The pressure on Sami traditional lands increases from developers, which leads to the shrinking of reindeer pastures.
From the developers, the solution has been to sign agreements with the reindeer husbandry, but a report released recently by the Stockholm Environment Institute shows that the Sami villages are at a great disadvantage compared to developers when it comes to the agreements in particular.
Amnesty also recently saw Sweden in its annual report and believes that the rights of the Sami must be better protected.
Some who have entered into an agreement are Östra Kikkejaure Sami village.
– When they presented the project to us, we were not worried. These are luxury seekers – they never row ashore, says Sami village chairman Johan Lundgren, in this week’s 15 minutes from Sápmi and continues:
– But for five years we tried to stop the project. It went up to the government and they gave permission – then we felt a little small. So we had no choice. We had to sign an agreement, or stop reindeer herding in the area.
“Carries a completely different reindeer husbandry”
The transition for the Sami village has been great.
– That was the area we used from October to January, and at that time of the year we now conduct a completely different reindeer husbandry compared to how we did it before. The area where the wind farm is not used.
Elle Eriksson is a reindeer herder in Gällivare forest community and is worried about the future.
– It is tragic when traditional knowledge is lost. Especially when young people are hit hard by it. That they don’t get to learn how reindeer husbandry has been carried out over generations within a Sami village. It is a difficult aspect to include in agreements – what the traditional knowledge looks like.
“A legal certainty problem”
Aila Biret Henriksen Selfors is a lawyer at Norway’s Arctic University and she believes that fundamental rights are not always enough.
– The most serious problem is if Sami villages are forced to sign agreements that mean giving away their land rights. It is a legal certainty problem, she says.
See this week’s 15 minutes from Sápmi on Saturday at 16:05 in SVT2. Or anytime on SVT Play.