Pastureland restoration is urgent for Sámi reindeer pastoralism to coexist with the forest industry and adapt to climate change in Northern Sweden

Key recommendationsPastureland restoration must be implemented to reduce dependency oncoping mechanisms such as emergency feeding, mechanized transport andintense workloads. These coping mechanisms are increasingly used to dealwith the cumulative effects of encroachments from competing land uses,predator pressure, and the impacts of climate change on snow conditions.Vigorous thinning of dense, managed forests is a critical pasturelandrestoration measures that can reverse the negative trend of loss, degradationand fragmentation of ground lichens, which are key forage resources forreindeer during snow periods. Other studies show that implementing suchrestoration measures can benefit both reindeer pastoralism and forestry.Conservation of old-growth and primary forests would further improve theconditions for Sámi reindeer pastoralism as such forests are habitats forpendulous lichens, another key forage resource, and are important for culturalheritage, biodiversity conservation, and carbon storage.Pastureland restoration measures that improve the ecological conditions forSámi reindeer pastoralism must be adapted to local and landscape scaleconditions, and Indigenous and local knowledge can help in that process.