Reindeer Husbandry: Resilience in the Changing Arctic

This open access book focuses on climate change, indigenous reindeer husbandry and the underlying concept of connecting the traditional knowledge of indigenous reindeer herders in the Arctic with the latest research findings of the world’s leading academics.  

The Arctic and sub-Arctic environment, climate and biodiversity are changing in ways unprecedented in the long histories of the north, challenging traditional ways of life, well-being, and food security with legitimate concerns for the future of traditional indigenous livelihoods. 

The book provides a clear and thorough overview of the potential problems caused by a warming climate on reindeer husbandry and how reindeer herders' knowledge should be brought to action. In particular, the predicted impacts of global warming on winter climate and the resilience reindeer of communities are thoroughly discussed.

Svein Disch Mathiesen, PhD, is a head of the University of the Arctic Institute for Circumpolar Reindeer Husbandry at the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry and a professor and researcher at Sámi allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences, Guovdageaidnu, Norway. Between 2007 and 2011, Prof. Mathiesen was a project leader at the IPY EALAT research project on Reindeer Husbandry and Climate Change. Prof. Mathiesen’s research experience includes working in Svalbard, Russian Siberia, Mongolia, South Georgia, Alaska, and Sápmi. A co-author of more than 130 papers, he supervised a number of master’s and doctoral students. Today, his main research interest is interdisciplinary knowledge on adaptation to climate change in the Circumpolar North and building competence locally in Indigenous communities in the northern areas through international cooperation. 

Inger Marie Gaup Eira, PhD, is an associate professor at Sámi Allaskuvla, Guovdageaidnu, Norway. Her main scope of research is traditional knowledge and reindeer husbandry, which also became the basis for her doctoral research. Dr. Eira has developed the study “Theoretical approaches for traditional knowledge and methods for documentation and dissemination” and has since 2013 been leading the studies in this area. Eira works in academia and is an Indigenous reindeer herder from Norway.

Ellen Inga Turi, PhD, belongs to the Sámi reindeer herders’ family with reindeer pastures in Guovdageaidnu, Norway. Turi is an associate professor and postdoctoral researcher at Sámi allaskuvla/Sámi University of Applied Sciences. Her research is focused on Indigenous traditional knowledge and governance of reindeer herding. Dr. Turi has also been the chair of the Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples Secretariat as a Sámi Council representative during the Icelandic chairmanship of the Arctic Council 2019–2021.

Anders Oskal is the Secretary General of the Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH) and the Executive Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry in Guovdageaidnu, Norway. Oskal is a reindeer-herding Sámi from Northern Norway with a graduate degree in Business. Throughout his professional career, Oskal has worked with Indigenous reindeer herding both on the international and national levels. He has led several Arctic Council and UN projects and contributed to a range of scientifc articles. He was a co-author of IPCC AR5 WG II, is a member of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for the UN Commission on Food Security and is a member of the Norwegian Government’s Nature Risk Commission. Prior to his current position, he worked for a number of years in business development in reindeer herding and Indigenous livelihoods. 

Mikhail Pogodaev, PhD, is Even from a reindeer herding family, born in Tomponsky district of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Dr. Pogodaev is the deputy minister for the Development of the Arctic and Indigenous Peoples Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). In 2021, he was appointed as the Special Envoy on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues and Regional Cooperation. Dr. Pogodaev is an associate professor in the Department of Economic Theory at the Arctic State Agrotechnological University and a lecturer at M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia.

Marina Tonkopeeva, MA, PhD candidate in Linguistics, is a project leader at the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry in Guovdageaidnu, Norway. Between 2016 and 2022, Tonkopeeva worked as a project manager and coordinator for the Open School of Sustainable Development and the Coalition for Sustainable Development. As a language professional, Tonkopeeva has contributed to the work of the Arctic Council, DOCIP, and UNDP.  She was a lecturer in the School of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University from 2017 to 2020. Her scopeof research includes sustainable development, technologies for Indigenous languages, and knowledge co-production.