Finland's Reindeer-Herding Sámi Women Fight Climate Change

This story by Sonia Narang for GlobalPost originally appeared on PRI.org on March 7, 2018, and is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.

Inka Saara Arttijeff and her family gather in the cozy kitchen of their red, wooden house, as a pot of soup simmers on the stove. They live at the edge of a frozen lake in the storybook village of Nellim, up towards the far reaches of northern Finland. It’s early February, and the sun here begins to set around 3 p.m. Arttijeff is part of a family of indigenous Sámi reindeer herders who are unfazed by short days in subzero weather.

The Sámi are indigenous to the northern parts of Finland, as well as Sweden, Norway and Russia, known for their centuries-old tradition of herding reindeer. (Reindeer are considered “semidomesticated” in Finland, and guided through their seasonal migrations by the herders.) However, the warming climate has threatened to disrupt the Sámi people's tradition of reindeer herding. As Arctic temperatures rise more than twice as fast as the global average, reindeer herders are struggling to cope with increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather.

Outside Arttijeff’s home, vast expanses of snow-covered trees fill the forest landscape. However, logging has started to encroach upon forests where Sámi people herd. The combination of weather changes and increased tree cutting has made it harder for reindeer to find food, and it’s altered their migration patterns.

“Reindeer herding represents a way of life,” Arttijeff said.

“We are born to be reindeer herders; it's part of our identity,” she added. “It's hard to think about your life without it.”

She spent her childhood around reindeer, and her herd learned to recognize her. “When I was a kid, I used to take a calf, and I would tame it and take it to walk with me. So, it was my pet,” she said with a laugh.