Sami reindeer herders fear increased Finnish logging
Community leaders say Sami reindeer herders’ way of life threatened as Finland considers new logging policy
* The revision of the forest plan could pave the way for more logging
* Sami reindeer herders depend on forest grazing areas
* Logging fuels conflicts, loss of indigenous culture
By Arthur Neslen
BRUSSELS, July 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sami reindeer herders have taken their animals to graze lichen in the forests of northern Finland for hundreds of years, but community leaders say their way of life is threatened by a potential increase in logging.
Logging could increase by more than 30% if a project to revise Finland’s main forest certification program is approved, ELY’s environmental protection department said, and unprotected forests in the Sami regions might not be exempted.
“If this is not against the PEFC requirements there, forests could be cut in the Sami regions, just like in other parts of Finland,” said Auvo Kaivola, General Secretary of the Program. Finnish Forest Certification Recognition (PEFC).
The revision was proposed after parts of Finland surpassed a sustainability target set by the PEFC, which covers 90% of the Nordic country’s forests.
Under the proposed rule, which would be in place for at least five years, harvest levels would be decided by comparing tree cuts and new growth.
Kaivola said that although logging could increase, “it is good to keep in mind that the growth of Finnish forests is also increasing every year”.
Saplings can sequester as much carbon as felled trees over decades – but many scientists dispute that the carbon balance in the interim is “neutral,” especially when felled trees are burned for bioenergy.
Finland needs to expand its carbon sink if it is to achieve a climate neutrality goal by 2035.
While some forests in Sami areas are strictly protected, an increase in logging of around 30% would be “devastating” for indigenous communities, said Jan Saijets, activist and former member of the Finnish Sami parliament.
“The Sami are already pushed against the wall,” he said. “If the intensity of forestry is increased to this point, it would end the livelihoods of many reindeer herders.”
The Finnish government said the cultural rights of the Sami were protected by law, and Agriculture Minister Jari Leppa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that there was “no plan to increase logging in the Sami region “.
“No clearcutting has been carried out on state land in the Sami region for decades,” he said in emailed comments, referring to the forestry practice of clearing all land. trees in a given area.
‘HARD COMPETITION’
The Sami are a semi-nomadic people who trace their arctic lineage thousands of years ago. Most of the remaining 80,000 Sami remain in Norway, with no more than 10,000 in Finland.
Many have had to take jobs outside of reindeer herding since the 1970s, but the activity still provides community employment for slaughterers, calf markers and market vendors.
“(Without forests) the traditional way of life of following the herd (…) is not financially sustainable,” said Elle Merete Omma, member of the Sami Council, a pan-Scandinavian organization.
She cited the costs of feed and fodder needed for stationary reindeer farms – sometimes exacerbated by climate change – and the increased risk of conflict as pastoralists compete for grazing areas.
“It is becoming a tough competition for the remaining land,” she said.
Disputes erupted when Sami resistance to logging in one area shifted logging to smaller territories elsewhere.
A feud that raged over an area of 2,000 km² (770 square miles) several years ago was not resolved until the larger Sami group agreed to slaughter a large part of its herd.
Historically, forced urbanization and women’s entry into the labor market have often followed the demise of reindeer herds, removing a platform for teaching traditional Sami language, customs and knowledge, said Omma.
Saijets called the process “cultural genocide”.
“We are not able to keep our culture alive when all of our environments are slowly destroyed,” he said.
“WE ARE DISAPPEARING”
Forestry is a mainstay of the Finnish economy, accounting for a fifth of its export revenues and industrial production in 2018, and generating € 23.4 billion.
About 10% of the country’s forests are strictly protected – mainly in Sami areas – but the national area covered by old-growth forests has declined sharply, according to figures cited by ELY.
Forest areas over 140 years old fell by more than half between 1952 and 2011, according to the report.
Petra Biret Magga Vars, a reindeer herder from the Sami village of Vuotso, said that although trees still lined the roads in her area, “behind them is nothing”.
“It’s like a backdrop in a theater,” she said over the phone.
The proposed forest program review comes as Metsa Group, one of Finland’s largest forestry companies, plans to open a large “bioproduct” sawmill in Kemi, in the north of the country, bringing Sami and activists environmentalists on alert.
“There is a fear of an increase in demand for timber from the north (which) could be unsustainable,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity. “I think environmentalists are right to be concerned.”
The local protests have had some effect. In Sweden last year, plans to farm 700 hectares (1,700 acres) of ancestral Sami land – nearly 1,000 football fields – were frozen after a campaign highlighted by Vogue magazine and Greta Thunberg.
The plan was not completely abandoned, but Sami groups are preparing for a possible trial, collecting examples of rare species of flora and fauna in the forests and documenting archaeological remains.
“Our entire lives depend on these forests,” said Sofia Jannok, Sami singer and climate activist who led the campaign.
“There is no more room for other logging … We will disappear as a people.”
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(Reporting by Arthur Neslen; editing by Helen Popper. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http: // news. trust .org)
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