The Sámi People and Reindeer Herding – a Struggle for Sápmi’s Whole Nature

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Native Rights

SÁPMI, Norway, Oct 21 2026(IPS ) -The Sámi, Europe’s last identified Indigenous neighborhood, have actually dealt with hazards to their presence throughout history. Norway, in 2024, apologised for its forced assimilation policy following the findings of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, and in September 2026 Sweden has actually just recently been informed to do the very same.

In spite of the growing understanding of how their culture and financial incomes have actually been threatenedtheir precarious way of life is once again under hazard, paradoxically from something that is typically thought about favorable: the ‘green transformation’.

Kautokeino, in Norway’s far north, seems like a capital of Sápmi, the homeland of the Sámi individualsThe area is connected with the Scandinavian range of mountains and the huge areas passed through by reindeer. Much of it lies above the Arctic Circle, extending throughout Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.

In Kautokeino, 95 percent of the population are Sámi, and Northern Sámi is the primary language. One in every 2 residents owns reindeer. Does community council leader Anders S. Buljo, who when worked full-time in reindeer herding, an income his child has actually considering that taken over.

“Right now, the reindeer remain in the greater mountains closer to the coast and out on the islands,” Buljo discusses, basing on a hill with a 360-degree view throughout the huge landscape.

In September, the reindeer relocation inland to their winter season grazing premises. The Sámi were when nomadic, following the reindeer’s seasonal motions throughout the landscape. Reindeer herding stays deeply linked with Sámi culture, and both reindeer-herding Sámi and those who count on searching and fishing keep a strong connection to nature.

Beyond your homes clustered in the settlement, the landscape is mainly unblemished: 10s of kilometres of tundra and rolling hills dotted with low trees, marshes, lakes and streaming streams. Rounded, barren mountains extend towards the horizon, where greater peaks stay covered in snow and ice throughout the year.

The reindeer were as soon as wild, hunted by the Sámi with weapons and spears. Traces of trapping pits, utilized for countless years, can still be discovered in the surface.

Gradually, the Sámi started collecting reindeer into herds at specific times of the year, separating them and butchering picked animals. As the Sámi were brought under state administration, Sámi reindeer-herding neighborhoods were developed. Each has hundreds or countless reindeer, yet the barriers dealing with the income continue to install.

“Wind power, mines and vacation towns are using up a growing number of area. A minimum of here, tourist is workable, as there are no big ski resorts,” states Buljo.

Forestry, farming, mining, building, hydropower, snowmobile routes, ski-lift systems and a growing network of roadways and trains are progressively impacting Sápmi. Helicopters ferryboat hunters and skiers into the mountains, and snowboarding from mountain peaks by helicopter is allowed in Sweden.

“It is extraordinary how little individuals learn about the Sámi and Indigenous individuals, specifically more south. We require to develop understanding,” Buljo states.

The wind farm at Fosen is an informing example. In 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that the wind turbines constructed there were prohibited since they infringed on the reindeer herders’ right to practice their culture.

“They construct initially and ask concerns later on. The courts developed that it was a human rights infraction. The wind turbines are still there,” Buljo states.

Like Indigenous individuals throughout the Americas, country states by force displaced the Sámi through violence and legislation.

“This continued into the 1970s. We see comparable propensities even today, as the Fosen case programs.”

Anything related to the “green shift” is frequently provided as naturally favorable. Underneath the rhetoric lie the financial interests of states and corporations.

“How green is the shift, truly? When the last ore has actually been drawn out from the mountains and the last peak has actually been fitted with a wind turbine, there will be no factor to remain,” Buljo states.

His town can nonetheless affect the instructions of advancement and, for instance, avoid mines from opening.

“In 2019, the Supreme Court acknowledged reindeer husbandry as a conventional usage of the land, enhancing its legal position. And we have actually come a little additional in Norway than in Sweden and Finland.”

In 1979, Karesuando in Sweden’s far north hosted the Davvi Suvva celebration, which combined Indigenous individuals from all over the world. In the opening speech, maintained in the documentary We Are All Brothers and SistersOula Näkkäläjärvi, representative for the Sámi, stated:

“We, Indigenous individuals, have something in typical: we wish to reside in consistency with nature, and we can.”

That conviction stays. Technological development and financial development are changing lives all over, with extensive effects for Indigenous individuals. The rate of “advancement” is an intensifying environment crisisAbove the Arctic Circle, the modifications are progressively noticeable: milder winter seasons, warmer summertimes and diminishing glaciers. Plants and animals are being impacted in front of us.

