Confined and Sustainable? A Critique of Recent Pastoral Policy for Reindeer Herding in Finnmark, Northern Norway

• Published in: Nomadic Peoples
• Main Author: Marin, Andrei F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Liverpool University Press 2006
• Subjects: Demography; Norway; Finnmark; Northern Norway
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/np.2006.100212; https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/nomp/2006/00000010/00000002/art00012

Abstract Recently, an increasing number of development plans and strategies for pastoral communities have failed to ensure the sought sustainability, especially in ecosystems characterised by fluctuating environmental conditions. Many of these strategies are centred on a policy of confining, controlling and settling the nomadic herders. This article illustrates some of the principles and pitfalls of this approach with the case of semi-nomadic reindeer herding in Northern Norway. It juxtaposes the management views advocated by the herders with those expressed and implied by the recent state policies for reindeer herding. The focus is placed on the changes in land tenure and resource access. On the one hand, the state policy is founded on the assumptions of the tragedy-of-the-commons theory and argues for a formalised individual tenure regime as the only arrangement able to prevent/redress the alleged environmental degradation. On the other hand, the herders argue for a complex, and at times paradoxical, tenure and management regime, one that ensures both tenure security and flexibility, an adaptation of customary principles to the present situation. Our conclusion supports increasing evidence from elsewhere that gaps between the policy prescriptions and the pastoral management strategies have often resulted in negative social and environmental consequences. We argue for the need to include the experience and expectations of the herders in the design of legitimate and enduring co-management regimes as the only sustainable alternative.