Project will use remote sensing data to fill gaps in Indigenous and scientific knowledge of land degradation and sustainable pasture management in Norway.
The American Museum of Natural History has been awarded a three-year NASA grant to support reindeer herders as they adapt to pasture degradation from ecosystem changes. The project, which is powered by remote-sensing data of the Arctic and sub-Arctic, is a collaboration between the Museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, NASA, and the UArctic EALÁT Institute at the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry at and other partners in Guovdageainnu, Norway.
This project is funded by NASA’s Earth Science Division and is led by the Associate Director of the Museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, Mary Blair, a third-generation descendant of Sámi reindeer herders.
In Norway alone, there are about 250,000 reindeer and 3,000 private Indigenous Sámi reindeer herders, most who follow migration paths in a northern area of the country called Finnmark. While each herding group has its own seasonal traditional pasture areas, the land is communally used according to nomadic Sámi customary rights. Herders will change course if conditions are poor or a pasture cannot sustain the dietary needs of reindeer, which eat a variety of vascular plants and lichens from 37 different genera. The composition of their diet varies across the year but requires a substantial proportion of lichens in the winter.
“Based on historical and linguistic data, the relationship between domestic reindeer and people in Norway can be dated back to 890 CE” Blair said. “As a nomadic way of life based on Indigenous knowledge, reindeer husbandry has a historically high resilience to variability and change, based on generations of experience and Indigenous knowledge that has been conserved, developed, and adapted to the changing ecological, political, and economic systems of the north. Today, however, herders’ ability to adapt to rapid ecosystem change is hindered by land degradation and fragmentation.”
Sámi reindeer husbandry is faced with challenges from numerous land-use changes, including the damming of lakes for hydropower production, mineral exploration, development of recreational cabin areas, and wind energy turbines.
The cumulative effects of these changes on the landscape disrupt the ability of the Sámi to maintain traditional herding practices: as permafrost is thawing, water storage is decreasing, and peatlands are being destroyed, it is harder for reindeer to find food and migrate. These conditions in turn reduce the herders’ ability to respond to the increasingly unstable and unpredictable weather conditions. The new project aims to enhance the capacity of reindeer herders to address pasture fragmentation and degradation using NASA’s remote sensing data. These datasets include observations taken by instruments on satellites that can reveal changes and patterns in features of pastureland over time such as fragmentation, degradation, and changes in snow and ice. Part of the goal of the project is to fill gaps in Indigenous and scientific knowledge as identified by reindeer herders, who hold a deep understanding of historical and future nomadic pasture use.
Collaborators will co-design a system of environmental observations, monitor pasture fragmentation, and create scenario-based plans for their management. In addition, the project will add remote-sensing-based training sessions aimed at Indigenous reindeer herding youth to existing community workshops. The project will enhance existing work by the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry on the resilience of reindeer herding funded by a Global Environment Facility UN Environmental Programme project.
“This project is about empowering our nomadic peoples to respond to Arctic change on our own terms,” said Anders Oskal, secretary general of the World Reindeer Herders’ Association. “For us, Indigenous knowledge holds the key. This new project collaboration and NASA’s tools will help unlock it at scale.”
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The American Museum of Natural History in New York City, founded in 1869 with a dual mission of scientific research and science education, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, galleries for temporary exhibitions, the Rose Center for Earth and Space including the Hayden Planetarium, and the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The Museum’s scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 30 million objects and specimens, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum offers two of the only free-standing, degree-granting programs of their kind at any museum in the U.S.: the Ph.D. program in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Earth Science residency program. Visit amnh.org for more information.