Representatives of the Sami indigenous population in Sweden are worried that climate change could put an end to their traditional livelihoods because reindeer are starving, the AP reported.

Deer's grasslands have already declined due to mining and logging. Traditionally, livestock farmers move them from the high mountains on the border with Norway in the summer to the forests in the east in the winter. This has been done for centuries.

However, due to the warming, the snow near the soil is icy and the animals cannot eat. This year, the first snow in the area fell very early in the fall, followed by rain. So the deer's food was located under a thick layer of ice and the animals strayed from their traditional migration route, looking for new pastures. From the Nile Inga herd, half the animals went east as everyone had expected, and the rest went to the mountains, where there are many predators and the danger of avalanches is high.

The elderly Sami pastors remember that once the bad winters were rare - like one in ten years. Now, however, "extreme and unusual meteorological phenomena are becoming the norm - not just every year, but several times a year."

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. According to data from the Swedish Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, the temperature in the country has increased by 1.64 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era, and by three degrees Celsius in mountainous regions.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!