and a demand for better docking facilities on theislands.

The Reindeer Act of 1937 is an important law,restricting ownership of reindeer to the native peoplesof Alaska. This right has been questioned by the courtsystem of Alaska, which states that the Reindeer Act of1937 only gives the exclusively right to reindeer hus-bandry of reindeer inside the State of Alaska, and notfor import of reindeer for sale.

Based on the background information collectedfor this project, we would make the following recom-

mendations:



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The growing caribou herd represents a majorthreat to the reindeer industry in Alaska. Thiscalls for a joint effort between the national man-agement system and the industry. Without a solu-

tion the industry will face a major crises in a fewyears.

The reindeer industry on the islands of Alaskahave several advantages that must be utilized.There is no problem with caribou or predators.However, he transport cost in Alaska is a disad-vantage for the development of the industry. Toto be able to realise the potential of the industry itis important to provide proper infrastructure likeabattoirs, transport and docking facilities, and

make the transport costs reasonable.

To further improve the management of theindustry at all levels there should be a focus onthe educational system. An establishment of areindeer herding school could inspire the youngergeneration to secure the future of the industry.

The exclusive rights to own reindeer for the nativepeoples in Alaska must be secured. The Reindeer

Act from 1937 is under threat, and to secure theserights will give the native peoples of Alaska anopportunity to make a living out of reindeer hus-bandry within their areas.

Norway, Sweden and FinlandThe reindeer pastures and the number of reindeer inNorway, Sweden and Finland are quite comparable.The gures for Norway for 2001 are 165.000 reindeergrazing on 140.000 square kilometres, or about 40%of Norway; the Swedish gures for 1998 are 227.000

reindeer grazing on 160.000 square kilometres, orabout 34% of Sweden, and the Finnish gures for2000 are 186.000 reindeer grazing on 114.000 squarekilometres, or 33% of Finland.

In contrast to Russia and Alaska, the reindeer hus-bandry in Scandinavia faces a challange because thepastures to a great extent are situated close to popu-lated areas, and conicts with other industries likefarming and forestry are common. In the southernSaami area in Sweden and Norway these conicts arethreatening to undermine the whole industry.

The three different management systems in

Norway, Sweden and Finland are based on the sameadministrative principles. The responsibility of thenational policy towards the reindeer industry islocated to the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry

of Agriculture delegates the executive authority of thereindeer policy to different government services out-side the Ministry.

The Saami concept of siida (community) is thetraditional way of organizing the reindeer owners, andtheir families. This concept is not part of the Norwe-gian, Swedish or Finnish management system today.

The Norwegian management system introducedthe Norwegian concept of husbandry unit to rein-deer husbandry. A husbandry unit is a licence givento one person in order to legally own reindeer and to

be part of a reindeer district. One family could holdseveral husbandry units.The Swedish system is similar to the Norwegian,

but the licence is connected to the membership of aSaami village. Each owner is an individual enterprise,and like in Norway, one family could consist of severalindividual enterprises.

The reindeer herding licence in Finland is con-nected to the membership of a district. Unlike inNorway and Sweden, reindeer husbandry is not anexclusive right for the Saami, but can be performed byall citizens of Finland.

The number of reindeer in Norway, Sweden andFinland show a similar development, with an increasein animals from the late 1970s and a peak between1989 -1991. After 1991 the trend has been a steadyreduction of the herds. The reduction in the numberof animals is partly due to a instruction from thenational authorities, partly the inuence of predators,and partly an understanding from the owners that thenumber of animals in 1989 was not on a sustainablelevel.

Sale of reindeer meat is the most important income

for the reindeer owners. In addition, there is incomefrom compensation of loss of reindeer, salary, pension,handy craft (duodji) and additional earnings. Theaverage income of a reindeer owner is lower than theaverage personal income among other groups of thesociety.

The main costs in the reindeer industry are con-nected to mechanical equipment, transport andconstructions, snow mobiles, motorbikes, cars, heli-copters etc. These are capital intensive tools for thereindeer owner, but also important in the daily work

in order to be able to keep up with the herd. Due to an


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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licences and decide the maximum number of huntersa day on their pasture areas. This situation gave theSaami villages an opportunity to inform the hunt-ers where the reindeer were and to avoid these areas.

After the changes in the legislation anybody can buy

a game licence in the local shop without any informa-tion about the reindeer husbandry and there is nolimit to the number of hunters. One consequence isan increased problem with disturbances of the herds,resulting in a lot of work to keep the herds together.

The reindeer market in Scandinavia are favorable.Reindeer meat is well received in the national mar-kets in Scandinavia, and is perceived as healthy andclean arctic food. The price of reindeer meat is muchhigher than for other comparable meat products. Atthe same time, the reindeer owners are mainly primary

producer of meat, and there is a potential for value-adding production.There is a extencive work concerning the legisla-

tion in the Scandinavian countries. At present, threeimportant reports - one Norwegian, one Swedish andone Norwegian-Swedish - are on public inquiry. Thisis the Norwegian report Proposal for an amendmentto the Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act (NOU2001:35), the Swedish A New Reindeer ManagementPolicy (SOU 2001:101) and Recommendationsfrom the Norwegian-Swedish reindeer pasture com-mission. All reports are expected to have impact onthe management system in both countries. In addi-tion, the public debates about a future ratication ofthe ILO Convention no. 169 is continuing in Swedenand Finland. Norway ratied the ILO Convention,no. 169 in 1990.

Based on the background information collectedfor this project, we would make the following recom-mendations:

The situation with loss of pasture connected to

infrastructure development is a major threat tothe reindeer industries of Norway, Sweden andFinland. A joint effort between national authori-

ties and the reindeer industry is needed to securethe remaining pasture areas.

The loss of access to pastures in the SouthernSaami area in Sweden and Norway is an on-going

dispute in the court system between reindeerowners and private landowners. This situationcalls upon immediate attention from the nationalgovernments.

Predators are a growing concern to the industry.Norway and Finland should look closer into thecompensation system of Sweden, which is basedon the occurrence of different predators insideone pasture area. The compensation systems mustbe based on a xed price on each reindeer.

The Saami reindeer husbandry is based on thefamily as a social and economic unit. The devel-opment during the last 30 years has reduced thefamily members rights and, as a consequence,their involvement in the industry. It is importantto strenghten the position of the family througha familiy-based reindeer husbandry, and reversethe development of the reindeer industry into aspecial branch of agriculture.

The positive development of value-adding pro-duction must continue in all countries. Thereindeer meat is a highly valued product, and theopportunities within the domestic markets arefavourable.

To increase the value-adding production the infor-mation about the rules and regulations connectedto meat production and the start-up of small scaleproductions must be made more easily accessiblefor the industry and the local governments.

Sweden and Finland are encouraged to intensifythe work towards a ratication of the ILO Con-vention no. 169.


