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Climate-adapted conservation: how to identify robust strategies for the management of reindeer in Hardangervidda National Park (Norway)

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Abstract

This paper presents an assessment scheme that should help local conservation management in their adaptation to potential effects of climate change. It can be used for the identification of robust adaptation options at site level. The assessment scheme was applied to the management of Europe’s largest population of wild mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) living in the arctic-alpine plateau of Hardangervidda in south-western Norway. At first, the last four decades (1964–2004) were analysed to identify climate- and non-climate-related driving forces affecting the population. In addition, regional projections of climate change were used to build scenarios for the potential effects on these driving forces until 2050. In the second step, the potential effects of climate change were classified according to the risk they pose to the conservation of reindeer in Hardangervidda. Based on this assessment, no-regret strategies for biodiversity management under changing climate conditions could be identified.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service and the European Community for providing a scholarship and a Marie Curie Fellowship. Special thanks are also due to the INTERREG IVB Project HABIT-CHANGE (2CE168P3) financed by ERDF and the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme.

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  1. Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, 01217, Dresden, Germany

    Sven Rannow

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Rannow, S. Climate-adapted conservation: how to identify robust strategies for the management of reindeer in Hardangervidda National Park (Norway). Reg Environ Change 13, 813–823 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0449-z

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