A new report from Amnesty International says “green colonialism” — the appropriation of land and resources for environmental purposes — threatens indigenous Sámi culture in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Written with the input of the Saami Council, a voluntary nongovernmental organization, the report highlights human rights violations connected to Sámi lands being treated like sacrifice zones for global climate goals and green financial interests.

“We see that states continue to promote the same types of industrial activities and exploitation of nature as before, but now under new labels and justifications,” said Saami Council President Per-Olof Nutti. “These processes are often extremely lengthy and complex, leaving the Sámi with little or no opportunity to influence our own future.”

Sámi homelands, known as Sápmi, stretch across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, and the report’s authors highlight that climate change threatens Sámi people in two ways: direct environmental impacts, and an increasing number of green energy projects and extractive industries needed for the green transition.

The report focuses on three case studies in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Because of the war in Ukraine, the authors said it was impossible to do research there. In Norway, the Fosen wind farm was greenlit in 2010 without Sámi consent and resulted in legal battles spanning years. In 2021, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the wind farm was unconstitutional; however, turbines are still in operation because of a settlement last year. In Finland, exploration permits to build a mine in Sápmi have angered Sámi leaders, but the Sámi lack the legal mechanisms to protect the area. In Sweden, a nickel mine in Rönnbäcken, in reindeer-herding territory, was given exploration permits starting in 2005. The Sámi say the effort threatens the land essential to herding reindeer, and the long battle has exacerbated racism from non-Sámi locals in the area.

“There are many more,” said Elina Mikola, an Amnesty International researcher. “This development is really worrying, and it’s obvious that there will be more and more of these land-use conflicts in the near future.”

Read the full article about improving legal protections for the Sámi by Taylar Dawn Stagner at Grist.