Reindeer Herders as Stakeholders or Rights-Holders? Introducing a Social Equity-Based Conceptualization Relevant for Indigenous and Local Communities

Abstract

The stakeholder concept has dominated academic discussions for a number of years and has functioned as a normative guide for natural resource management. However, there are at least three characteristics in stakeholder approaches: (1) all-inclusivity; (2) prioritization of economic interests; (3) ahistorical view on rights, which risk continued marginalization of indigenous people and the practitioners of traditional livelihoods despite of the intention to nurture indigenous and local participation by acknowledging them as stakeholders. We propose, in the context of natural resource governance, to address these biases by recognising indigenous and local traditional livelihood practitioners as rights-holders. We examine in turn: (1) how to conceptualise rights-holders in governance through a social equity perspective (2) why indigenous and local traditional livelihood practitioners should be considered as rights-holders instead of stakeholders, and (3) some of the implications and tensions associated with considering traditional livelihood practitioners, including both indigenous and non-indigenous groups and individuals, as rights-holders. We illustrate and examine these questions in a case study of reindeer herding in Finland. In Finland, today, reindeer herding is practiced by both Sami and Finn herders and, based on a social equity perspective, both groups can be considered rights-holders if we acknowledge reindeer herding as a traditional livelihood practice. As traditional livelihood practitioners, herder have their whole way of life at stake and ultimately depend on access to land. In addition, herders have (had) detailed systems of customary rights preceding effective state-based governance in the north. Such institutions are particularly pronounced for Sami reindeer herders but are applicable to both groups. Our conceptualisation of rights-holders thus recognises herders as categorically different from stakeholders, whose stakes are typically economic. It provides an incentive to increase the efforts of recognizing and treating herders as rights-holders in land use governance and thereby addresses some of the apparent gaps when it comes to implementation of indigenous rights and rights to participation in environmental governance. In this essay we also discuss differences in rights between Sami and ethnic Finn reindeer herders and some of the conceptual and practical tensions that arise as a consequence of our approach. We conclude that efforts to recognise and reframe herders as rights-holders rather than stakeholders in land use governance are important and a potential tool to increase social equity of land use for reindeer herders.