Between the local and the global? - reindeer herders’ perspectives on land use challenges and conflicts in the Sámi homeland, Finland

ABSTRACT

Rapid increase in new land uses is one of the biggest threats to reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia. We conducted a partly facilitated online Public Participation GIS survey to study reindeer herders’ perspectives on the impacts of land uses on reindeer herding in Inari, in the Sámi Homeland, Finland. The herders found that predators, husky safaris, hunting, mineral prospecting, gold mining, and forestry have had the most negative influence on reindeer herding, but they were most concerned about the cumulative effects of multiple land uses. Nature conservation was reported as having the most positive impact on reindeer herding. Map markings of the herders indicated that new land uses should not be directed to grazing areas but to population centers with existing infrastructure. The facilitated PPGIS survey encompassing interviews was found to be time-consuming, but trust-inspiring and interactive in that it enabled detailed discussions with the herders.

KEYWORDS:

• Land use conflicts
• reindeer herding
• PPGIS

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the reindeer herders who participated in this study. We thank Vesa Nivala, LUKE for assistance with GIS issues and Tauno Ljetoff for giving comments on the questionnaire draft. We thank Sari Kokkola for editing the English of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2024.2359606

Abbreviations

HD herding district

PPGIS Public Participation Geographic Information System

RHA Reindeer Herders’ Association

RMA reindeer management area

TK traditional knowledge

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted as part of the ArcticHubs project funded by the EU Horizon program [H2020 Grant Agreement No 869580].