The organisation of reindeer herding
The herding co-operative
The Finnish reindeer herding area is divided into 56 geographically defined reindeer herding co-operatives. The 13 northernmost co-operatives form the Sámi homeland area defined in the law (for the indigenous Sámi administration). The Sámi reindeer herding is a way of life protected by many national and international statutes.
The legally defined special area reserved for reindeer herding includes the Sámi area and extends a little further south of it. In this area the other uses of state land should not cause significant harm to reindeer herding.
Each herding co-operative has an executive board that has six members. The executive director of the co-operative is called the chairman. The members of the co- operatives elect the members of the board and the chairman amongst themselves for three year terms. In the meeting every reindeer owner has as many votes as he or she has reindeer.
The co-operatives form an association that is defined in the Act on Reindeer Herding. The purpose of the Association is to work as a bond between the co-operatives, to develop reindeer herding and reindeer economy, to endorse research and to handle relations to the outside community.
The reindeer husbandry area covers 114 000 km˛ and spans from near Oulu to Nuorgam and from Kainuu to Kilpisjärvi. The herding methods vary as much as the natural circumstances, the environment and the culture. In the south there are many small co-operatives with few full-time reindeer herders. In the North, the co-operatives are big and there are more reindeer. Reindeer are also the source of income for a bigger part of the population; whole families are involved and many women work independently in reindeer herding. The overall importance of reindeer husbandry for the local economy is biggest in the northern area.
The biggest difference between the north and the south is the grazing of the reindeer. In the south, the reindeer are often taken to private ranches and fed over the whole winter, whereas in the north, many reindeer graze free and only spend two days a year fenced for the round-up. There are herd groups whose owners only have to feed their reindeer during the round-ups. The rest of the time the reindeer find their own natural food grazing various natural pastures depending on the time of the year.
Central organisation
Reindeer herding falls under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and their department on Fisheries and Game. The department does the preparatory work for the ministry and government decisions, such as the maximum amount of live reindeer for every co-operative in periods of ten years, and decisions concerning the protection and hunting of large predators. The Agricultural and the Veterinary and Food Security Departments have responsibilities in the governing of reindeer husbandry.
All reindeer herding co-operatives form an association as defined in 20 § of the Act on Reindeer Herding. Its function is to work as a link between co-operatives, to develop reindeer herding and husbandry, to endorse research in the field and to complete other tasks as legislated or imposed upon it.
The co-operatives have one vote for each starting thousand reindeer in the Association's meetings. The Association is governed by a board with representatives of 14 herding districts, one from the governmental Employment and Economic Development Centre and one Sámi representative named by the Sámi Parliament (Sámediggi). The Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry endorses the Association's rules according to the proposition of the Association's meeting (Reindeer Herding Act §20). The legally defined functions of the Association are covered from the state budget (§48).
In order to fulfil its legal task, according to its rules, the Association "acts as a leader for reindeer herding, improves the possibilities for reindeer herding, carries out successful lobbying and promotes a positive image of reindeer herding." (www.paliskunnat.fi, 11th May 2002)
The Association is generally understood as an advocate for reindeer herding. This, however, it cannot be. Although its meetings have representation from all co-operatives, it cannot make agreements or commitments on behalf of them.
The Association publishes the Poromies ("reindeer herder") journal, and the editor is the executive director of the Association. In the issue 2/2002 there was an editorial addressing the Association's possibilities for successful financial lobbying. The editor asks whether the naval cord to the state should be cut in order to establish a real unionist advocacy group that can improve the possibilities to lobby for the reindeer owners' views.
. . . . .
About the organisation of reindeer herding in Norway
The Norwegian administration for reindeer husbandry ordered a third party assessment about its organisation and function. The Norwegian Institute for Village and Regional Studies (Norsk institute for by- og regionforskning) interviewed 60 key stakeholders working in the administration or as reindeer owners. In addition, all employees of the administration were asked to complete a written questionnaire. (Lie and Nygaard 2000, p 55).
Based on the results of the survey, the researchers question the position of reindeer herding under the Ministry of Agriculture. This is because the ministry is also responsible for the administration of agriculture, forestry and land ownership, which all might in cases be competing land users to reindeer herding. There are also some ongoing processes in civil courts where reindeer herding and another form of land use administered by the ministry are against each other. As alternatives, the institute sees the Sámi Parliament (Sámidiggi), the Ministry for Environment or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, all of which solutions would have some faults. (Lie and Nygaard, p 58)
More important than the ministerial affiliation, however, the study finds the actual organisation of the work inside the ministry. Independent of ministry, the reindeer husbandry department should govern all work concerning the issues. The most practical place to handle land use questions would be in the Ministry for Environment and issues concerning the budget and work plans should be discussed more thoroughly between the reindeer herding administration and the Ministry of Agriculture. Inside the reindeer husbandry department the study proposes a change to a system with two separate divisions, one for purely administrative work and one concerned with reindeer herding and its possibilities as a source of livelihood. (Lie and Nygaard, p 58-59)
The Sámi view on reindeer herding administration
The Sámi have published many critical views of the administration of reindeer husbandry. The issues that have caused criticism include e.g. the determination of the maximum number of reindeer (Sámi Parliament 1999, Herding co- operatives of the Sámi region 1999), the social security system, the system of compensation for predator damages, the lack of legal protection of reindeer grazing areas, reindeer research, the programmes for sustainable development (Aikio and Aikio 2001 p 110-117) and reindeer quotas (Länsman 2001). The forceful incorporation of reindeer herding to the Finnish agricultural administration changes inevitably its nature as a nomadic form of land use and a way of life supporting the social organisation of the Sámi people. If nothing is done, there is a danger that the Sámi culture will be extinct in Finland (Aikio and Aikio 2001 p 117; Scheinin 2001, p. 64; Matero 1999, p. 118).