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INTRODUCTION

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The Sustainable Reindeer Hus-

bandry Project - a short His-

toryThe project Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry wasapproved by the Arctic Council as a project under theSustainable Development Programme at the Ministe-rial meeting in Barrow, Alaska, in October 2000. Theaim of the project is to assess circumpolar reindeerherding and husbandry in relation to economic and

social/cultural sustainability. This is done by carry-ing out a thematic survey and assessment of reindeerhusbandry in the Arctic region (Norway, Sweden, Fin-land, Alaska and Russia).

The main objectives of the Sustainable ReindeerHusbandry project are:

Describe and analyse the present situation withregard to economic and social conditions

Describe and analyse the present situation withregard to national management of reindeer hus-bandry

Describe and analyse the present situation withregard to current legislation in the reindeer hus-bandry

Origin of the project

At the rst ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council,in Iqaluit Canada, the former Norwegian foreignminister Knut Vollebk, focused on different Arctic

industries (oil & gas, sheries, and reindeer herding)and how these industries are related to sustainabledevelopment. Vollebk stated that Norway wouldinitiate international workshops within these themes.The workshop, which discussed reindeer husbandry,was held in Kautokeino, Norway, in March 2000under the heading Sustainable reindeer herding andhusbandry. The chairmens summary from the work-shop states:

The Arctic Council should initiate a project to

survey the situation in the reindeer husbandry

INTRODUCTION



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industry. Such a project would have to considerthe different aspects of reindeer husbandry andbe carried out in collaboration with the Associa-tion of World Reindeer Herders.

The formal start-up for the project was October 1st2000, and the project period is until 31st of December2002.

The Sustainable Reindeer Hus-

bandry Process

Collection of data

The project has collected the latest available nationalstatistics about reindeer husbandry, managementplans, assessments for predators, documents about thedifferent national management policies and scienticpapers about the development in reindeer husbandry.In addition to this written material, a set of interviews

with reindeer herders and owners, bureaucrats andresearchers in Russia, Alaska, Norway, Sweden andFinland have been accomplished. Several eld tripshave been undertaken to different parts of Russia,

Alaska, Norway, Sweden and Finland during theperiod May 2001 to April 2002.

In order to full the requirements from the objec-tives of the project, the following information wasneeded:

National management of reindeer husbandry

National level

Regional level

Local level

Compensation

Government subsidy

Household/Family/Community

Distribution of income in the family

Income from meat and other products from rein-deer

Cost in reindeer husbandry

Number of reindeer in different forms of owner-ship

External conditions

Conicts with other industries

Predators

Access to and requirement for abattoir

Access to market

Inuence of wild reindeer (Russia and Alaska)

Legislation

National legislation

Regional legislation

Local legislation

Based on this material and the results of the eldtrips the present situation in the circumpolar reindeerhusbandry has been described and analysed.

In addition to the eld trips, a seminar with thetitle Reindeer Husbandry in a Circumpolar Per-spective was arranged by the project April 26-27 inKautokeino, Norway, with approximately 50 partici-pants. The overall theme of the seminar was the socio-economic development of reindeer husbandry in the

Arctic countries and the development of nationallegislation connected to reindeer husbandry. There

was a special focus on the situation of the industryin Russia and the new reindeer husbandry legislationbeing proposed in Norway and Sweden. The two-daysseminar included presentations from legal experts andother speakers representing Russia, Sweden, Finland,

Alaska and Norway. The organisers of the seminarwere Nordic Saami Institute in Kautokeino, The Asso-ciation of World Reindeer Herders and the Centre forSaami Studies, University of Troms.

The chapters in this report is organised aroundfour main themes: a) National management of rein-deer husbandry, b) Economy connected to household/

family/community level, c) External conditions thataffect reindeer husbandry and d) Legislation.

Presentation of the statistic

To collect the ofcial statistics from each countryis a time consuming process. The management ofthe reindeer husbandry is different from country tocountry. This means that the responsibility for thestatistics is organised differently in each country andconsiderable time is needed to navigate through the

bureaucracy.


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One of the main challenges connected to the datacollecting process is the diversity in ofcial statistic

- or the diversity in focus in the collected material. Forinstance there is extensive information on slaughter-ing weight in one country, with a complete absent of

this information in another country. Given this situ-ation, the type and focus of the statistics presented inthis report will change according to the national dataon reindeer husbandry.

All gures in the tables and diagrams in the reportare presented in the original/national currency of thecountry described. As a consequence, the report willoperate with ve currencies - American dollar (USD),Russian rouble (RUS), Finnish mark (FIM), Swedishkrone (SEK) and Norwegian krone (NOK).

Setting up the project in a

Arctic Council framework

The framework for the project is the Arctic Coun-cil and the Sustainable Development Programme

which is part of the Sustainable Development WorkingGroup (SDWG). It has been important for Norway, asthe originator of the project, to carry out the projectin accordance with the Sustainable DevelopmentFramework Document and Terms of Reference for

a Sustainable Development Programme.As noted in the Terms of Reference, the goals of theSustainable Development Programme is to

propose and adopt steps to be taken by theArctic States to advance sustainable developmentin the Arctic, including opportunities to protectand enhance the environment and the econo-mies, culture and health of indigenous commu-nities and of other inhabitants of the Arctic, as

well as to improve the environmental, economic

and social conditions of Arctic communities asa whole.

The Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry project aimsto provide foundation necessary for realizing the goalsmentioned in the Terms of Reference



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What do we mean with Sus-

tainable Development?The Arctic Council has made some reference pointsto emphasize what could be included in the phrase

Sustainable Development: Sustainable Development must meet the needs

of the present without compromising the abilityof future generations to meet their own needs.Economic, social and cultural developmentsare, along with environmental protection, inter-dependent and mutually reinforcing aspects ofSustainable Development and are all part of theCouncils focus in this regard.

The Sustainable Development Programmeshould leave future generations in the North with

expanded opportunities, and promote economicactivity that creates wealth and human capital,

while simultaneously safeguarding the naturalcapital of the Arctic.

Sustainable Development must be based on sound

science, traditional knowledge of indigenous andlocal people, and prudent conservation and man-agement of resources, and it must benet fromand strenghten the innovative and educationalprocesses of northern communities.

In the same document the Arctic Council attachesspecial importance to a number of subject areas. Someof these are particularly important to this project:

Sustainable economic activities and increasing

community prosperity. To be sustainable, Arctic



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The Framework of the ReportThe report aims to give an overview of the socio-economic situation in reindeer husbandry in thecircumpolar area. To be able to conduct this within atwo-years period, the focus has been on a national level.

The report gives an introduction to and an overviewof the socio-economic situation within each country;an analysis of the situation within each country; andto some extent a comparison of some aspects betweenthe countries. The report will only to a limited extentrefer to the historical background and the develop-ment of reindeer husbandry in each country.

The writing of the Report

The text and the illustrations that constitute this

report are the work of several persons; project man-ager Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten has prepared chapter4, 5, 6, and 7; the russian co-ordinator KonstantinKlokov has prepared chapter 3. Chapter 1, 2 and 8 area joint effort between Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten andKonstantin Klokov. In addition to this the followingpersons have made direct contributions to chapter3 - Evgheni Syroechkovski, Artom Rybkin, MarinaZenko, and Aleksandr Komarov.

