A. Species
Scientific name: Rangifer tarandus tarandus
Common name(s): reindeer
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status:
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Finland
Country/Region: Finland
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: National Level
Name/Details of location: Fenoscandia
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 1990
End Year: 2017
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat and Wild species born/bred and raised/produced in captivity or through artificial propagation
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Ranching, farming or cultivation or wild species
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed and Ceremony and ritual expression
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence, Traditional/Cultural/Spiritual and Population/Area Management
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat and Wild species born/bred and raised/produced in captivity or through artificial propagation
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: Authors state "Large carnivore populations, once almost completely decimated by humans (Mykrä and Pohja-Mykrä, 2015), have been increasing substantially during the last 50 years in northern Europe (Trouwborst, 2010; Chapron et al., 2014). The mean densities of brown bears (Ursus arctos), wolverine (Gulo gulo) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) have multiplied in Finland in recent decades (Kojola and Heikkinen, 2006; Chapron et al., 2014). Breeding grey wolf (Canis lupus) packs have been observed in the RMA only a few times during the 2000s (Kojola et al., 2014), but a permanent breeding population exists close to the southern border of the RMA (Kojola et al., 2006, 2009; 2014). ... Approximately 90% of the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) territories present in Finland are located within the RMA, and the number of golden eagles is slowly increasing, especially in the south-eastern part of the RMA (Ollila, 2014)."
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Herd numbers and sizes are managed the Reindeer Management Area with the maximum allowed number of reindeer (the size of the winter stock) set at 203 700 in 2020, and approximately 100 000–130 000 calves are born during the following spring
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The presence of predators causes several detrimental effects on reindeer, herding communities and herding work, in addition to direct reindeer losses. Reindeer herds may break up and move more than normally. This increases the energy demand and disturbs the food acquisition of reindeer, which may reduce their body condition. This also makes the gathering, control and movement of herds to round-up sites more difficult and complicates the marking of calves. Predators sometimes chase reindeer to neighbouring herding districts, leave injured animals behind, disturb calving, and cause stillbirths.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The presence of predators causes several detrimental effects on reindeer, herding communities and herding work, in addition to direct reindeer losses. Reindeer herds may break up and move more than normally. This increases the energy demand and disturbs the food acquisition of reindeer, which may reduce their body condition. This also makes the gathering, control and movement of herds to round-up sites more difficult and complicates the marking of calves. Predators sometimes chase reindeer to neighbouring herding districts, leave injured animals behind, disturb calving, and cause stillbirths.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: traditional herding practices in traditional environment
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: traditional herding practices in traditional environment; thus despite predator effects considered sustainable
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
Currently in place: As co-existence needs to be pursued, unquestionable problems related to the situation need to be discussed and solved. Existing measures include approaches for predator conservation, listed in the management plans of predator species, as well as governance tools to compensate and herders’ coping strategies (Winter feeding in enclosures, Increasing control over herds, Avoiding certain pastures, Increasing monitoring of predators) to prevent predator-caused reindeer damage. Damage-based derogations (“protective hunting”) may be granted for the hunting of bears, lynx, and wolves and, since winter 2016–2017, also for wolverines. Aim has been to limit predator-caused reindeer damage to an acceptable level. Potentially better: - Predator territory-based compensation system for reindeer herders as implemented in Sweden and Norway for large carnivores and Finland for Golden Eagle territories within reindeer herding grounds. - Damage-based control of predators and flexible hunting licensing can increase local trust towards policy makers and researchers and ease the frustration that is likely to fuel poaching of carnivores -Wider discussions of values regarding the population goals for predators in the RMA as well as the desired role and status of reindeer husbandry in northern Finland are clearly needed, also. In the development of existing measures, open communication and dealing with trust issues between herders, policy makers and researchers are necessary.
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2020-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2022-11-17