Finland reindeer herders want halt to logging
Date: 25-Mar-02
Country: FINLAND
A five-man delegation representing some 600 reindeer herders warned ministers that if the state-run Forest and Park Service allowed loggers into what remained of northern Lapland's untouched forests, reindeer would soon run out of food in the wild.
Ditches and scrap wood left after logging made some areas impassable and made it harder for reindeer to migrate between their winter and summer feeding grounds, they added.
The Forests and Park Service said it too was concerned about the issue of unsustainable logging in the region's forests.
Some 70,000 or so Sami, who dislike the most widely used names Laplander and Lapp, live in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia, predominantly above the Arctic Circle. About 7,000 of Finland's 5.2 million people are Sami.
Many of the Sami still make their living in the traditional way, by reindeer herding.
