Metla Project 832701
Challenges of modernity for reindeer management: integration and sustainable development in Europe's subarctic and boreal regions
Duration: 2001-2004
Objectives
REINDEER MANAGEMENT intends to study the human-environmental interactions and related problems in an interdisciplinary manner by combining and integrating the expertise of a multi-national consortium of social scientists, natural scientists and - most importantly - the herders themselves. Established methodologies deriving from the various disciplines involved here - anthropology, economics, geography, soil science and biology - will be combined in order to enhance the holistic approach the research team intends to apply. The aims of REINDEER MANAGEMENT have the following general themes, focusing on the interaction between rural human populations and reindeer: 1. The human dimensions of reindeer management and involvement of local rural populations in the research and scenario-building process. 2. Examination of the various resource-based conflicts surrounding reindeer management, including: (i) disparities among EU and Russian markets; (ii) the cultural perceptions (both herders and dominant society) of ecology itself; and (iii) a systematic comparison of herders' experience-based knowledge and science-based knowledge. 3. Quality of reindeer pastures, with special emphasis on summer pastures. This will involve qualitative characterizations and mapping of various habitats and estimation of their potential from the perspective of the herders (and the reindeer!), coupled with quantitative investigations of ecosystem productivity and nutrient cycling. 4. Quality of soils and surface waters. This will involve quantitative evaluation of the impacts of varying reindeer densities in relation to sustainable production and risk assessment of pathogens spreading to animals and humans under changing management.
The specific objectives and aims of the project are divided among the various workpackages (WP). However, it is stressed that the objectives are interlinked and will be fully integrated in their results under WPs 1 and 5, into which all partners and researchers will contribute at various times over the life of the project. Functioning in an integrative manner will allow the intra- and inter-project participation of individual groups and researchers. Together, the projects will produce, under the guidance of WP1, long- and short-term scenarios with management plans proposing specific steps and actions for enhancing the sustainability of reindeer management. The project will integrate the indigenous people in an integrative study between politics and science. The direct transfer of information between scientists and stakeholders and its application in their management plans is a main task of this proposal.
Project leader:
Helle, Timo
Other researchers:
Hallikainen, Ville, RO (2004), Kankaanpää, Sakari (2001)
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Updated 12.06.2012
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