During the preparation of this report, the Associa-tion of World Reindeer Herders offered the project toinclude a short report about the current situation inMongolia. The report is based on the WRH latest visitto Mongolia. This report is included as Appendix Aand Johan-Mathis Turi is responsible for the text.

What is not included in the project

The project`s main focus is towards economic andsocial science in reindeer husbandry, which also isreected in the objectives of the project. This meansthat reindeer biology, assessment of pastures, andother ecological components, have not been part of

this project.

Areas of studiesThe background for the selection was a wish fromthe Arctic Council to get an overview and an reporton the present status in the reindeer industry in thecircumpolar area. The time schedule for the project

communities must have an appropriate eco-nomic basis to ensure their survival.

Management of natural, including living,resources. This must be based on sound sci-

ence and traditional knowledge to maintain anddevelop local settlements in the Arctic.

Organisational StructureThe project has been headed by an international steer-ing committee. The members of the steering commit-tee have been:

Jan Tore Holvik, Senior Arctic Ofcial andAmbassador, The Norwegian Ministry of ForeignAffairs (Head of the Steering Committee)

Dag Lenvik, Deputy Director, The NorwegianMinistry of Agriculture (Until 31.12.2001)

Sigurd Svela, Senior Executive Ofcer, TheNorwegian Ministry of Agriculture (From01.01.2002)

Johan-Klemet Kalstad, Director, Nordic SaamiInstitute, Kautokeino

Johan-Mathis Turi, President, Association ofWorld Reindeer Herders, Troms

Tatjana S. Nikolajeva, Senior Consultant, TheRussian Ministry of Agriculture

Vasilij A. Zabrodin, Chairman of the co-ordina-tion team for the North-Western sector of Acad-emy of Agriculture Sciences, St. Petersburg

Nina Hellstrm, Senior Executive Ofcer, TheFinnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

The project manager, Johnny-Leo L. Jernsletten,located at the Centre for Saami Studies, University ofTroms, heads the day-to-day work. He is responsiblefor the scientic work of the project and for the prepa-ration of the project report. A Russian co-ordinator,Konstantin Klokov, located at the Institute of Geog-raphy, St.Petersburg State University, has also beenfull-time employed in the project. The project man-ager and the russian co-ordinator have worked as thesecretariat for the International Steering Committee.


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has been too narrow to include all areas with reindeerhusbandry in these countries, but in co-operation

with different national reindeer herders organisations,we were able to point out special areas of interest.

The limited time available for this project (October

2000 - October 2002) means that some limitation onthe geographical focus was necessary. The consecven-ses are that the reindeer husbandry in China, Canadaand Greenland is not included in this presentation.Mongolia was not part of the project, but a shortreport from Mongolia is included as Appendix A.

Organisations and institutions

connected to the project

A considerable number of organisations and insti-tutions have made valuable contributions to theproject.

In Norway:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Ministry of Agriculture

Nordic Saami Institute

Association of World Reindeer Herders

Norwegian Reindeer Herders Association

University of Troms

In Sweden:

University of Uppsala

The National Union of the Swedish SaamiPeople

In Finland:

The Ministry of Agriculture- and Forestry

The Reindeer Herders Association

In Russia:

The Ministry of Agriculture

Institute for Agriculture economy in North-westRussia

Russian Reindeer Herders Union

Readers Guide

The report is divided into eight chapters and oneappendix:

Chapter 1:Introduction to the report withbackground information about the Sustainable

Reindeer Husbandry project, participants in theproject and the framework for this report.

Chapter 2: offers a introduction to the reindeerindustry and gives a short introduction to theconcepts of reindeer husbandry.

Chapter 3: reindeer husbandry in Russia

Chapter 4: reindeer husbandry in Alaska

Chapter 5: reindeer husbandry in Norway

Chapter 6: reindeer husbandry in Sweden

Chapter 7: reindeer husbandry in Finland

Appendix A: short report about the present situa-tion in reindeer husbandry in Mongolia

Appendix B: Recommendations from the Interna-tional Steering Committee


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INTRODUCTION

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Map 1: Overview, Circumpolar AreaMap GRID Arendal


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BASIC CONSEPTSINTHE REINDEERINDUSTRY

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Introduction

This chapter presents a short overview of the cir-cumpolar reindeer herding landscape and some ofthe universal principles behind reindeer husbandry.

We will introduce the reader to some of the conceptsconnected to the reindeer industry as a way-of-life.It is meant to be a short introduction as a help tothose readers who are not familiar with the reindeer

industry.The chapter will also focus on the exceptional

diversity found within the reindeer industry in thecircumpolar area. The reindeer herding communitiesare by no means a homogeneous mass that will reactin one particular way to external pressures, or changedmarket conditions, but must be considered equallyheterogeneous as groups found in any other society.This is an important point that also will be conrmedthroughout the report. This is a point that Flandersemphasises in connection with the opening of the

Northern Sea Route:

Perhaps the most important suggestion made inthe Alaskan material is that indigenous groups

will not be affected uniformly. [...] Indigenousgroups should not be treated as a single mass, allaffected the same way.

The point made from Flanders is valid in our contextwhen it comes to the reindeer herding communities.

PasturesIn many national management systems the reindeerindustry is placed under the Ministry of Agriculture,although it differs in many aspects from what wenormally consider as agriculture. Reindeer have theability to utilize pastures in the outlying eld that noother animal could use, especially when it comes tolichen. But reindeer can not live only on lichen. Thereindeer herd requires different pastures according to

seasons. And in order to meet the need for different

BASIC CONCEPTS IN THE

REINDEER INDUSTRY

Rock carving, Alta, NorwayPhoto: Johnny Leo L. Jernsletten


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BASIC CONSEPTSINTHE REINDEERINDUSTRY

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The community could consist of several families andtheir reindeer herds. The siida is not just a workingpartnership, but also a central basis for the traditionaluse of the grazing areas.

In Russia after the socialist reorganisations ofeconomy in the 1930s the main part of the reindeerowners became wage workers for kolkhozes andsovkhozes. Small private herds were united into largerones (from several hundred animals in the taiga areasto 2.000-3.000 on the tundra). To guard large herdsthe herders families had been divided into brigades.

Accordingly, the brigade is considered a basic produc-tive unit in reindeer husbandry in Russia today. The

brigade is a group of families, usually related to eachother, who jointly manage one herd within a desig-nated pasture area. During perestroika kolkhozesand sovkhozes were transformed into other types ofenterprises, but the brigades have remained the basicelement of the industry.

The basis for the ReportThe reindeer industry is an important part of the soci-

eties in Russia, Alaska, Norway, Sweden and Finland,

but it is rather invisible in comparison with otherindustries. At the same time, it is an area intensiveindustry dependent on extensive grazing grounds.

