October 21, 2023 (Reykjavik) Arctic Circle Assembly Session on Indigenous Reindeer Herding Youth: Pasture Resilience on Edge. Traditional reindeer herders' knowledge is a cornerstone for sustaining the nomadiclivelihoods and handling unpredictable shocks.

Competing land use and climate change threaten the reindeer herding pastures, which are simultaneously exposed to infrastructure development, hydropower, mineral exploration, recreational cabin areas, and wind power. All these factors challenge reindeer herders' resilience.

The session brings together global nomadic youth to discuss the capacity of indigenous reindeer herders to reduce land degradation and improve the provision of ecosystem services by increasing community resilience as part of the global knowledge-sharing GEF-UNEP 10545 Reindeer Herding and Resilience Project.

PROGRAM

Moderator:

Brittany Janis, Associate Director, Harvard Kennedy School Arctic Initiative Speakers:

10:05 - 10:15 Session framework by Svein Disch Mathiesen, Professor, ICR and Arctic EÁLAT Institute

10:15-10:25 Dukha Reindeer Herding in Mongolia: How Pasture Loss Affects Nomadism? by Mungunshagai Khongorzul, Dukha reindeer herder, Mongolia

10:25-10:35 Pasture Loss in Sámi Reindeer Herding by Elle Ravdna Sara, Sámi reindeer herder, Norway

10:35-10:45 Forest Fires and Land Degradation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) by Lena Popova, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

10:45-10:55 Sámi Reindeer Herding in Sweden by Aslat Kuhmunen, Sámi reindeer herder, Sweden

10:55-11:05 Sámi Reindeer Herding in Finland by Jon-Erik Näkkäläjärvi, Sámi reindeer herder, Finland

11:05-11:10 Resilience in the Changing Arctic by Marina Tonkopeeva, ICR and UArctic EÁLAT Institute