Norway and Denmark are amongst the 24 nations that have actually validated the International Labour Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169)Neither Sweden nor Finland has actually signed this essential instrument for the security of Indigenous rights.

The genocide of Indigenous individuals in North America started with colonisation and continued well into the 20th century. Neither the United States nor Canada has actually validated ILO Convention 169. In the Nordic nations, the Sámi did not set up armed resistance. Living dispersed throughout the area, they were slowly pressed off lands they had actually populated for centuries.

In Norway, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission worked from 2018 to 2023. Along with a main apology to the Sámi individuals, concrete procedures have actually been taken. Finland’s Sámi Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its report in December 2025. In Sweden, the Truth Commission for the Sami People provided its report on 30 September 2026.

The auditorium at Mid Sweden University in Östersund was filled. Numerous Sámi had actually taken a trip from throughout Sápmi to witness a historical minute, one that numerous hoped would mark the start of something brand-new.

“Sweden’s assimilation policy has actually been really effective,” states Marja-Kristin Skum, her remark edged with paradox.

Skum is Sámi, a reindeer owner, instructor and language scientist at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino. As part of the Truth Commission’s work, she talked to individuals ready to share their experiences. A lot of were in between 60 and 70 years of ages, however even kids provided testament. The accounts leave little doubt that state policies have actually left deep scars.

“Here is the reality. What does reconciliation look like? This is not almost us Sámi. The bulk population and the state likewise have work to do. How are we to fix all the damage that has been done? This injury has actually never ever recovered,” Skum states.

Policies in Norway, Finland and Sweden have actually varied, the 3 nations deal with numerous of the very same concerns about their previous and present. Liv Inger Somby, rector of the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in Kautokeino, took a trip more than 1,000 kilometres to Östersund to participate in the discussion of the Swedish report, which requires “a main apology, payment, and nationwide redress for historic oppressions.”

“Of course, what is occurring in Sweden is being followed in Norway, too. We basically have no borders in Sápmi, and we require to keep working throughout nationwide limits. It is extremely crucial that we stand strong together,” Somby states.

From the 18th century onwards, farmers from southern Sweden were approved land in the north, where wood, silver, iron ore, gold and other natural deposits waited for exploitation. From the 1950s onwards, many hydropower plants with substantial dams were developed, immersing big locations of land under water.

Well into the 20th century, the Sámi were avoided from speaking their own language and prohibited to practice their religious beliefs and spirituality, both deeply linked with nature and the landscape. In the 2020s, Sámi culture is experiencing what some refer to as a “boom”, with growing presence in movie, literature and music and acknowledgment in the cultural sphere.

Ol-Ánte Sikku, chairman of The Gaaltije Foundation, a South Sami cultural centre and museum in Östersund, reviews what follows.

“A reality commission can not be duplicated, and its report can not just be placed on a rack. Something needs to come of it. If it does not occur now, it never ever will,” he states. Sikku likewise keeps in mind that the political and social environment has actually ended up being harsher considering that the commission started its work.

“With mining and resource exploitation, the ‘green shift’, defence, rearmament and area efforts, Sámi interests can be viewed as barriers.”

When politicians recommend, implicitly or clearly, that the Sámi are standing in the method of advancement, they sustain hostility.

Whether Sweden’s Truth Commission will cause concrete action stays to be seen. Its report now enters the hands of a brand-new federal government. Sweden held a parliamentary election on 13 September, however settlements to form a federal government might take some time.

A possible left-green-centre union is anticipated to position higher focus on environmental management than the outbound conservative federal government. Economic interests, nevertheless, continue to bring significant weight.

The pressure on Sápmi is extreme. Propositions and applications vary from extensions to ski-lift systems to big wind farms and mines. Even foreign business can acquire licenses for test drilling. Sweden is typically referred to as a nation covered in forest, however 90 percent is handled land, planted with spruce or pine and gathered after 80– 120 years.

There is a Sámi stating: “If the Sámi look after the reindeer, the reindeer look after the Sámi.”

Today, this relationship includes even more than the useful work of herding. For Sámi reindeer-herding neighborhoods, it likewise indicates a continuous battle through legal and administrative procedures, with files to check out, prepare and react to.

The just recently authorized facility of another mine near Kiruna is a case in point. The job will impact the Gabna Sámi reindeer-herding neighborhood, as soon as again limiting the reindeer’s capability to move easily through the landscape.

IPS UN Bureau Report