Relatively speaking, and according to differentnational statistics, a small number of people are con-nected to the industry. In connection with this anoften raised question occurs from persons outside theindustry: how much consideration should be taken toprotect and safeguard this industry against other inter-ests in the society? In accordance with internationallegislation, the fundamental viewpoint of this reportis that reindeer husbandry forms a way-of-life morethan a way-of-production. A loss of this industry

will not only mean a loss of reindeer meat and otherproducts to a market, it will also mean a loss of many

Arctic cultures.The interviews conducted for this report with the

reindeer herders, reindeer owners and other personsconnected to the industry, have clearly shown that theself-esteem and self-respect of the people involved inreindeer husbandry is strong, even increasing, despitethe fact that the industry in some areas is ghting forsurvival. This is the case in the eastern part of Russia,and the western part of Alaska; and the development

in the southern part of Sweden is not optimistic. Still,

Articial feeding of reindeer.Photo: Johnny Leo L. Jernsletten


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Collected data

This chapter is written on the base of three mainsources of data:

four special reports written by Russian experts:

Evgeni Syroechkovskii (Wild reindeer), MarinaZenko (Legal status of reindeer husbandry),

Atriom Rybkin (National management ofreindeer husbandry), and Aleksandr Komarov(Reinder Herder Union of Russia);

four reports on eld works conducted by Kon-stantin Klokov and Johnny-Leo L. Jernslettenin four reindeer husbandry regions of Russia(Murmnsk Oblast, Yamal-Nenets AutonomousOkrug, Yakutia and Chukotka);

statistic data, collected during eldworks andreceived from the Russian Ministry of Agricultureand the Reindeer Herder Union of Russia.

Maps are made by Olga Petina.

Reindeer herding peoples

Unlike Norway, Sweden and Finland there are manydifferent peoples engaged in reindeer husbandry inRussia. Representatives of the 16 reindeer breeding

peoples are in the ofcial list of indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North. Besides them, sepa-rate groups of Komi and Yakuts are also engaged inreindeer husbandry, but they are not included in thelist, because their number is over 50.000. There are noRussian reindeer herders now, but Russian often workin reindeer enterprises as administrative ofcials andas specialists (veterinaries, zootechnicians, account-ants) or work with equipment (mechanics, driversof tractors, land-rovers, etc.). It should be noted, thatreindeer husbandry in Russia is not an exclusive right

for indigenous peoples.Nenets, Komi, Saami, Evens, Evenks, Chukchi,Koriaks, Khants, and Dolgans have cultural tradi-tions closely connected with reindeer breeding, theirmode of life and economy depend mostly on reindeer(see map this page).

From a cultural point of view there are four typesof reindeer husbandry in Russia:

Map 1: Areas of Reindeer Husbandry, Indigenous Peoples in Russia


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Such husbandry is mostly orintede towards subsist-ence and transport. It does not produce a lot of meat,as the reindeer are used mostly for the transport needsof indigenous populations especially during the furanimal hunting season. The reindee also supply thee

herders families with meat and skins. Main incomecomes not from the reindeer themselves, but fromproducts of hunting with aid of these animals (mainlyfrom fur skins).

In the past, up to the end of the 1950s - beginningof 1960s, reindeer of the Russian North were usedfor post and pack transportation, and reindeer ownershad their main income from reindeer rent. Largeherds were held especially for this purpose. Before theestablishement of kolkhozes, some reindeer herdersfamilies (especially Evens, Evenks, Khants) had

Trends in number of domesticated rein-

deer

The number of domesticated reindeer in Russia hasbeen changing signicantly within the last 100 years

in the range of from 1.2 million (2001) to almost 2.5million (1969). The main reasons for these changeshave been of social and economic character.

The rst accurate registration of the reindeerpopulation in Russia was carried out in 1926-1927,the total was 2.195.000 reindeer, and all belonged toprivate owners. Reindeer husbandry had three mainpurposes: the use of animals for transport, subsistenceeconomy and meat production.

In the 1930s the transformation of reindeer herdsinto public ownership was a very painful process for

Northern indigenous peoples, especially at the initialstage. The size of private herds was strictly limited.As a result, the total number of domesticated rein-

deer in Russia decreased by 1934 to the minimumlevel of 1.434.700.

Then the total number of reindeer increased stead-ily, though slowly and unstably at rst. In the 1960sand 1970s, the number of domesticated reindeer wasby far over 2 million (Figure 1) and in the period1968-1972 it was at the maximum (over 2.400.000).

At that time the percentage of private-owned reindeerwas at the lowest (11-13%).

The indigenous peoples of the North were stillpassively opposed to public reindeer husbandry, butthrough a generation gradually got accustomed toit. It played an important role that the Soviet gov-ernment paid great attention to the public reindeerhusbandry and allocated large sums of money fordeveloping it. Various zootechnic and veterinary pro-cedures were carried out on a wide scale. In particular,considerable work was done in overcoming reindeerdiseases, like anthrax, scabies, brucellosis, necrobacil-losis. Great attention was paid to the scientic support

of reindeer husbandry. In Norilsk, Yakutsk, Magadanand Naryan-Mar special institutes and a network ofresearch stations were set up to service the agricultureof the North, and reindeer husbandry occupied aprominent place among the agricultural projects. Newtechnical means were taken into use in reindeer hus-bandry, like special caterpillar vehicles, airplanes andhelicopters, radio communication and electric powersupply.

Unfortunately, the same period was characterizedby purposeful struggle against the nomadic way of life

of reindeer herders and Northern peoples in general.

thousands reindeer for transport. Later the kolkhozes

and sovkhozes in the taiga zone had big prots fromthe rent of transport reindeer for geological and otherexpeditions. Besides, they had additional income frommeat. Now reindeer are rented only for the transporta-tion of tourists. But this branch of the turist business is

just emerging in Russia.These are some reasons for the shortening of the

taiga type of reindeer husbandry in Siberia duringthe last decades. This type of reindeer herding hascompletely disappeared in the European North. Thats

why the taiga zone is also called the zone of disappear-

ing reindeer husbandry.

Figure 1: Dynamics of Number of Domesticated

Reindeer in Russia, in Thousand


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Modern situation in main reindeer hus-

bandry regions

As noticed before, all reindeer herding regions inRussia can be divided into three zones according to

their geographical, ethnic and economic characteris-tics. They differs in terms of modernization tendencyto change and perspectives on the future develop-ment.

The North-West Zone (Figure 4)

The zone includes the tundra and forest-tundra fromthe western borders of the RF to the Yenisei. It is theterritory of Saamis, Nenets and Komi-izhems rein-deer herding within the limits of the Murmansk and

Arkhangelsk Oblasts, the Komi Republic, the Yamal-

Nenets and western part of Taimyr AO. Although thisregion has been under intensive oil and gas exploita-tion, the reindeer husbandry here is comparativelystable. The number of reindeer on the mian part ofthis territory is constant or shortens little during thelast decade (see Figure 2). In two districts (Yamal, andTaz) it has gradually grown. The economic conditionsfor further development of reindeer husbandry in thenorthwestern Russia are comparatively favorable. Par-ticularly it is connected with a high level of industrialdevelopment in the region, where there is intensiveoil and gas exploitation (Yamal-Nenets and Nenets

AO). The Yamal-Nenets AO is now the largest region

of reindeer husbandry. Almost a half of all Russiandomesticated reindeer are concentrated here. Themain factors that prevent it from developing futher arestorage, processing and realization of reindeer meat;there is also a lack of pastures in many places.

