Development of Participatory Institutions for Reindeer Management in Northern Finland: Preliminary Synthesis and Report

Abstract

"Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) has been hailed as an icon in past and present, representing northern people and environment.Whereas the Sami, the aboriginal people of northernmost Europe, see it as their thread of life, both in cultural and economic terms. The neighboring Finns to the South have integrated this animal as another additional element into their emerging agricultural cycles. Today, both these peoples in Finland's reindeer herding region are under considerable pressures for change internally and externally, due to modernization and globalization processes."