International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

EALÁT
The EALÁT project (IPY no. 399), “Reindeer Herders
Vulnerability Network Study: Reindeer Pastoralism in
a Changing Climate,” was initiated by the Association
of World Reindeer Herders (WRH) and coordinated
by the Sámi University College (SUC) and the
International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR)
in Kautokeino, Norway. The project was provided
institutional and personnel support from six other
nations: Russia, Finland, Sweden, the U.K., Iceland and
the U.S.A. With the aim of reducing the vulnerability of
reindeer herders, their communities and management
authorities through increasing preparedness for
effects of climatic change and variability, the IPY EALÁT
project developed research, information, teaching
and outreach activities across the circumpolar north.
The main focus of the project has been the Sámi
(Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia), particularly
in the Norwegian county of Finnmark and also the
Nenets people, involving detailed case studies in
Sapmi, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (region),
Sakha-Yakutia and Chukotka Okrug in Arctic Russia -
(http://icr.arcticportal. org/index.php?option=com_
content&view=frontpage&Itemid=78&lang=en).
The IPY EALÁT project voiced concern that societal
transformations associated with globalization are
leading to the loss of understanding of Nomadic
reindeer herding practices. These practices
represent models in the sustainable exploitation
and management of northern terrestrial ecosystems
through the incorporation of generations of
adaptive experience. Key aims of the project are
thus to ensure that traditional knowledge is made
available, communicated and is used alongside
scientific knowledge in governance, public plans and
development projects.
Observation and monitoring strategies. EALÁT
project acts as a venue through which Arctic reindeerherding
communities and groups can cooperate with
each other and can communicate with international
research and educational institutions in bringing
and sharing new knowledge. Community-based
workshops (such as those held in Kautokeino, Norway,
Salekhard, Russia, Kanchalan in Chukotka, Topolinye
in Sakha-Yakutia and Inari, Finland) have been used
as prime venues for knowledge generation and
exchange. They brought together reindeer herders,
scientists and local and regional authorities to address
the challenges of climate and land-use change
through a focus on adaptation, traditional knowledge
and the provision of best technology and scientific
knowledge to local herders. The new partnerships
included cooperation with the Norwegian
Meteorological Institute and the Arctic and Antarctic
Research Institute in St. Petersburg (AARI) that led
to statistical downscaling of place-based climate
scenarios. Workshop outcomes were reported to the
Arctic Council and published on the multi-lingual
project website that presents information in Sámi,
English and Russian (http://icr. arcticportal.org/index.
php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=
78&lang=en).
The main aim of the project was to empower
reindeer herders and the communities in which they
live with the best technologies available combined
with traditional skills and knowledge, including
systematic monitoring of reindeer health, behaviour,
pasture conditions, etc., to further enhance the
development of sustainable reindeer husbandry and
improve the efficiency of local adaptation strategies
New and improved knowledge. The EALÁT project
demonstrated that the human-ecological systems
in the North, in this case, based upon reindeer
pastoralism, are sensitive to climate change due to the
high variability of Arctic climate and the characteristic
ways of life of indigenous peoples. It is important to
support capacity building for indigenous societies
facing climate change and the loss of grazing land
through enhanced recruitment of young scientists
from local communities and by supporting institution
building for indigenous organizations.
The project also revealed that the restructuring and
flexible adjustment of reindeer herds may decrease
the vulnerability to climate change. It indicated the
need to modify government incentives and to improve
understanding of bio-diversity and traditional
knowledge. The EALÁT project is concerned with the
major increase in human activities linked to climate
change and with the resulting loss of grazing land for
reindeer and caribou. Grazing land has to be protected
as an adaptive measure to cope with climate change
and to support sustainable Arctic societies.
Value for other IPY science fields. One the
project’s main contributions is making traditional
o b s e r v I n g s Y s t e m s a n d d a t a m a n a g e m e n t 441