ICR Menu



Visit the EALAT Project

Arctic Weather

Login





ICR

«  July 2008  »
S M T W T F S
iCal
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

Our Partners

Visitor Location


Arctic Council:EALAT Information. Brief Report to SDWG Vadso, 30.11.2007

A Norwegian Arctic Council  project organized by Association of World Reindeer Herders (WRH), in close cooperation with International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR), Reindeer Herders’ Union of Russia (RHUR), Sami Council and the Sámi University College (SA). EALÁT- information project is a part of IPY EALÁT - Reindeer herding and climate change which has received full IPY endorsement (ID: 399). Indigenous peoples in the Arctic face major challenges related to changes in their society and the northern climate. More than 20 indigenous peoples are reindeer herders. There is an urgent need to inform the Arctic nations both about the changes to which they are subjected and give some concrete examples how  herders’ traditional knowledge relates  to adaptation to changing conditions, including traditional use of grazing land.  Partnership between Russian and Sámi reindeer herders in such an information project is an important and creative step towards this. Locally case study based workshops organized in the reindeer herding societies in the most important reindeer herding regions will  focus on information how traditional knowledge are used and how traditional grazing land are lost. Subsequently, Arctic Council EALÁT-Information will communicate from these community based workshops to the SAOs and finally to the ministerial meeting in Norway in 2009. EALÁT-information  promotes local competence building for indigenous peoples. The challenge of Arctic Council EALÁT-Information is to take reindeer herders’ knowledge into action for sustainable development of the Arctic and, in particular, to involve Russian and Scandinavian reindeer herders in this process.

This was the third of a series of workships, and the second on Yamal (September 20-24, 2007) and was held in the village of Yar Sale, Yamal Nenets Autonomous Okrug and on the tundra as guests of Brigadier Juri Serotetto of Brigade 17 of the Yarsalinskii reindeer herding enterprise. In the tundra workshop, intense discussion were held on the importance of traditional knowledge, issues surrounding climate change, practical challenges in reindeer herding, issues that development brings from the perspective of the herders and shared experiences of development were exchanged between Nenets reindeer herders from the Yamal Peninsula and Sami herders from Norway and Sweden.

 

Draught animals – castrated bulls (critical for transportation in Nenets reindeer husbandry) were corralled adjacent the the chums and there were demonstrations of traditional slaughtering and castration techniques. Castration is a key element of traditional knowledge that persists in everyday usage inthe management of Nenets reindeer herd structure. The importance of maintaining traditional herd management techniques was stressed by both parties. Were such castration techniques not permitted on Yamal, Nenets reindeer herders said that they would bein need of a lot more cash to buy and maintain machines for travelling. The development of private reindeer ownership within the collective was discussed and the critical role that ear marking methods and reindeer terminologies  were also discussed. Various animal handling techniques were also demonstrated. There was also a scientific seminar in Yar Sale where among other presentations the importance of peoples selection with regard to herd structure was emphasised. In Yar Sale the EALAT team also met up with several brigadiers who were in town for meetings with regional oil and gas companies, offering more possibilities for exchange on this critical topic. A key part of this project is information exchange between reindeer herders, using the Reindeer Portal and arrangements were made to ensure that Reindeer Portal authorship on issues related to Yamal would in future be produced by people in Yamal, ensuring the local production of knowledge – a process which will be repeated in the forthcoming workshops.

 

EALAT team in attendance: Dr. Svein Mathiesen (EALAT project leader), Johan Mathis Turi (reindeer herder, Assn of World Reindeer Herders General Secretary), Ole Isak Eira (reindeer herder, student), Ellen Inga Turi, Lars Miguel Utsi (students, from reindeer herding backgrounds), Anna Degteva (Vepsian student and researcher), and Philip Burgess (International Centre for Reindeer husbandry).