Reindeer herding

Much additional work seems needed on chemical and other processes that hasten excretion and prevent uptake and accumulation of radionuclides in livestock and wildlife. Reindeer herding is the most important occupation in Finnish Lapland and portions of Sweden (Rissanen and Rahola... 

Lichens 137Cs From reindeer herding areas 1986 (post-Chernobyl) vs. 900 DW vs. 800 DW 8... 

Beach, H. 1990. Coping with the Chernobyl disaster a comparison of social effects in two reindeer-herding areas. Rangifer, Spec. Iss. No. 3 25-34. 

Reindeer herding is a main or subsidiary occupation for over 4000 people in Finland, 2500 in Sweden and 2100 in Norway. There are more than 16,000 families in Russia and sporadically in Alaska and Canada that are engaged in reindeer herding. It has been estimated that approximately 400,000 reindeer exist in Finland, over 200,000 in Sweden, 230,000 in Norway, over 25,000 in Alaska and 15,000 around the river Mackenzie in Canada (Nieminen 1986). 

Reindeer herding consists of several health risks as far as dermal exposure is concerned. The risks are summarized in Table 1. In previous studies, exposure to moldy lichen has lead to lichen picker s dermatitis (Hannuksela et al. 1981) and even to extrinsic allergic alveolitis (Reijula et al. 1983). Recently, reindeer herders developed ecthyma contagiosum (ie. orf ) on their hands after being in contact with infected animals (Palatsi et al. 1993). 

Table 1. Health risks and sources of exposure in reindeer herding...

K. Reijula et al. Reindeer Herding, Skin Diseases and Allergies... 

Nieminen M (1986) Reindeer husbandry and reindeer herding regions in Scandinavia (in Finnish). Poromies 53 5-7... 

In order to clarify the effects of forest management and snow conditions on the winter grazing value of pastureland we studied pasture use by reindeer in two reindeer herding districts located in the northern boreal forest area of Finland. The studied questions were ... 

Are old growth forests still as important for reindeer and reindeer herding during winter as many herders emphasize ... 

Fig. 12.6 During 2002-2005 altogether 40 female reindeer were tracked by GPS collars in the Oraniemi reindeer herding district, Middle-Lapland. (Photo Dr. Jouko Kumpula)...

GPS-tracked female reindeer (n = 29) from 1999 to 2002 (10,981 locations) in the Ivalo reindeer herding district and classified into three seasonal periods... 

From 1948, economic collectives that combined different economic branches (i.e., sea mammal hunting, fox breeding, and reindeer herding) were increasingly established along the coast of Chukotka as part of a longer, policy-driven process to incorporate native economies into Soviet society. 

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought another set of fundamental changes to the livelihoods of the indigenous people of Chukotka. Especially in the 1990s, when dramatic socio-economic change accompanied the transition period, the small-scale coastal communities of Chukotka were heavily impacted. The collapse of the Soviet infrastructure, which underscored and enabled the economic expansion in the North, rendered local economies obsolete. Industrial sea mammal hunt completely vanished, the reindeer herding industry suffered a total collapse, and supply chains to the rest of the country were severely interrupted. The difficulties and the economic vacuum produced by decollectivization and partial privatization of former state enterprises had increased the predicament of native people even more. 

The ESC certification affects AssiDoman s forestry practices in a munber of ways. Some of the more important dianges are the requirements on an increased hardwood fraction and controlled binning on forest land, and the fact that more deadwood should be left. Besides consideration for the environment, the FSC s criteria also indude economic and sodal consideration. One example of the latter is that consideration be given to reindeer herding. 

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