The North-East Zone (Figure 5)

The zone includes territories of tundra, forest-tundra,and northern mountainous taiga in the east from Yeni-sei (Yakutia, Chukotka and Koriak AO, Kamchatka,and Magadan oblasts).

Reindeer husbandry here is the occupation ofEvens, Chukchi, and Koriaks. It is an area of rapidrecession in number of reindeer and as a consequenceimpoverishment of indigenous population connected

with reindeer husbandry . To stabilize the situation

stable and to stop the shortening in number of rein-deer, nancial support for reindeer enterprises andherders families from regional budgets takes place.But there are no obvious results. The perspectives ofthe branch are uncertain. Reindeer husbandry hereseems to develop only with other branches of thetraditional economy (hunting on wild reindeer, furanimals, sea mammals, shing) as parts of a commoneconomic unit.

The Siberian Taiga Zone (Figure 6)

The zone includes all reindeer herding regions ofthe Siberian taiga (Evenkia, Buriatia, Tyva, Irkutsk,

Figure 6: Dynamics of Number of Domesticated Reindeer in Southern Regions and Taimyr,


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Map 3: Number of Domesticated Reindeer per 100 sq km

Map 4: Trends in Domesticated Reindeer Number, 1999/1990, %


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Budgets, which were appointed as measures of addi-tional support of the northern reindeer husbandry.The Ministry of Agriculture of the RF considers, thatto improve the situation in reindeer husbandry it isnecessary promptly to pass a special federal law On

Reindeer Husbandry.The Ministry of Agriculture is not the only stateorgan managing reindeer husbandry issues. Thesequestions form a considerable part of the commonFederal purpose program Economic and SocialDevelopment of Indigenous Peoples of the Northuntil 2011.

The main executors of the Programme has beenthe Ministry on Federation Issues, National andMigration Politics of the the RF (in autumn of 2001this Ministry was dismissed), other interested federal

organs of executive power, executive authorities ofsubjects of the RF and local government, associationsof indigenous peoples, the Reindeer Herder Union ofRussia and other organizations.The main aims of the program are:

to support reindeer husbandry and other tradi-tional activities and handicrafts of indigenouspopulation;

to develop processing of their production;

to create trading stations to increase trade andbarter with indigenous communities;

to improve local energy supply;

to develop market infrastructure, social infra-structure, system of health protection and humanservices. Intellectual and national culture develop-ment and perfection of educational system in theFar North are also included in the Program.

Regional level of Reindeer Husbandry

Management

On the regional level the reindeer management is exe-cuted by the Departments of Agriculture of regional

Administrations, in the republics by Ministries ofAgriculture. In the regions with districts or otheradministrative division there are additional manage-ment units, such as Departments of Agriculture in

Administrations of the districts. Regional and districtadministrations have a staff of specialists in reindeerhusbandry, veterinarian service and, ideally, nancialand legal consultants. Unfortunately, in most of theregions agricultural administrations are understaffed

with specialists on reindeer husbandry.

Acharactheristic of the organisation of small clan communities in southern Yakutia isthe private ownership of reindeer among the members of community, that are kept in thecommon herd. Each reindeer has the label of its owner. However, it may be used for trans-

port purposes also by other members of the community. The reindeer of each owner are consideredas his share in the common clan community ownership. At the same time, in ofcial documents

for the Statistic Board all these reindeer are considered the property of the clan community. Itgives the herders a possibility to receive state support. Thus, small clan communities in southernYakutia operate as co-operative societies. Their members do not receive wages from the incomesof the communities (by the exception of state grants). Quite often members of clan communitiessimultaneously are workers of the sovkhozes or other state enterprise. As workers of the sovkhozethey may be included into reindeer herders brigades. They may keep reindeer of the sovkhoze andreindeer of the clan community in one common herd. This situation became possible because thesmall clan communities were formed under the initiative of the Association of Indigenous Peoplesof the North even before the reorganisation of the sovkhoses. As an opposite, in northern Yakutiathe clan communities were mostly created from the state farms, and in many cases it was onlythe changes of a signboard. This is the reason, why small clan communities in southern Yakutia,which have been organised like co-operative societies are more viable and more active than largercommunities, organised like sovkhozes.


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Administrations draw up instructions and rec-ommendations, long-term plans of development ofreindeer husbandry, coordinate activity of reindeerenterprises, settle questions on distribution of budgetmeans (local and federal), etc. They usually hold

annual conferences of the leaders of the reindeer enter-prises for working out strategies for the developmentof the branch, experience exchanging and dealing andother issues.

The other important items of the reindeer man-agement in regions are Committees of Land-use andland Resources which are responsible for the use ofreindeer pastures (see Figure 7). They set the lines ofland tenures and, moreover, until recently they wereresponsible for the organization of pastural territories

within reindeer enterprises. This concerned, rst of

all, large enterprises, with several reindeer herds. Theirterritories have been divided into brigade pasture lots,which in turn have been divided into seasonal plotsaccording to forage capacity of the pastures. All pas-tures have been mapped and their carrying capacityhave been calculated on the base of special botanicalaerial surveys.

The structure, described above, is an ideal for thestate management of the reindeer enterprises on theregional level. However, it is not convenient for themanagement of private reindeer husbandry undermodern conditions.

For example, in the Yamal-Nenets AutonomousOkrug the Department of Agriculture is responsi-ble for the reindeer husbandry management for the

Administration of the Okrug. The State Committeeof Land-Use and Land Resources is responsible for theuse of reindeer pastures. Both the Department and theCommittee deal directly (without mediation of theDistricts Administrations) with managers of publicand state enterprises but they do not deal with ownersof private reindeer. This means that only 12 largeenterprises (erlier sovkhozes) with 153.000 reindeer

(33 % of the total number of reindeer) are under theoperative control of the Yamal-Nenets AutonomousOkrug Administration. The lack of means to controlprivate reindeer husbandry became a major problemfor the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Adminis-tration. This has resulted in some hostility towards theprivate herders and conicts between them and largeenterprises.

The above-mentioned structure of regional man-agement is mainly characteristic for the regions of thetundra type of reindeer husbandry. In the taiga zone,

where reindeer herding has an auxiliary function, it is

often of little interests for the agricultural administra-tions. In this case the committees or departments forindigenous peoples issues take up reindeer manage-ment. Unfortunately, as the experience shows, anunprofessional approach has resulted in the loss of

administrative control on reindeer husbandry in thesecases.In some regions, for example in the Sakha (Yaku-

tia) Republic, the management system of reindeerhusbandry has specic features. There are two basictypes of enterprises owning reindeer in this Repub-lic: the clan communities and the state enterprises.The clan communities are the main successors to thebroken up sovkhozes. However, until now many rein-deer enterprises have kept the state form of ownership:state unitary enterprises and municipal unitary

enterprises.Nearly all the state enterprises are under the juris-diction of the Ministry of Argiculture of the Sakha(Yakutia) Republic. But, in contrast to the Depart-ments of Agriculture in Administrations of otherregions in the Russian North (for example the Yamal-Nenets AO), the Ministry of Agriculture of the SakhaRepublic does not work directly with enterprises.

