At the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), Anders Oskal stands out in the crowd, wearing a vividly colored traditional garment. He explains to reporters that this is the Sami traditional clothing, known as "gákti," originating from the Kautokeino region of northern Norway, where he lives and works. The Sami are an indigenous people of northern Europe, spread across Norway, Sweden, northern Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and this attire carries ancient patterns once worn during daily life and labor alongside reindeer, though it feels somewhat warm for the venue in Ulaanbaatar.

Oskal serves as the Secretary General of the World Reindeer Herders' Organization and Executive Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry, and he is a Sami reindeer herder from northern Norway. For years, he has worked to foster exchanges between reindeer herders from different countries and to bring indigenous traditional knowledge into discussions on climate change, land governance, and international policy. In 2026, the United Nations will mark the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, and ahead of COP17, hundreds of herders and their organization representatives from over 100 countries gathered in Mongolia from August 10 to 15 for the Global Assembly of Pastoralists, where they formulated the Global Pastoralist Declaration, which was presented to UNCCD Executive Secretary Yasmine Fouad on the opening day of COP17.

At this conference, centered on land degradation, drought, and rangeland protection, herders are not merely "stakeholders" in policy debates. They are the most direct observers of land change, inheritors of much traditional knowledge, and witnesses on the front lines of climate change. For those unfamiliar with reindeer herding, reindeer might appear as just an animal, a livelihood, or a cultural symbol of the Arctic, but Oskal sees a far deeper relationship between the Sami people, reindeer, and the land, rooted in an ancient story passed down through generations.

According to this story, at the beginning of time, the Sami and reindeer made a pact: they would always care for each other. The reindeer provide food, transportation, and materials for clothing and shelter, while the people must care for them, ensuring they find sufficient pasture across eight seasons that follow the reindeer's life and migration cycles. This pact also embodies respect for life—milking must be gentle, and any necessary slaughter must be swift, not like a wolf's tearing. The story concludes with a single, solemn line: this pact must never be broken. Children often hear it as mere folklore, but as they grow and share it with their own children, they grasp its weight. Oskal suggests that, in a broader sense, this may not just be a pact between the Sami and reindeer, but between humanity and nature itself; if that bond is broken, the consequences are profound—without reindeer, the Sami would cease to be who they are, perhaps even cease to exist as a people.

When discussing climate change, people often think of global average temperatures, emission data, and model predictions, but for reindeer herders, it is not a distant number—it is a transformation unfolding daily on the land. Oskal recalls that in his youth, a key task at summer camps was finding firewood, often requiring long treks because trees were scarce; now, trees have grown right up to the campsites, everywhere. In many high-latitude regions, rising temperatures have allowed shrubs and trees to spread into previously open areas. While this might seem "greener," it is not necessarily beneficial for herds that follow fixed migration routes, some of which have been used for centuries. These routes were not planned by humans but gradually chosen by reindeer based on terrain, vegetation, and their needs, passed down through generations of the same herd and family. Today, some routes are no longer passable—shrubs have grown too dense, and reindeer refuse to take their old paths, seeking alternatives instead. Because these routes have been used for so long, when reindeer avoid them, it signals that unusual changes are occurring. A 2022 study by the Finnish Meteorological Institute found that from 1979 to 2021, the Arctic warmed at an average rate roughly 3.8 times faster than the global average, and the resulting changes in vegetation, snowfall, and ice have made herding and migration more difficult. Oskal's organization has long tried to combine herders' observations of snow, vegetation, animal behavior, and seasonal cycles with modern scientific research to better understand environmental changes and prepare for a more unpredictable future. In his view, indigenous traditional knowledge is not opposed to modern science; it arises from generations of life and observation on the same land, offering another perspective on climate adaptation.

What worries Oskal even more is that climate change and land development are happening simultaneously. In the Arctic, roads, mining, energy, and other development activities continue to encroach on traditional pastures, fragmenting land and shrinking the space for reindeer to migrate and forage freely. For herders, the key ability to cope with abnormal weather and pasture changes lies in mobility—when one pasture becomes unsuitable, they can move their herds to another area. But if migration routes are cut off and pastures are divided, even herders with deep knowledge may have nowhere to go. If they are asked to adapt to climate change while their pastures are constantly taken away, adaptation becomes impossible. Oskal emphasizes that the Sami are deeply connected to and highly dependent on the land, and the best state for both people and reindeer is to let nature remain as it is. Reindeer herding is one of the few livelihoods that truly benefits from "not changing nature," which gives the ancient pact a more practical meaning: protecting the land is not an empty slogan but the very foundation of whether this pact can survive.

These challenges are not unique to northern Europe. Reindeer herding is practiced across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Mongolia, China, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Scotland. In the Greater Khingan Range of Inner Mongolia, China, the Aoluguya Ewenki people also maintain a tradition of living with reindeer. Oskal has visited China to exchange with local reindeer herders, and at each new reindeer community, he feels a sense of familiarity. Despite different geographic and living environments, the core relationship between people and reindeer is similar, and they can recognize things akin to those at home. Over the past thirty years, reindeer herders worldwide have gradually built cross-border exchange platforms, allowing different communities to meet face-to-face and discuss climate change, land use, biodiversity, transmission of traditional knowledge, and the future of young people. Many issues are difficult to see clearly or solve if confined to local or single-country levels. Oskal admits that reindeer herders may not directly change global greenhouse gas emissions, but they can jointly track changes, combine traditional knowledge with modern science, and better understand environmental shifts. When asked if he is optimistic about the future, he does not give a simple answer: "As long as we can still meet, talk, and work together, that is the best way we can face an uncertain future."

Oskal is particularly concerned about young people. For many indigenous groups, traditional knowledge exists not only in books but is transmitted through language, stories, herding practices, and family life across generations. Once the connection between young people and the land and reindeer is broken, the knowledge, language, values, and even the entire cultural system may disappear. "A culture that has lasted a thousand years can be lost within a single generation. It only takes one generation." Therefore, he hopes that young people can not only inherit traditions but also build their own future within this unique northern nomadic civilization. Traditional knowledge should not be locked in the past but should serve as the basis for them to respond to climate change, participate in land governance, and create new lives. "We have been trying to play our part and make our voices heard," Oskal says. "We are not sure how many are listening, but we will keep telling our story." At the end of the conversation, when asked what he would like to say to the audience, his answer is brief, with a touch of Sami humor: "Think about reindeer every day, and everything will be fine." This lighthearted remark subtly echoes the ancient pact—thinking about reindeer also means thinking about the land beneath their feet, the changing seasons, and that pact that cannot be broken.

The SINA Corp ESG Rating Center, represented here, is an industry-first Chinese-language professional ESG information and rating aggregation platform. It is dedicated to promoting sustainable development, responsible investment, and the value concepts of environmental, social, and governance (ESG), spreading corporate ESG practices and exemplary actions, advancing China's ESG cause, and facilitating the establishment of Chinese ESG assessment standards and corporate rating improvements. Leveraging the rating center, SINA Corp has launched multiple innovative ESG indices to provide investors focused on corporate ESG performance with more choices. Additionally, SINA Corp has established the China ESG Leaders Organization Forum, working with leading Chinese ESG enterprises and partners to develop an ESG evaluation standard system suited to China's contemporary context and to promote the growth of ESG investment in China's asset management industry.