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use in the north. It should be noted that we aim not to provide representative and comprehensive
explanations, but rather to explore the relevance of socio-natural capital via specific case studies.
Material and Methods
This study consists of three type of research material: 1) previous research, 2) interviews and 3)
stakeholder consultations on land use contradictions in Arctic areas in the European Union.
The previous research literature consists of published examinations on reindeer herding and related
land use contradictions, mainly in Finland (e.g. Raitio 2008; Sarkki 2011; Heikkinen et al. 2014).
Furthermore, we conducted three telephone interviews on a topical case concerning a conflict
between Sámi reindeer herding and mining in Gállok (Kallak), Sweden. Interviewees included an
academic studying the conflict, and two members of the Sámi reindeer herding community. These
materials were examined in order to identify gaps in socio-natural capital regarding Fennoscandian
land use especially from reindeer herding’s perspective (section 3). In order to analyse the material
systematically, we examined it from the point of view of social capital and perceptions on sustainable
use of natural capital as well as on procedural and distributional justice. We then used qualitative
directive content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon 2005) to classify the material belonging to four clusters
regarding their relationships to social capital and perceptions on sustainable use of natural capital as
well as processes and outcomes. The clusters were given informative titles and represent problems
regarding sustainability of land use from reindeer herders’ perspective, and can be conceptualised as
gaps in socio-natural capital (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Four gaps in socio-natural capital regarding reindeer herding and other land uses in northern
Finland.
The identified gaps provide increased understanding on the problems that could be eased by further
developing socio-natural capi [