Arcum affiliated Tim Horstkotte is a Senior research engineer at Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at Umeå university, and his interests lies in the interplay between reindeer husbandry, land users and climate change. Arcum is arranging an online seminar within the Umeå Arctic Seminar series in February 2021 where he will talk about supplementary feeding in the reindeer husbandry in Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Supplementary feeding has become increasingly necessary in reindeer husbandry – in Norway, Sweden and Finland. The reasons can be manifold - from effects of climate change or parallel land use to the presence of predators. Experiences with the challenges and opportunities inherent in supplementary feeding differ between the countries. Tim and his colleagues therefore arranged a workshop that brought together reindeer herders from Norway, Sweden and Finland to share their experiences with supplementary feeding and to learn from each other. Also, researchers with different academic background participated.
Tim will present the results from this international event of knowledge co-production across knowledge systems, borders and languages – and some lessons learned from arranging such a workshop. In short, supplementary feeding changes how reindeer herders interact with their animals, but also with the natural environment. Some herders therefore fear that supplementary feeding may threaten traditional and experience-based knowledge and culture. Supplementary feeding therefore can only be a technical fix to buffer inaccessible grazing resources, but cannot contribute to solving the underlying problem. Ongoing climate change and other types of encroachments may leave reindeer herders with no other option than supplementary feeding as crisis relief.
On Friday February 19 between noon and 1 PM (CET), you have the opportunity to listen to Tim by registering your interest at the link below. You will receive more information about the seminar and a link to it by e-mail.
Please feel free to join!
