Suchergebnisse

The Sami are often described as the only indigenous people of the European Union. They inhabit an area now known as, and claimed by, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola peninsula of Russia. Recent research recognises that the Sami in Sweden-Finland had a right to their lands and waters, comparable to ownership. Previously, others referred to the Sami as Lapps. In 1673 and 1695, King Carl XI approved the Settlement Bill of Lapland, which allowed non-Lapps to cross the border of Lapland to settle. This may be considered to be the beginning of colonisation, assimilation and integration. As is the case with other indigenous peoples around the globe, the Sami have been struggling for the recognition of their rights since colonisation. Discussion on indigenous Sami rights to land and waters have been going on for a long time in Finland, which is the focus of this article. Different stakeholders as well as international, national and local politics are involved when issues concerning indigenous Sami rights to use Northern lands for their traditional activities are discussed. In this context, the possible ratification of the ILO Convention 169 has been an important issue. Many of the challenges related to the ILO Convention No. 169 reflect the issues related to the subjects of the Convention or the right holders of the land rights. Currently, the question of 'who is a Sami' seems to be the most controversial issue.

The article examines the common global phenomenon of indigenous urbanization. In Finland, more than 75 % of the indigenous Sámi children are born outside the Sámi Homeland area. The development is fast and poses different kind of challenges for the entire Sámi society and culture. Youth and women are more likely to settle in urban areas and it is their Sáminess that is to survive or die in the cities. Indigenousness is no longer tied with traditional livelihoods or land use but instead requires other forms of cultural maintenance. In the contemporary situation Sámi have started through their own associations and networks require more appropriate services in the cities, including Sámi language learning in the schools and kindergartens. This is not always satisfactory. The article evaluates the existing international and domestic (Finland) legislation in regard to Sámi language, but also the implementation of these rights in practice. The author would like to acknowledge that the article is based on a joint research project called NUORGÁV – An urban future for Sápmi?, between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, where it is studied how Sámi youth organize and network to impact urban Sámi policy. The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway and administrated by Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR).

This chapter analyses the future of traditional Arctic livelihoods as perceived by young reindeer herders in Finland. With urbanisation, industrialisation and rapid social and environmental changes in the Arctic, young herders face an uncertain future. Reindeer pastures are under constant pressure being narrowed and lost. The cumulative effects of climatic and socio-political changes are unclear. The conditions under which young herders raise their reindeer will likely be very different by the time they are middle aged. The chapter draws on general statistics and interviews of youth involved with reindeer herding in two different reindeer herding cooperatives in Finland (Palojärvi and Näkkälä). On this base, it analyses the changing conditions for practicing reindeer herding in Arctic Finland today compared to young herders' own perceptions of reindeer herding as a part of their future life and culture. The results show the confidence of young herders in the adaptive capacity that has been built into their livelihood for centuries. Rather than seeing themselves just as victims of dramatic global changes, young herders also display optimism towards a future that allows them to combine reindeer herding as an entrepreneur with other occupations, such as tourism. Thus, the chapter concludes that the future of traditional Arctic livelihoods is in creative diversification if the legal and political conditions allow youth to harness new opportunities rather than limiting their agency. ; This chapter analyses the future of traditional circumpolar livelihoods as perceived by young reindeer herders and their guardians (N = 12) in Finland. It draws on general statistics and interviews in three different reindeer-herding cooperatives. On this basis, it analyses the changing conditions for practising reindeer herding in northern Finland based on young herders' perceptions of reindeer herding as a part of their future and culture in addition to their guardians' perspectives. The results show that the young herders do have confidence in the centuries-old adaptive capacity built into their livelihood, which their guardians support. Rather than seeing themselves as victims of dramatic global changes, young herders display optimism towards a future that allows them to combine reindeer herding with other occupations, for example, other professions or other kinds of mixed economy such as tourism, the production of local handicrafts and meat processing. The gender-specific issue is that young women also see reindeer herding as an important occupation due to its importance in their lives. These results reveal similar results to research in other Arctic contexts on women with traditional livelihoods. The future of traditional Arctic livelihoods will be in a creative diversification process if legal and political conditions allow the youth to harness new opportunities rather than limiting their agency.

Reindeer herding is both a traditional livelihood and business. Reindeer herding in the Nordic countries has been able to keep remote northern areas inhabited and maintained indigenous cultures. Reindeer herders have also been able to adapt to new circumstances, and a lot of them have invested in value-adding production or secondary occupations, such as tourism. The main challenge for reindeer herding is loss for pastures, which are used as commons, for other industries and infrastructure projects. The most recent competitor for land use is the growing investments on renewable energy production of windmill farms, which disturbs especially reindeer calving. In this article, we study the rights and opportunities of reindeer herders in participating in decision making on land use for infrastructure projects in general and windmill projects specifically. We focus on the situation in Finland, but also use examples of reported land use conflicts (between reindeer herders and windmill farms) from other Nordic countries. The aim of the article is to find out how reindeer herders experience their opportunities for participating in decision-making and how decision-makers understand their opinions. There is national legislation on participation in land use, as well as an increasing amount of international conventions to protect the environment and rights of local, especially indigenous populations. This international law has affected on Finnish national legislation and the constitution, which requires people with indigenous livelihoods be consulted before infrastructure projects get started. We focus on the rules and regulations in connection with windmill farms. Windmill farms are especially interesting, since renewable energy is now preferred as safer and greener energy. ; Reindeer herding is both a traditional livelihood and a business still practiced in the northern parts of Eurasia. In the Nordic countries, reindeer herding has contributed to keeping remote northern areas inhabited while maintaining Indigenous cultures. Reindeer herders have also been able to adapt to new circumstances, and many of them have invested in value-adding production or secondary occupations, such as tourism. The main challenge for reindeer herding is the loss of pastures to other industries and infrastructure projects. The growing investment in wind farms—which not only compete for the same land with reindeer herding but may also disturb the herding practices—has emerged as a recent competitor to reindeer herding in the context of land use. In this article, we study the rights and opportunities of reindeer herders to participate in decision making on land use for infrastructure projects in general and wind farm projects in particular. Our focus is on the situation in Finland, but we also use examples of reported land use conflicts between reindeer herders and wind farms from other Nordic countries. The aim of this article is, on the one hand, to find out how the rights of reindeer herders in planning and making decisions on wind farms are regulated and, on the other hand, how these rights function in practice. In addition to national legislation on participation in land use, there exists a growing number of international conventions to protect the environment and the rights of Indigenous people. Wind farms are particularly interesting in that renewable energy is now internationally preferred and subsidized as "green energy" in the fight against climate change. The challenge remains how to protect traditional livelihoods and human rights while targeting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.