According to the concept of management of reindeerhusbandry (as well as other branches of agriculture inthe Sakha Republic), the Ministry only creates condi-tions for economic development, but does not par-ticipate in the decisions making. The administrativetask of the Ministry is to develop state mechanismsthat support and stimulat the reindeer husbandry.Enterprises are not subordinate to the Ministry andthe Ministry has not divisions in uluses (districts inthe Sakha Republic), i.e. the administrative verticalstructure is absent. Although the Ministry commu-nicates with enterprises only through the administra-tions of the uluses, the departments of agriculture inthe administrations of the uluses are not subordinatedto the Ministry.

However, this variety in management of reindeerhusbandry in different regions does not exclude, butrather conrms the proposal on improvement ofregional reindeer husbandry management, preparedby Dr. Syrovatsky (2000), concerning working outuniversal standards of organizational and zoovet-erinarian measures for the enterprises with differenttypes of ownership and the same type of reindeerhusbandry. These standards should provide for andregulate: methods of formation of herds and brigades,material support, order of use of pastures, terms and

methods of veterinarian works and zootechnical


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conditions are the base reasons for the state supportof the northern agricultural enterprises, that is deter-mined by the Law On the Basis of GovernmentalRegulations of Social-economic Development of theNorth of the Russian Federation (1996) and govern-

mental decrees On Additional Measures of State Sup-port of Reindeer Husbandry in 2000-2005 and Onthe Federal Purpose Program Economic and SocialDevelopment of Indigenous Peoples of the Northuntil 2011.

Today, the main type of state support, that isreceived by reindeer enterprises, is direct grantsd forall kinds of meat and other agricultural producs. Thisgrant is paid from regional budgets to all meat produc-ers (including reindeer enterprises and, in a numberof regions, also private reindeer owners). The regions

administrations annually x the rates of subsidy for1 kg of meat production. The biggest subsidies havebeen payed in Chukotka, Yamal-Nenets, and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs.

Besides, since 2000 special nancial means fromthe federal budget are assigned for the direct sup-port of reindeer husbandry. In 2001 the reindeer

enterprises received federal support at the rate of 110roubles per reindeer.

In some regions the local budgets also appropri-ate special direct grants to reindeer enterprises. Forexample, in the Tyva Republic grants at the rate of

450 roubles per reindeer is provided in addition to110 roubles of the federal grant. In several regions theadministrations give special grants to enterprises lack-ing reindeer and private reindeer owners for purchaseof live reindeer.

A few regions has more developed mechanism ofreindeer husbandry support (see text in box).

In all northern regions, besides the direct grants,recovering of the transport costs should become a veryimportant element of the state support. The transportcomponent in the prime price of the reindeer hus-

bandry production asmounts to 60 %. The Ministryof Agriculture of Russia has proposed to assign 322million roubles as transport compensations for agri-cultural enterprises of the Far North from additionalbudget sources. Such compensations are already madenow in a number of regions. For example, in theNenets AO 80 % of the transport costs for delivery of

Nenets from the Enysei River in Western Part of Taimyr Autonomuos Okrug, RussiaPhoto Konstantin Klokov


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production of reindeer enterprises to Narjan-Mar arerecovered.

It should also be noted, that the state granting ofthe social sphere of the reindeer husbandry seems veryimportant now.

State capital investments in reindeer

husbandry

During the last four years due to a default in 1998 asharp decrease in the capital investments into the agri-culture in the North and the reindeer husbandry inparticular, took place. During three years no slaughterhouses were built (Materials of the Ministry of Agri-culture of RF to Parliament hearings, 2001).

In the present situation, the reindeer husbandrycan not in practice obtain commercial credits. That iswhy it is very important to assign state means for thedevelopment of capital for construction in reindeerhusbandry. Now, the main capital investments intothe branch are specied by the Federal purpose pro-gram Economic and Social Development of Indig-enous Peoples of the North until 2010.

Besides, regional authorities create their ownprograms of reindeer husbandry development. Theyaimto get reindeer enterprises protable, to developdomestic markets, to start new technologies and toproduce new kinds of products from reindeer. Usu-ally such programs propose to use not only regionalbudget means, but, rst of all, to obtain long-termcredits from exterior organizations and off-budgetfunds.

The Reindeer Herders Union of Russia

The Reindeer Herders Union of Russia (RHUR) wasestablished in 1995 according to the federal law On

non-commercial organizations. It includes more than220 physical and juridical persons from all reindeerregions of the Russian North. Units of reindeer asso-ciations from the republics of Komi, Sakha (Yakutia),Tyva, Chukotka, Yamal-Nenets, Khanty-Mansi,Nenets, Evenks A.O., social-political organizations Association of Indigenous Small-number Peoplesof the Russian North, Siberia and Far West, founda-tions of support for indigenous peoples of the RussianNorth and their traditional activity are also membersof the RHUR.

The leading organ of the RHUR according to itsRegulations is the Congress of Reindeer Herders ofRussia; between Congresses the Government andthe Executive Direction of the Union. There is alsoa Scientic-coordinating Council. The RHUR does

not have any constant nancing resources except smallmembership fees for ofce expenses. This fact preventsthe Union from working more afciently.

The Executive Direction works with the Govern-ment of the RF, the Parliament of the RF, the Russian

Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy ofAgricultural Sciences, and other institutions. There isvisible development in the cooperation between theRHUR and the regional northern administrations,their departments of agriculture and with the NGOsof the indigenous peoples of the North.

The Reindeer Herders Union of Russia is amember of the association of Word Reindeer Herders.Business relations between the RHURs Governmentand Direction and the associations and organizationsof reindeer herders from Norway, Finland, Sweden,and Canada usually solve practical tasks. For example,educational institutions of Russia and Finland haveconcluded the agreements on education and trainingof reindeer herders and specialists in reindeer breed-ing, and to work out co-educational programs, holdyearly educating seminars in Kautokeino (Norway),Inary (Finland), Murmansk and Moscow (Russia).The next seminar will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk(Russia).

Together with the Institute of the Problems ofSmall-numbered Indigenous Peoples of the Rus-sian North (Russian Ac. Sci, Siberian Dep.) and theRosniizemproectthe RHUR has made an alternativevariant of an important governmental project thestate program of Stabilization and Future Develop-ment of Reindeer Husbandry up to 2010. It hasprincipally different aim. It suggests that the meansof federal budget sould be spend not only on creating

productive objects, but also on recreating the numberof reindeer and provide what is necessary to help thereindeer herder recreate dispersed households, preparenew reindeer breeding personnel and preserve the tra-ditional way of life. This is a real opportunity to facethe crisis in Russian reindeer husbandry. It is expedi-ent to create enterprises for reindeer slaughtering andreindeer meat processing in the districts where thereindeer stock is not strongly reducing.

