The decreasing availability of reindeer forage in boreal forests during snow cover periods: A Sámi pastoral landscape perspective in Sweden

Abstract

This paper argues that Sámi reindeer pastoralism in Sweden is highly stressed during the critical snow cover periods due to large-scale human interventions, especially forestry, and that these have over time significantly worsened the ecological conditions for natural grazing-based responses to changing snow conditions caused by climate change. Informed by a literature review, the paper conceptualises two, overlapping ecological dynamics that shape the availability of lichen as key forage resources within a Sámi pastoral landscape perspective: the grazing dynamics of reindeer during snow cover periods as determined by climatic stochasticity, and the more predictable vegetation dynamics of lichen habitat formation, growth and sustenance based on structured forestry practices. This could help articulate an intervention ecology that pursues sustainable ecological conditions for natural grazing-based Sámi reindeer pastoralism, along with other goals. As such alternatives are likely to face political resistance, the article discusses the implications of its findings within a science–politics interface.