Climate change spells bad news for reindeer, scientists say
156 views · Published 30 December 2018 · 5:47 · Indexed 26 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(25 Dec 2018) LEAD IN: Scientists are warning climate change spells bad news for reindeer in Finnish Lapland. A multitude of challenges, including less food, heavier snowfall, drought and swarming insects, might present too great a challenge to the 1,500 herders who rely on the antlered animals for their livelihood. STORY-LINE: In snow covered Finnish Lapland, these herders are busy rounding up their reindeer. Northern Finland's Palojarvi herding district is home to about 5,000 reindeer. They're bred for their meat, milk and fur. There's now concern that reindeer are shrinking in size due to the impact climate change is having on food supplies. A 20-year study of reindeer on Norway's Svalbard archipelago by Scotland's James Hutton Institute found reindeer got smaller and lighter. Researchers believe climate change is to blame. Warmer winters mean more rain. When rain falls on the snow it freezes, locking the reindeer's food - such as lichen - beneath the ice. That means the animals are unable to smell the food underneath the ice or dig for it. As a result, researchers believe the reindeer starve, abort their calves or give birth to much lighter young. Here in Finnish Lapland, herders believe they're facing a similar challenge. Although in Finland reindeer are managed differently. There's a system of 56 herding cooperatives that manage the animals. The reindeer no longer freely migrate across Northern Scandinavia. "If we now get rain coming on the snow, it means that the reindeer food, it's going to be in the icebox," says Matti Sarkela from Finland's Reindeer Herders' Association. "Reindeer can't dig the lichen from the ground, the food from the ground, through ice. That's the worst thing (that) could happen for us during the wintertime of the climate change." Over the wintertime, Finland is home to about 200,000 reindeer. Around 1,500 herders, rely on the animals for their livelihood. Herders are already making to plans to give their animals extra to feed, such as lichens, pellets and hay, to compensate for the loss in food. "We have to give our reindeer extra feed, we have to organise extra feeding to give them help to pass for the better days. I think that could be one of the things that we have already been planning," says Sarkela. It's not just herders that rely on Finnish Lapland's antlered occupants for their income, the country's tourism industry touts them too. At Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, visitors pay for reindeer sleigh rides. The tourist destination attracts over 300,000 visitors annually. French researcher Stephanie Lefrere first came to Finland in 1998 to study the country's moose population. She's observed the gradual impact of climate change first hand. According to the Finland's Meteorological Institute, mean temperatures in Lapland increased 1.5 degrees Celsius over the past 150 years. Lefrere warns of other challenges to reindeer, including so-called "insect harassment" by flies and mosquitoes during the summer months, which saps the animals' strength and distracts them from searching for food. Drought and increased snowfall also pose problems. "If reindeer cannot recover from a bad winter, when snow conditions have been so difficult, so how can they make it in summer if there is increased heat, increased insect harassment, but also drought because the drought will also affect the fodder quality," she says. "And, for instance, in autumn time, there might be less mushrooms available for reindeer and those are very important for winter approaching." "But now the changes are too rapid and there are too many things." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b9cb0599f71c1f29ecf7bdcb0eeecd0d