The reworking program was supported by theorganizations of the indigenous peoples of the North-


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ern regions and became a basic methodical manual forthe working out and supporting programs of reindeerhusbandry development and is carried out now bythe administrations of all major reindeer regions inRussia.

The RHUR also proposed to work out a Schemeof Land-use in the Regions of the Far North to directreindeer pastures and hunting territories which wascarried out by the Rosniizemproect in 2000-2001.

The Russian Federation is the only Arctic Statethat has not regulated the relationships with indig-enous peoples in the sphere of natural resources useand nature protection. So the second Congress ofRHUR asked the president of the RF V. V. Putin tosupport the working out of the law acts package on theproblems of the northern indigenous peoples.

The Reindeer Herders Union of Russia looks for-ward to international support of governmental andnon-governmental organizations, such as the ArcticCouncil, the Northern Forum, and the Barents-Region. The Russian North is in a crisis. It needs notonly nancial support, but also to gain experience ofstable reindeer husbandry that takes place in the Scan-dinavian countries.

Economy of Reindeer Hus-

bandry

Main types of reindeer enterprises

There are two main types of reindeer enterprises inRussia: one has reindeer husbandry as a main activity,in the other reindeer husbandry has an auxiliary func-tion. The rst one is situated mainly on the tundra,and the second mainly in the taiga.

Enterprises where reindeer husbandry is a mainactivity

The reindeer husbandry production is a basic activ-ity for most of the joint enterprises, clan communi-ties, close corporations, co-operatives and privateenterprises on the pasture areas on the tundra, theforest-tundra and, partly, in the mountainous-taiga.

All those enterprises appeared from former kolkhozesand sovkhozes, which were created in the territories ofnorthern peoples in 1930s-1950s .

It is typical for those enterprises that the number

of reindeer tends to a maximum from the point of

view of the pastures carrying capacity or the numberof workers. Usually reindeer are divided into severalherds. A group of workers takes care of each herd.Single reindeer herds are characterized by a compara-tively constant sex-age structure, which reects the

main direction of activity of the enterprise or spe-cialization of the concrete herd. Nowadays the maindirections could be meat production or soft antlersproduction. Furthermore, the following productscould be included in the list of main products of theenterprises: reindeer skins for overall tailoring andchum covers, skins for chamois, dried or conservedblood, and endocrine glands used for medication.

Enterprises where reindeer herding has auxiliary

importance

In the Siberian taiga there are many enterprises,were reindeer herding acted as an auxiliary service(foremost as transport). They are state, or public,or personal businesses of hunters and shermen inthe taiga reindeer herding area. In general, manyscientists notice a principal difference between largeherds tundra reindeer husbandry, which could becompareted with meat productive cattle-breeding,and small herd reindeer husbandry in the taiga, whichis directed towards intensication of the other typesof traditional economical activities. The reindeertransportation was quite important until the middleof the 1970s. Then the introduction of mechanicaltransport means to the northern regions began, andthe number of transport reindeer in unspecializedenterprises started to reduce.

At the present the tendency is a small increasein number of reindeer in a number of unspecializedenterprises. This is, rst of all, due to high costs ofmechanical transport means and complications in theservice of private enterprises and communes. Besides, many programs for development of traditionalbranches in the taiga zone intended to provide addi-

tional incomes for communes and private farmersenterprises from reindeer herds owing to soft antlersand fermentative raw materials.

The situation in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republicillustrates how differently the reindeer enterprisescould develope under conditions of economic crises.

The reindeer husbandry in northern and southernYakutia have changed in different directions. Beforethe reforms reindeer-herding sovkhozes in northern

Yakutia were big enterprises specialised mainly onmeat production. They received signicant state

support and were well-provided with technical facili-


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neering and fuel are too high. Thus, the presence oftransport reindeer has become for them the necessarycondition to make a money income, although rein-deer husbandry itself does not yield any prots. Thiskind of economy requires co-operation in work andstimulates the formation of clan communities. One ofthe members of the clan community keeps the herd,

while others are hunting sable.The second function of reindeer husbandry in the

south is to provide families of reindeer owners (herd-

ers and hunters) with reindeer meat. Wild reindeer,

Siberian deer, elk and musk-deer can also be sourcesof meat. However, the opportunity for good huntingis not present everywhere. In opposite to the northernareas of Yakutia, sh resources in the south are alsolimited. Thus, actually the necessity to slaughter a lotof reindeer for meat does not allow herders to increasetheir herds. As a rule, the communities of herders insouthern Yakutia are created from several related fami-lies. A distinctive feature of the life of the herders wemet during eldwork is the division of most of the

families. Practically all year round the men live in the

R

eformations of reindeer herding sovkhozes in ChukotkaThe experience from the reorganization of reindeer husbandry sovkhozes in Chukotka isillustrating for the whole eastern part of the Russian North.The reorganization started

in 1991 according to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation On the reformationof agroindustrial complex of the Russian Federation and was carried out in three ways. Severalsovkhozes of the Okrug were completely divided into private farms (farmers enterprises). These

farms were put in equal economic conditions with other commercial and trade enterprises with allconsequences following from it: excessive tax burdens, absence of privileges at purchase of materialand nancial resources, etc. Both farm managers (who were mostly former employers of the sovkhozesadministration) and reindeer herders lacked theoretical and practical skills on the organization ofthe work in private farms. In several cases people have taken advantage of the situation and propertyof the farms has been sold out. Some inexperienced chiefs, wishing to reduce charges of the brigadeson the tundra, have transported all old people and women into the settlements. Young herders with-out the advices and the authority of seniors and help of women, could not thoroughly organize the

pasturing of their herds. The rteindeer herding brigade is an independent productive unit living onthe tundra. After being reformed into a private farm it is unable to be engaged simultaneously inproduction, processing, storage and realization. Especially it lacks the capacity to settle the mattersof material and technical supply. All these activities would be possible only if farms were incorpo-rated in an association or cooperative society. However creations of such associations takes a lot oftime. As a result almost all farms have lost their reindeer during the rst years of their work. Inother sovkhozes only part of the brigades was transformed into independent private farms, i.e. theirreorganization was not complete. For example, all farms created on the basis of the sovkhoz Kon-chalansky were united again into one common enterprise after a few years. This has given positiveresults and reindeer husbandry there has survived.In several enterprises the opposite strategy of healthy conservatism was accepted. Here, accordingto the Decree of the President, only the formal change of the pattern of ownership was carried out(from the state enterprise into joint-stock company), but the industrial structure is left intact. Thestructure of brigades was not changed, old skilled herders and women (shum-workers) continuedto work on the tundra. Under the new conditions the administration of the sovkhoz has managed tokeep intact the most important part of the industrial infrastructure. In spite of economic difcultiesand price differences, the brigades of herders are supplied with foodstuffs and equipment whenever

possible, and veterinary and zootechnic works are carried out in the herds. Three tundra provision

bases continue to supply reindeer herder brigades the hole year around.


