The charity founded in Greta Thunberg’s name has donated £158,000 to cover the legal costs of Indigenous people in Sweden’s Arctic north as they battle a British mining company over plans for an iron-ore mine on reindeer-herding lands.
Beowulf Mining, which has its headquarters in the City of London, was given approval in March by the Swedish government for excavation on an area used by the Sami community.
The government’s decision appeared to bring to an end to a decade-long fight during which opposition to the open pit mine had attracted the support of Unesco and the leader of Sweden’s national church.
Jon-Mikko Länta, the chair of the Jåhkågaska Sami community, which will be most affected, said a Greta Thunberg Foundation donation of 2m Swedish krona (£158,000), had provided them with the opportunity to continue to resist the mine.
He said: “At the moment we are trying to appeal against the Swedish government’s decision to grant the concession as our legal team think it is not in line with international conventions on the rights of Indigenous people.
“It is a lot of work and expensive, which is why we are so grateful. We are hoping that if our appeal is successful that everything will go back to the Swedish government and we will at least get better terms.”
The proposed Gállok mining site, located 28 miles (45km) outside the town of Jokkmokk in the county of Norrbotten in Swedish Sápmi, has become a symbol of the fight to protect Sami culture from big business and government.
Beowulf has been seeking approval for the mine since April 2013 but has consistently faced steep opposition, only strengthened by public relations missteps.
In 2014, the former chair Clive Sinclair-Poulton was filmed in a boardroom with a photograph of the site, telling investors: “One of the major questions I get is, ‘What are the local people going to go ahead and say about this project?’. And I show them this picture and I say, ‘What local people?’”
The Sami parliament, the representative body for people of indigenous heritage in Sweden, wrote last February to the Swedish government warning the mine would destroy grazing areas and cut off the only viable migratory route for reindeer followed by the Jåhkågasska Sami community.
Sami communities to the west and east of the mine would also be hit through a reduction in viable grazing areas already under pressure from changes to the snow conditions attributed to the climate emergency, logging, power lines and the development of a hydroelectric dam, the parliament said.
Unesco, the UN’s cultural protection wing, has spoken of a potentially “large, very large” impact on the Laponian area, the mountainous world heritage site 21 miles west of the mine.
The archbishop of Uppsala, Antje Jackelén, who heads the Church of Sweden, wrote an open letter to the Swedish prime minister, claiming that the open pit mine was “not existentially and spiritually sustainable”.
Despite the opposition, Sweden’s business minister, Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, approved the mine in March while stressing that he was imposing “far-reaching conditions” to minimise the impact on reindeer husbandry.
Beowulf is working on an environmental plan on the subject of which it is obliged to consult with the local communities. Sami representatives are due to meet the company’s executives early in the new year.
Thunberg, who visited Jokkmokk last year, told the Guardian: “For the last 12 years, the Jåhkågaska Sami community has been defending its grazing lands by resisting this iron-ore mine.
“By doing so they have been safeguarding what keeps us all safe: biodiverse forests, intact carbon stock as well as clean water and air. This case is far from unique – it is part of a pattern we see across the globe.
“Indigenous peoples living on the frontlines are guarding the land and thus defending many of the last intact ecosystems from destruction. Sweden is often keen on labelling itself as a ‘progressive country’ that fights for human rights. But the Swedish state has been colonising Sápmi for centuries, constantly searching for new natural resources on indigenous land they can exploit, often completely ignoring the position of the local Sami community.”
Beowulf did not respond to a request for comment.
