Project ReiGN: Reindeer Husbandry in a Globalizing North–Resilience, Adaptations and Pathways for Actions

Fennoscandian reindeer husbandry represents ecological, social-economical and institutional gradients reflected in different adaptations and management regimes. This provides for an interdisciplinary comparative research approach, between and within countries. By integrating perspectives from natural and social sciences, ReiGN engages in (1) identifying key drivers, (2) their effects on this pastoral system, and (3) how they are linked to ecological, social and political differences. In this chapter we outline the main challenges confronting this diverse and dynamic social-ecological system within a globalization and climate change perspective. This enables us to evaluate its adaptive capacities as well as its potential to stimulate policy decisions, societal responses and management actions for a viable reindeer husbandry. In this chapter we present reindeer husbandry in a historical context and introduce key concepts of Sami reindeer husbandry to ease the understanding of our findings presented and discussed. We also offer an overview of the main research areas in which the ReiGN NCoE has conducted its work over the past several years.