Members of a native community in the arctic areas of Sweden say their reindeer (驯鹿) are facing possible starvation(饥饿)from unusual weather related to climate change. The Sami indigenous community takes care of about 8,000 reindeer throughout the year. The animals are moved between traditional feeding areas in high mountains near Norway in the summer and forests farther east in the winter.
Community member Niila Inga is worried about his reindeer. He said climate change has affected the area's weather activity and created food shortages. "If we don't find better areas for them where they cangrazeand find food, then the reindeer will starve to death, "Inga said. He demonstrated the problem by reaching down into the snow and pulling up a hard piece of ice close to the soil.
The area received unusual snowfall early in the fall, followed by rain that froze (结冰). Inga said this keeps the plants that reindeer eat under a thick cover of ice. Some of the hungry reindeer have now moved away from their traditional migration (迁徙) areas in search of food.
Community members say half the reindeer moved towards the east as planned. But the rest headed back to the mountains, where they face the risk of attacks by other animals or being caught in an avalanche. Older members of the Sami community say that in the past, they only encountered bad winters about once every ten years. But now, Inga says "extreme and strange weathers are getting more and more normal," happening several times a year.
Snowfall is normal for the area. But as temperatures increase, rain can also fall, creating a "rain-on-snow" effect. When this happens, food stays underneath the ice where the reindeer cannot reach it. This causes the animals to grow weaker and struggle to make it through the winter. Weather changes have hit the Sami community hard.
SannaVannar is president of the Swedish Sami Youth organization. The group made an action to force the European Union (EU) to reduce human-caused greenhouse gases.
"We've said we don't want money because we can't buy better weather with money,"Vannar said. "We've said we need the EU to take action and they need to do it now."