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taiga with the reindeer herds. They arrive in the vil-lage very seldom - once or twice during the year for ashort period of time. Their wives, children and otherrelatives live in a village and are engaged in different

works. Often they plant kitchen gardens and keep

cattle, pig, and goat. Part of the villagers come to thetaiga only for the hunting season. It is interesting tonote, that formally heads of many clan communitiesare the wives of reindeer herders, who live in villagesand conduct all documentation, while theirs husbandskeep reindeer herds in the taiga.

The Present state of reindeer enter-

prises

In most of the so-called agricultural enterprises in theNorth of the Russian Federation reindeer husbandry isthe main kind of economic activity, but not the only

one. Except for reindeer herding, also hunting, shing,fur farming, sea hunting, gathering of wiiveld plants,breeding of cattle, horses, and pigs, and sometimesplant cultivation are also included into the sphereof activity of a number of enterprises. Most of them

were unprotable (without taking State subsidies intoaccount) already since the 1970s. During the pre-ref-ormation years the enterprises got a prot mainly outof reindeer husbandry.

By the beginning of the economic reforms theagricultural enterprises in the North fell into deepeconomic crisis. In general, great disparity betweenthe prices of agricultural production and industrialone, remoteness of the centres of material-technicalresources production, increased prices of transporta-tion, and a sharp decline in the rate of State support

have caused an considerable recession of productionduring the 1990s.

Nganasans from the Piasina River inCentral Taimyr, RussiaPhoto Konstantin Klokov


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Induses Levels of intensity

Low intencity Middle intensity High intensity

Femal ratio in thewhole stock, % 50% 55% 60%

Calf crop per 100January females 55 65 80

Survival ofadult reindeer ,% 85 90 98

Average meatproductionfor 1 year,kg per 1 reindeer

5,0 9,2 15,6

Average productionof soft antlersfor a year,kg per 1000 reindeer

60 92 125

Figure 8: Levels of Intensity of Reindeer Husbandry (by Syrovatsky, 2000)

1981 - 1985In average

Figure 9: Slaughter of Domesticated Reindeer in Enterprises, Metric Ton of Live Weight


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The rates of recession \of agricultural productionin the northern regions were higher than in Russia asa whole (Materials of Ministry of Agriculture, 2001).The cattle and poultry livestock has been reduced 3-5 times, meat and milk production 5 times, areaunder crop 2 times. By 2001 the reindeer stock hasbeen reduced about twice. This situation results in acontinuous reduction of capital assets of the reindeerenterprises and causes many problems in manage-ment.

The reformations of northern sovkhozes andkolkhozes have not improved the situation (see boxedtext).

Economic effectiveness and sustainabil-

ity of reindeer husbandryAlthough the economic state of nearly all reindeerenterprises is far from well-being, the reindeer hus-bandry in many regions of the Russian North, espe-cially in the European North and Yamal, can still bethe main protable branch of production.

The value of income from reindeer husbandry isdependent upon several factors and conditions.

As it has been noted, the method of close herd-ing of reindeer is most common in Russia, the herd isunder round-the-clock control by a herders brigade.

In such a mode of herding the amount of work done

by a brigade varies only slightly with the number ofreindeer in the herd. The average, is about 17.000hours of work a year (Syrovatskyi, 2000). According tothe Russian labour regulations, 9 herders are sufcientto do this amount of work. Also, at least 4 women(chum-workers) are needed for permanent serviceunder the nomadic living conditions. Therefore, thetotal number of full-time jobs in a brigade is 13. Inreality, it is with fewer workers in a brigade common,as they perform just the same amount of work by

working more hours daily.Depending on environmental conditions, a 13

member brigade can manage a herd of 500 reindeer inthe taiga zone or 2.000 and even more in the tundra.It is obvious that a brigade with 2.000 reindeer, i.e.almost 154 reindeer per worker, could attain muchbetter results and larger incomes than a brigade with

500 reindeer (about 38 reindeer per worker). That iswhy economic opportunities for the tundra reindeerhusbandry are much more favourable than for thetaiga reindeer husbandry.Economic efciency of reindeer husbandry can bemeasured:

by annual quantities of meat and other productsobtained from reindeer herd;

by proceeds of the sale of meat and other productsobtained from a given herd.

Figure 10: Levels of Sustainability of Reindeer Husbandry


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The annual quantities of meat and other productsobtained by a brigade from their herd will depend onboth the environment (including pasture and rangecondition, weather, predators, wild reindeer and soon) and intensity of husbandry (i.e. herders skill,

experience and material/technical supply, etc.).The following quality indexes are generally usedin Russia for assessing the outcome of the reindeerhusbandry :

survival of adult reindeer each year (%);

calf crop per 100 January females, that is thenumber of living calves divided by the number offemales at the beginning of the current year;

specic female ratio in the whole stock (%).

These indexes are used to calculate annual quantitiesof meat and other products that could be obtainedfrom a certain herd. In Table 8 an example of suchcalculations is given for three levels of reindeer hus-bandry .

The table shows that the yield of the same reindeerstock can differ three and even more times dependingon intensity of husbandry. For example, a herd with60% females, a 98% survival of adult reindeer, and acalf crop of 80 per 100 January females gives about 15kg of meat per one reindeer a year and a herd with therespective indexes 48%, 85% and 55 gives only 5 kg.

During the last decade the intensity of reindeerherding in all reindeer enterprises of Russia fell dra-matically. Even in enterprises of the Yamal-Nenets

AO, where the situation of reindeer husbandry wasthe best, the calf crop per 100 females reduced from

85-88 in the 1980s to 46-59 in 1998-2000. In Chu-kotka in 2001 the survival of adult reindeer was only77.5% (in the 1970-1980s 89%); the calf crop (inrespective years) 52 and 67. As a result, besides adecrease in number of domesticated reindeer, the yieldfrom the same reindeer stock was reduced to a greatextent. This has caused a reduction in reindeer meatproduction in Russia from 25.000 tons in 1990 to7.400 tons in 2001(Figure 9).

The income is dependent on the purchase price ofmeat. In the last few years, reindeer meat was sold in

Northern Russia by wholesale price from 1.0 to 3.5USD a kilo. More frequently the price was about 2.0USD (50-60 roubles).

Thus, at low husbandry intensity one reindeer willprovide a prot of approximately 10 USD a year, andone herder can receive income up to 380 USD in thetaiga and up to 1.540 USD on the tundra.

Usually a reindeer enterprise spends about 50%(maximum 60%) of the total income from meatsales on salaries to the brigade members. An essentialpart of the proceeds is used to cover other needs of thereindeer husbandry, especially for the transport, taxes

Profitability of reindeer meat in Northern regions, 1996, %

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

Komi

NenetsA

Sustainable Reindeer Husbandry Final Report

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