Fire and Reindeer

The research examines how wildfire impacts are mapped and understood in Sweden, contrasting official reports with the narrative accounts of Sámi reindeer herders following a major 2018 fire. It argues that current wildfire management fails to recognize the practices and rights of indigenous communities, leading to stark differences in how spatial and temporal fire boundaries are perceived. The authors advocate for a more inclusive approach to landscape management that incorporates multiple human-landscape relations and values.

• Official debates and national preparedness regarding climate-amplified wildfires in Sweden during the 2010s largely ignored the impacts on indigenous Sámi people and their reindeer herds.
• There are significant discrepancies in how fire boundaries, both in terms of time and space, are understood and recognized depending on the landscape perspective and practice used, as evidenced by a comparison between official reports and Sámi narratives from a 2018 fire event.
• Current Swedish wildfire and landscape management is not inclusive of all rights-bearers and requires reconsideration to incorporate diverse perspectives on human-landscape values.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2026). Fire and Reindeer. https://www.sei.org/publications/fire-and-reindeer/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Fire and Reindeer. 2026. https://www.sei.org/publications/fire-and-reindeer/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Fire and Reindeer |date=16 January 2026 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/fire-and-reindeer/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2026fire, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Fire and Reindeer}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2026}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/fire-and-reindeer/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }