For more than a century, Norwegian government officials have been concerned about the problem of ‘too many reindeer’ and ‘too many herders’ in Sámi reindeer
husbandry, especially in Finnmark, the northernmost and largest reindeer-herding region in Norway. In the official view, too many reindeer might overgraze the tundra, and land degradation and too many herders might jeopardise the economic viability of reindeer husbandry in the north (LD, 1976; Villmo, 1978; Lenvik, 1998). After World War II, it became apparent that Sámi reindeer herders had not progressed
economically at the same pace as the rest of Norwegian society (see, for example, Vorren, 1946). Combined, these concerns formed the basis for a political reform of the state governance of reindeer husbandry (Storli & Sara, 1997).
The political reform, implemented in the 1970s, was a rationalisation programme to transform Sámi reindeer husbandry into a more economically efficient and
environmentally sustainable industry (Paine, 1994).1 The programme introduced new policies and regulations for standardised herd structures and slaughter strategies, optimal reindeer numbers, and the professionalisation of herders. The reform also centralised the marketing of reindeer products and introduced a concession system for owning and managing reindeer.
During the 40 years since the programme was introduced, the laws and regulations for reindeer husbandry have been revised numerous times. However, the objective of the current policies remains the same, namely to rationalise reindeer meat production.
Government officials have sought to facilitate the policy objectives by adjusting economic incentives, intensifying the focus on herders’ participation and
strengthening the state’s capacity to control the number of reindeer and herders.
1 The state refers to reindeer husbandry as a ‘næring’, which is commonly translated to ‘industry’. In the
Introduction
However, although “an enormous amount of money and planners’ energy have been spent” (Paine, 1994, p. 157) on the rationalisation of Sámi reindeer husbandry, the anticipated changes have not occurred everywhere. Some herders in West Finnmark have adjusted their practices in accordance with the policy objectives. Herders from the area are still often portrayed as a group that has not responded in a rational and sustainable way to the incentives to decrease the reindeer numbers (see, for example, St. meld. 28, 1991–1992; Riksrevisjonen, 2004, 2012; Riseth, 2014; NRK P2, 2017).
Rational and sustainable are ambiguous words; their meaning depends on the values and experiences of the person defining it. Although herders and government officials have different ways of understanding and presenting ‘rational reindeer husbandry’
and ‘sustainable reindeer numbers’, the government officials’ perspective dominates in the public debate. The dominant story – that there are too many reindeer and that the herders behave in an irrational way – seems to resonate well with the general public.
In recent decades, the media have published reports that the reindeer numbers are too high, purportedly creating a diverse range of problems for society at large: degrading the land, threatening biodiversity, hampering animal welfare, challenging the
conservation of protected predators, grazing on farmers’ crops and in private gardens, blocking economic development, contributing to global warming, and claiming too much space. Since most Norwegians could internalise one or several of these problems as a concern, the dominant story has the ability to unite “communities that might otherwise seem disparate” (Robbins, 2012, p. 140), such as environmentalists and mining companies.
Over successive government periods, the media and the political opposition have accused the Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food of not taking enough action to rationalise reindeer husbandry in West Finnmark. Instead of exploring why the state has failed to rationalise reindeer husbandry in West Finnmark, the study addressed the conflicts in the state’s governance of Sámi reindeer husbandry by examining the herders’ and government officials’ competing accounts of what reindeer husbandry is and what it ought to be. Using political ecology as a framework, based on an
Introduction
empirically driven analysis, it scrutinised the knowledge base that informs the actors’
presentations and the power structures affecting the actors’ ability to present their accounts and to be understood by society at large. By means of four case studies on governance-related conflicts between the state and Sámi herders in West Finnmark, I observed how the actors described decision-making processes, explained their own actions and claimed authority. I studied the techniques used to govern, and those used to avoid being governed. As Sámi reindeer herders’ perspectives are seldom presented in the government reports and the science used to inform policies, an additional objective of my study was to give attention to and reflect the voice of the herders. The research questions of the study are presented in Chapter 4.
In this thesis, the terms reindeer husbandry and pastoralism, and herder and pastoralist are used interchangeably. Hansen and Olsen (2007, pp. 204–2005) define pastoralism, based on the herding of animals as opposed to ranching and stall feeding, as a human-animal relationship where humans have domesticated the human-animals and continue to influence the size and genetic properties of the herd through consciously selecting some animals for slaughter and saving others for reproduction. Pastoralism considers the herd as private property and a source of living and treats it accordingly (Hansen &
Olsen, 2007). Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry especially adapted to marginal and unstable grazing resources (Pedersen & Benjaminsen, 2008); it is a system based on extensive land use, which often involves moving the herds in search of fresh pasture as a way of dealing with the spatial and time variations of the grazing conditions (Niamir-Fuller, 2000; Dong et al., 2011). Reindeer husbandry is a type of pastoralism practised by many different indigenous peoples across the Arctic. The thesis uses the terms herder and pastoralist to refer to both reindeer owners and individuals who carry out practical work with reindeer.
The term government official is used to refer to an individual who represents a public administration or government, through employment or election. I do not differentiate between active and former/pensioned officials and herders. I define governance as patterns of rule, which include strategic directions, politics, values and power
Relevant philosophical viewpoints
relations. In line with the description of environmental governance by Bridge and Perreault (2009), I understand the governance of reindeer husbandry as both the social organisation of decision-making related to reindeer and the establishment of a social order through the management of reindeer-herding and husbandry.
Management is the routine decisions and administrative work related to the daily operations, for example the use, protection and distribution of pastures and reindeer.
Governance and management of reindeer husbandry are applied by both pastoralists and government officials, but as this thesis indicates, the two actors have competing strategic directions and knowledge bases – the content of particular fields of knowledge – for understanding the ‘proper’ management of Sámi reindeer husbandry.