Norway holds an international responsibility to protect the last 24 more or less isolated populations of European wild reindeer, which are red-listed. In southern Norway, approximately 25,000 individuals live on 50,000 km² of mountainous land, an area fragmented by human infrastructure and activities. These reindeer are under severe pressure from continuous habitat loss and fragmentation due to human disturbance, in addition to a warmer climate and emerging fatal diseases. To address this urgent situation, national authorities recently created a white paper (2024), fulfilled a quality-norm classification for all ranges (2022-2024), and initiated extensive local processes proposing 310 conservation mitigation measures (CMM) to improve the reindeerʼs conditions. NINA has been running long-term monitoring of reindeer population ecology and space use, and human activity within its habitats, yet there is a crucial lack of integrated knowledge on societal acceptance and ecological effects of CMM.
COEXISTENCE will use empirical data on 8 CMM ranging from soft (preventive, information) to hard (physical alteration, restrictions), including Norwayʼs largest restauration project (a former military range). For all CMM we have unique before-after data on both human activity, GPS-marked reindeer range use and population performance. We will also assess new CMM (e.g. restrictions) that are implemented during the project. We will adopt a holistic socio-ecological framework to empirically test the effects of soft to hard CMM on reindeer and humans, and to assess the societal barriers and drivers for CMM implementation at the local and national scale.
Results are continuously disseminated to stakeholders and management. Through integrated work packages with strong stakeholder involvement, this collaborative project will generate interdisciplinary knowledge on the social-ecological effects of various CMM, improving the foundation for wild reindeer management in multi-use landscapes.