Agreements between Sámi reindeer herders and commercial developers in Sweden are having an overall detrimental impact on such Indigenous communities, research has found.
According to the analysis, the first of its kind into such agreements, renewable energy companies – promoted as part of the Nordic country’s “green transition” – are among the worst offenders.
It comes amid a huge push in northern Sweden across wind power, mineral extraction, hydropower and a more aggressive approach to forestry, in order to meet its national and EU climate goals. But this has led to accusations of infringement of Sámi rights.
While several agreements have led to some positive incomes – contributing to reducing harm to reindeer and resulting in financial compensation – researchers concluded in the study, published in the journal Society and Natural Resources, that “the harmful outcomes generally outweigh the limited gains”.
This, they said, was particularly apparent in the “high-risk” agreements that have been adopted by wind power companies, which they found contained “a combination of open consent, gag clauses and confidentiality”.
The study’s lead author, Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, a senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said these kinds of agreements were a growing trend between Sámi reindeer herding communities and commercial developers. He attributed the rise largely to failures of state regulation to avoid conflicts created by green transition policies.
“Put simply, developers seek to curb Sámi resistance and avoid protracted court proceedings through obtaining a negotiated consent from herding communities in private contracts,” he said of the study, which looked at 15 of the agreements.
“However, virtually nothing is known about the content of these agreements and the factors that shape outcomes – a knowledge deficit that undermines our ability to judge the potential role that agreements could play in resolving conflicts and increasing legitimacy and societal acceptance of green transition projects in the European north.”
The green transition has had an impact across Sámi society, said Kløcker Larsen, particularly on land-based traditions such as fishing and hunting.
Among reindeer herding communities, green industry has led to land dispossession, obstruction of reindeer migration routes, pasture degradation and fragmentation and loss of reindeer. It has also increased workload, injuries and costs for Sámi communities, financial losses, psycho-social stress, destruction of cultural heritage and made it harder for young people to continue the communities’ traditional livelihood.
“A growing number of successful court rulings wherein the Sámi have convincingly argued about these impacts and risks have significantly delayed or stopped planned industry projects,” he added. “This is likely one key reason for the interest of developers to negotiate agreements with herding communities.”
