Climate Justice Panel at the EU-SAMI WEEK

The Markbygden wind farm in Pitea, Sweden/Washington Post

In my previous blog I offered a few impressions from the streamed panels I listened to as part of EU-Sámi Week (June 20-22, 2022) at the European Parliament in Brussels. On Tuesday afternoon, June 21, there was a two-part program on Climate Justice that I highly recommend watching  for better insight into how an Indigenous people are dealing with increasing demands on their traditional lands in the name of green energy and sustainability.

 

A few days ago (June 29, 2022) the Washington Post published an article on “the Green Revolution Sweeping Sweden,” detailing the excitement in certain industrial and government sectors about various plans for steel plants and other factories to be sited up in the north of the country, factories that would offer plenty of jobs and also be built and operated using green technology. Often called the “green transition” in the press, these initiatives and others align with Sweden’s admirable goal to be fossil-free by 2045, and to ensure that 100% of the energy used will be renewable. At the same time, the “green transition” tries to reassure us that businesses and individuals will not suffer: Increased growth, often involving global partners, will be fully sustainable and even highly profitable.

On the Climate Justice panel, Mikael Kuhmunen, a reindeer herder and the leader of the Sirges sameby near Jokkmokk, said the “green transition” should instead be called the “black transition.” The recent decision in March, 2022, by the Swedish government to go ahead with granting a mining lease to Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB for the Gallók open pit mine is a bitter blow to reindeer herders and to environmentalists who had hoped that the mining concession would be cancelled. Iron Mines AB is a subsidiary of Beowulf Mining, a UK-based company that has had its eye on Gallók for many years. Many thought that the mine would never be approved because of the steady and increasing opposition.

There is nothing green about this proposed iron ore mine so close to the Lule River, or the many other iron ore, copper and other mines planned for Northern Sweden. Nor is there much that'svery  green about the proposed steel mills near Luleå, which will rely for energy on hydropower and a proposed huge wind farm.

Mikael Kuhmunen participated in one of the two panels on Climate Justice held at the EU-Sámi Week. These two panels involved Sámi politicians, activists, and youth organizers, as well as a few non-Sámi politicians from Sweden and Finland and EU bureaucrats, one of whom was Jesús Alquézar Sabadie, a socio-economic analyst, who projected sympathy and understanding for the issues facing the Sámi in the Arctic, and said that most climate policies are based on macro-modeling, and don't take into account human rights and the rights of Indigenous people.

Michael Mann, the EU Special Envoy for Arctic Matters, participated in both panels. He is British and has held various portfolios; his air was polite and politic. He wanted to listen, he often said, while often reminding the Sámi that they shared the same goal (fewer hydrocarbons) and that the Sámi would not get everything they wanted from the EU.

As the panels went on, I often had the feeling that in spite of the expressed desire to work together, the Sámi panelists and the EU representatives were often speaking to different worldviews and in parallel languages. The tone was even and courteous, but the Sámi took issue at times with EU-speak about sustainable growth. In the second panel, Åsa Larsson Blind, currently vice-president of the Saami Council, asked some searching questions about growth and what was meant by the word sustainable. “What are we sustaining?” she asked. “Should we be using this many resources or should we become more efficient with the resources we have?” She side-stepped a suggestion from the EU parliament member from northern Sweden that the Sámi might consider becoming part owners of some of these energy companies, such as LKAB, the giant Swedish state-owned mining company that operates the lucrative mine in Kiruna and has development interests elsewhere in northern Sweden/Sápmi. Such ownership would result in benefit-sharing of profits. Behind such talk was the assumption that northern Sweden is both empty and poor, and that everyone would benefit from the income generated by “green” projects.

Åsa Larsson Blind quietly countered that the Sámi people considered themselves “caretakers” of the land, and their primary responsibility was to protect the land, as they had always done. She spoke of Indigenous knowledge as a benefit to others, that Sámi use of the land had something to teach outsiders. For instance, biodiversity loss tends to be far less in Indigenous lands than in more developed areas.

Just as pointed were the thoughtful words of Eirik Larsen, an Indigenous lawyer and a political advisor to the Norwegian Sámi Parliament. He spoke of the richness of Sámi life and reminded the EU speakers that not everything in life was based on money. Just as importantly he spoke to the issue of consent.

Throughout the text of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted in 2007 by the General Assembly (including all the countries in the EU), the words “free, prior, and informed consent” consistently appear. Of note in the case of land use is Article 32, which states that:

 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources.

2. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the develop­ment, utilization or exploitation of mineral, wa­ter or other resources.

Eirik Larsen reminded the EU representatives that “first we talk about consent. And then we talk about sharing benefits.” He also reminded those on the panel that sometimes when the state and Sápmi consulted together, “the answer is no.”

This discussion is taking place at a time when member states of the EU are highly concerned about energy security because of the war of aggression against Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia. Part of the desire for security is not having to depend on unstable states outside the EU for energy supplies but to develop the EU's own resources and to focus on renewable energy. In this calculation, member states like Sweden and Finland are thought to play a significant role. The Arctic is under extreme stress from climate change, including the warming of the polar areas and the destruction of boreal forests to logging and disease. But the lands above the Arctic circle also are rich in minerals, rivers, and less populated areas for wind farms.

If Sápmi didn’t have many things that Europe now wants and needs, there might not have been the impetuous for an EU-Sámi week of discussions open to public viewing. The Sámi, a minority in the Nordic countries and even more a minority in Europe, are important players in Arctic and energy discussions and will become more so in future. The question is whether Indigenous rights and a parallel view of what makes life rich and sustainable will also get a hearing. 

And whether the Sámi will find enough support to demanding the right to say “No.”