What will happen to Sámi reindeer herding in the light of the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on climate change in the North?

• Main Author: Association of World Reindeer Herders, -
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Association of World Reindeer Herders 2007
• Subjects: Indigenous Peoples; Arctic; Norway; Yakutsk; Climate change; Finnmark; Global warming; reindeer husbandry
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/538/; http://library.arcticportal.org/538/1/Press_Release_IPCC.pdf; http://library.arcticportal.org/538/4/pressemelding_IPCC.pdf; http://library.arcticportal.org/538/7/PREASSADIEDAHUS_IPCC.pdf; http://www.reindeerportal.org

While the Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH) is pleased that the IPCC, established by UNEP and the WMO, are taking the issue of climate change in the North seriously, we are extremely concerned that the very basis of livelihoods in the Arctic is threatened by global warming, both economicially and culturally. The WRH Yakutsk Declaration of 2005 makes pointed reference to this. In Norway, inner Finnmark is likely to experience the most serious impacts from global warming over the next 30-50 years. It is predicted that the average winter temperature will increase 0.7 degrees C every decade. Precipitation may increase by 10 %, and vegetation will change, influencing the very basis for reindeer husbandry. Predicted climate change patterns include rapid fluctuations in temperature throughout the course of Winter, alternating between frost and milder weather.