SEI’s Kløcker Larsen in The Guardian: developer contracts with Sámi reindeer herders “harmful”

The Guardian reports: “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.

SEI Senior Research Fellow Rasmus Kløcker Larsen, the study’s lead author, said these kinds of agreements were a growing trend between Sámi reindeer herding communities and commercial developers. Larsen attributed the rise largely to failures of state regulation to avoid conflicts created by green transition policies.