Many a little makes a mickle: Cumulative land cover changes and traditional land use in the Kyrö reindeer herding district, northern Finland

Kivinen, Sonja

doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.06.013

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The results of our study suggest that integrating detailed place-based data provided by different stakeholders as part of the planning process could support better land management in mining areas. PPGIS could also provide a useful tool for more sustainable land use planning in other kinds of northern environments that experience rapid land cover transformations arising from different land use pressures [36,106,107].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

People and Post-Mining Environments: PPGIS Mapping of Landscape Values, Knowledge Needs, and Future Perspectives in Northern Finland

Kivinen

Vartiainen

Kumpula

2018

Land

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Mining can have a notable environmental and social footprint both during the production phase and after the mine closure. We examined local stakeholders’ viewpoints on two post-mining areas in northern Finland, Hannukainen and Rautuvaara, using a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) approach. Spatially explicit data on local residents’ and visitors’ values, knowledge needs, and future perspectives on mining landscapes were collected with an online map-based survey tool (Harava). The results show that post-mining sites were generally considered unpleasant places. A majority of respondents were of the opinion that areas would need better reclamation and landscaping measures. The landscape surrounding the post-mining sites contained a wide diversity of pleasant places with high nature and recreational value. Respondents addressed various environmental concerns related to the impacts of former mining activities on the quality of ground water and surface water, potential soil contamination, and the safety of natural products. Opinions on the planned mine reopening were strongly divided among the respondents. One of the key questions was whether a large open-pit mine and nature-based tourism can coexist in the same region. Our results highlight that “the shadow of the mine”—observed environmental impacts, uncertainties related to the spatial extent, duration, and magnitude of impacts, and knowledge gaps—can affect local stakeholders’ land use far outside the mining sites and long after the mine closure. Identifying and mapping stakeholder values, opinions, and knowledge needs could significantly improve post-mining land use planning and mitigate the loss of multifunctional landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

People and Post-Mining Environments: PPGIS Mapping of Landscape Values, Knowledge Needs, and Future Perspectives in Northern Finland

Kivinen

Vartiainen

Kumpula

2018

Land

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“…Reindeer and caribou (both Rangifer tarandus ) are considered keystone species in northern landscapes (Vors & Boyce, ), and also the foundation for reindeer husbandry for numerous indigenous people across the circumpolar region (Jernsletten & Klokov, ). Over the last century, Rangifer habitats have been exposed to major changes due to forestry, mining, hydro power, and other exploitation (Gillingham et al., ; Johnson & Russell, ; Kivinen, ). Recently, this exploitation has been accompanied by the development of WFs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Out of sight of wind turbines—Reindeer response to wind farms in operation

Skarin

Sandström

Alam

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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To meet the expanding land use required for wind energy development, a better understanding of the effects on terrestrial animals’ responses to such development is required. Using GPS‐data from 50 freely ranging female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Malå reindeer herding community, Sweden, we determined reindeer calving sites and estimated reindeer habitat selection using resource selection functions (RSF). RSFs were estimated at both second‐ (selection of home range) and third‐order (selection within home range) scale in relation to environmental variables, wind farm (WF) development phase (before construction, construction, and operation), distance to the WFs and at the second‐order scale whether the wind turbines were in or out of sight of the reindeer. We found that the distance between reindeer calving site and WFs increased during the operation phase, compared to before construction. At both scales of selection, we found a significant decrease in habitat selection of areas in proximity of the WFs, in the same comparison. The results also revealed a shift in home range selection away from habitats where wind turbines became visible toward habitats where the wind turbines were obscured by topography (increase in use by 79% at 5 km). We interpret the reindeer shift in home range selection as an effect of the wind turbines per se. Using topography and land cover information together with the positions of wind turbines could therefore help identify sensitive habitats for reindeer and improve the planning and placement of WFs. In addition, we found that operation phase of these WFs had a stronger adverse impact on reindeer habitat selection than the construction phase. Thus, the continuous running of the wind turbines making a sound both day and night seemed to have disturbed the reindeer more than the sudden sounds and increased human activity during construction work.

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“…Previously, the assessment of impacts of climate change and anthropogenic encroachment have been dealt with in isolation on a project-by-project basis. Because the effects of accumulating land use pressures are likely amplified by consequences of climate change, there is an increasing need to analyse how these interact to affect reindeer herding (Hausner et al, 2019;Kivinen, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reindeer husbandry in peril?—How extractive industries exert multiple pressures on an Arctic pastoral ecosystem

Fohringer

Rosqvist

Inga³

et al. 2021

People and Nature

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Environmental changes and their consequences on biodiversity are known to have far‐reaching effects on the resilience of animal populations and associated livelihoods around the world. To counteract negative demographic and economic effects on pastoralism, knowledge about the historical and current status of the environment is essential. In this study, we show how extractive industries, especially large‐scale mining, induced a cascade of land conversions which are affecting animal populations and pastoralists’ adaptive responses in northern Sweden. We examine social–ecological vulnerability in Arctic reindeer husbandry by integrating herders’ knowledge, population statistics for semi‐domesticated reindeer Rangifer t. tarandus, public data on socio‐economic variables and geospatial tools. We determine that approximately 34% of Laevas reindeer herding community's grazing grounds are functionally unavailable to reindeer at present due to the accumulation of multiple competing land use pressures. Reindeer numbers currently only remain stable due to increased management efforts. Moreover, we identified current hotspots of high cumulative impact and mineral exploration as the spatially dominating land use factor in this area. Our approach and results provide new insights for scientifically robust cumulative impact assessments of anthropogenic stressors by creating a baseline of current developments via a combination of reindeer herder's knowledge with historical data of trends and extents of human activity over the last century.

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Many a little makes a mickle: Cumulative land cover changes and traditional land use in the Kyrö reindeer herding district, northern Finland

Cited by 23 publications

References 41 publications

People and Post-Mining Environments: PPGIS Mapping of Landscape Values, Knowledge Needs, and Future Perspectives in Northern Finland

People and Post-Mining Environments: PPGIS Mapping of Landscape Values, Knowledge Needs, and Future Perspectives in Northern Finland

Out of sight of wind turbines—Reindeer response to wind farms in operation

Reindeer husbandry in peril?—How extractive industries exert multiple pressures on an Arctic pastoral ecosystem

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