Avoiding a green transition dilemma - The need for climate impact assessments in Swedish Sápmi

Reindeer herding is a vital livelihood carried out by the Sámi, Sweden’s only recognized Indigenous people.

Impacts of increased warming is a major concern among all  reindeer herding communities (RHCs) in northern Sweden, partly because adaptation to climate change effects demands an increased RHC flexibility in guiding their reindeer to suitable pastures. Instead, herders find their flexibility is becoming increasingly reduced due to industrial and societal activities.

The current rapid increase in demand for critical minerals, raw materials and renewable energy to facilitate the ‘green transition’ requires access to new land or expansions of existing projects.

For sustainable management, and to avoid increasing land use conflicts, decisions on land use priorities need to rely on proper impact assessment procedures. However, effects of climate change on reindeer herding are today not assessed.

Therefore, this project explores in what ways climate impacts best are analyzed and aims to provide guidelines to state agencies, regional governments and municipalities for how climate impact assessments can be integrated into decision-making processes related to land use development and planning.

This interdisciplinary project focuses on e.g. to: i) Assess resilience and vulnerability of reindeer herding to climate change; ii) Tailor climate indices to assess possible impacts from future climate change; iii) Use comparative insights from other counties (best practices).