Reindeer Blog

(Press release from the Saami Council) The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination criticizes Sweden for numerous forms of discrimination of the Saami people in unusually concrete and strong language, in particular with regard to the Saami people’s right to land.

The United Nations has for several years condemned Sweden for not recognizing the Saami people’s right to land and resources. Sweden has ignored this criticism so far taking no single action to end the discrimination of the Saami people identified by the UN. The UN now sharpens its criticism further. The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination released on Monday 18.8 its Concluding Observations on Sweden in which it calls on Sweden to take several concrete actions to end the human rights violations Sweden subjects the Saami people to. Read the rest of this entry »

The annual NBR NRL meeting is now over and Nils Henrik Sara from Guovdageaidnu has been reelected as leader. He has a lot of serious issues to preside over - two that were in the media this weekend were the enormous increase in wind power development plans and another being the gender balance on the board.

Arvid Jåma, a reindeer herder in the southern Sami area of Fosen, Trondelag, where NVE plan to develop an enormous wind park supplying 4038 MW, said

I see no option but to quit reindeer herding if Fosen is developed into a windmill park. Read the rest of this entry »

Sami film maker Nils Gaup’s movie, The Kautokeino Rebellion has been a huge success in Norway, with a total audience of over 400,000. International success may also be around the corner as it has already been sold to 20 countries.   The film was shown for the first time in Finland at the Nightless Night Festival in Inari, Finland, making a great impact on the audience. The Kautokeino Rebellion will open the Sodankyla Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finland on June 11th and the rest of Finland in August. With its introduction to Finland, Helsingin Sanomat carried an interesting piece about the film and its background.

(Map showing extent of one claim in Kvalsund - Wega Mining) At a public meeting in Kvalsund, northern Norway, a full frontal attack on reindeer husbandry was launched by one of the parliamentary representatives for Finnmark, Olav Gunnar Ballo. The meeting had been called to discuss the issue of mining in the region where the international mining company Wega Mining has applied for permission to expand mineral mining, with the support of the local mayor and the majority of participants. Wega owns 18% of Nussir ASA which has the permit to mine what is believed to be Norway’s largest copper deposits at Nussir and Repparfjord. Ballo criticised reindeer husbandry for being subsidised, not moving with the times and standing in the way of development. The clip has also been televised. Ballo’s comments gained a lot of media exposure. The head of the Sami Reindeer Herders Association of Norway (NBR), Nils Henrik Sara was shocked and alarmed at Ballo’s comments, especially as he is sitting in the national parliament. 

Reindeer herder Mikkel Nils A. Sara stressed that reindeer herders were not against development… Read the rest of this entry »

( Picture and original article: Metla) Kevät on aikaistunut viimeisen vuosikymmenen kuluessa Keski- ja Pohjois-Suomessa kahdella viikolla ja Etelä-Suomessa viikolla. Tulokset ilmenevät Metlan tutkimuksista, jotka on julkaistu kahdessa kansainvälisessä sarjassa.

(Brief summary in English: Spring comes two week earlier in Finnish Lapland than ten years ago. This appears from the recent research made by Finnish Metsätutkimuslaitos (Metla).  Phenology, like formation of leaves and blooming of birch, aspen, hagberry, and hawthorn as well as blueberry and lingon was investigated for research. The rhytmic of plants reflects the temperature of air and changes in it. That is why phenological research is important when investigating the progress of climate change.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Sami reindeer herder Olav Mathis Eira was in London recently to make a direct appeal to the British Prime Minister.

“Climate change is threatening our economy as reindeer herders. Because this is part of our traditional way of life, if the economy goes, probably the entire Sami culture would go with it.”

The story was covered in the London Independent, Read the rest of this entry »

(From CBC North, 03042008) This historical photo from an Iqaluit museum shows Saami with a reindeer on Baffin Island in the 1920s. (Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum)

A Saami woman from northern Norway has followed the travels of her ancestors to Nunavut, looking for what happened to hundreds of reindeer that were relocated from Norway to Baffin Island in the early 1900s.

Karen Monika Paulsen, in Nunavut for a month-long research expedition, said her great-grandparents sailed with more than 600 reindeer to southern Baffin Island in 1921.

Using her family’s recollections and reports from the Hudson’s Bay Company, Paulsen has learned the company relocated the Norwegian reindeer as an experiment aimed at helping Inuit avoid starvation by teaching them how to herd reindeer. Read the rest of this entry »

JOINT PRESS RELEASE by the Saami Council and the National Swedish Saami Association
2008-02-21
 
Saami areas in Sweden are currently experiencing an explosion in mining and windpower development. There has been an increase in both Scandinavian and foreign companies in prospecting, mining and windpower. Ironically, while many of these companies market themselves to investors based on principles of Corporate Social Responsibility, companies often fail to see the connection between the impacts of their activities and the rights of Saami people.
 
“The Saami Council and the National Swedish Saami Association are in dialogue with several companies, one of which is Blackstone Ventures Inc. This is a Canadian exploration company, who claim to respect the rights of indigenous people in Canada. At the same time, the company seems to have no problem with performing intrusive exploration activities in sensitive Saami reindeer herding areas in Swedish nature reserves”, says Mattias Åhrén, Head of Human Rights at the Saami Council.
 
The Saami Council and The National Swedish Saami Association (SSR) are demanding that companies and the Swedish state both take responsibility to ensure that Saami rights are protected before development projects – such as mining and windpower – go ahead.

Read the rest of this entry »

New hydropower projects, windmill parks and the construction of new houses and cabin put increasing pressure on the reindeer herders in Norway. The industry might vanish by year 2050 should the developments continue, a representative of the reindeer herders says.It is not climate changes, nor the high number of reindeers or the increasing motorized traffic which pose the biggest threat against the Norwegian reindeer herders. It is rather the big number of cabins built in the pasture areas, as well as the planned hydropower and wind power projects, head of the Norwegian Association of Reindeer Herders, Nils Henrik Sara, says to newspaper Aftenposten.

-We are being pushed out […] Our future looks gloomy and we do not have the necessary dialogue with the authorities, Mr Sara says.

He is supported by researcher Christian Nellemann from the United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP), who says that the reindeer herding industry might disappear by 2050 should the current development continue.

–The only thing, which can save the Sàmi reindeer culture is state intervention and protection of the necessary land areas, he adds.

Lawyer Geir Haugen says to Aftenposten that Norway is committed by the ILO Convention on protection of indigenous peoples’ culture and industry and that the current development in the country therefore can be seen as a violation of international law.

Only this year about 1000 new cabins are planned built in northern Norway, of which half have got special permissions. In addition come 25 planned hydro power projects, 10-12 wind power projects, as well as mining projects.

Original Story in Barents Observer and Aftenposten 

February 6th is Sami National Day in all the countries where the Sami live and is a day for a pan Sami celebration of the Sami people. The day in Sweden was overshadowed for some by the crisis that persists in reindeer pastures - many reindeer herders have been forced to apply for aid to feed their reindeer after much pastures in the region were declared a disaster. According to a report in UPI, the Swedish Sametinget is reported as saying that the situation has not been this bad since 1936. Samebyarna flaggar för svältkatastrof bland renhjordarna även i år. Kravet är att sametinget får behålla 12 miljoner kronor som buffert för stödutfordring.Men regeringen har ännu inte givit något besked. LT Östersund