Reindeer herder Elle Merete Omma says climate change is causing problems for her animals, but so are the carbon-cutting industries designed to fight it.
“We are having a double burden actually at the moment,” says Ms Omma, “I’m worried about the future.”
She belongs to a community of indigenous Sami reindeer herders near the city of Umeå in Swedish Lapland, who say they’ve been affected by the climate crisis.
Thick fluffy snow usually falls from November onwards, but the start of this winter was mild, with rain and sleet instead. This freezes quickly and makes it harder for reindeer to graze on lichen, their major food source.
A nearby hilltop wind farm, designed to cut emissions by producing renewable energy, isn’t helping, argues Ms Omma. This is because the turbines have cut off grazing lands where snow typically “lays more often and stays for a longer period”.
The reindeers will not go into this [wind farm] area at all… because of the sound, because of how it looks, the visual impact,” says Ms Omma, who also works for the Sami Council, an independent non-profit organisation representing Sami rights.
If a herder loses part of his or her land to a wind farm, it is very difficult for them to find replacement space nearby. This is because any adjacent grazing land would, in all likelihood, be being used by another herder. There isn’t enough such land to go around, which has already led to legal issues and conflicts between herders.
Research into the impact of wind farms on reindeer has produced mixed findings. Recent reports by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency concluded that reindeer can choose to avoid wind farms. Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63901217
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