Understanding Adaptation Landscapes: Mapping the Complexity of Decision­-Making in Reindeer Herding

Abstract

A dynamic world requires people to constantly adapt their behavior and make decisions to main­tain or enhance relationships between each other and the environment. Where the combined effects of anthropogenic and environmental change affect the livelihoods of Indigenous people, their options to pursue preferred adaptation strategies are often restricted by competing land uses. In this context, we explore how Sámi reindeer herders in Northern Sweden navigate the complex­ity of decision-making on adaptation, specifically decisions regarding supplementary feeding when winter grazing resources are inaccessible. How are decisions made and where are they positioned on an adaptation-maladaptation continuum? In a participatory approach with two reindeer herd­ing communities, we use fuzzy cognitive mapping to explore the multi-dimensional complexity surrounding supplementary feeding. Our results emphasize the herders’ conviction that supple­mentary feeding is not a preferred adaptation strategy. It is rather a forced response driven by complex system dynamics that transform their pastoral landscape. To maintain the preferred tra­ditional herding practices, desired adaptation measures viewed from a herding perspective should thus center at the system level, such as halting the loss and restoring already lost grazing grounds. This would require meaningful recognition and demands inclusion of reindeer herders’ right to self-determination into adaptation policies to mitigate environmental change.

Keywords

Adaptation; fuzzy cognitive mapping; Indigenous knowledge; Maladaptation; reindeer husbandry; social-ecological networks; supplementary feeding

Published in

Arctic Review on Law and Politics
2024, volume: 15, pages: 202-230
Publisher: Cappelen Damm Akademisk

SLU Authors

• Löf, Annette

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

UKÄ Subject classification

Human Geography
Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.23865/ARCTIC.V15.6138

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/142642