Reindeer in Finland

Reindeer in Ivalo, Inari municipality, part of Sápmi, the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people.
The Indigenous Sámi communities here have practiced traditional reindeer-herding for generations where the reindeer depend on old-growth forests and lichen for winter forage.
They face now a new threat: a mega-railroad project that is being planned to connect Finland, and its natural resources, to the Arctic Ocean, facilitating the opening of mines on the Sámi Homeland as well as serving the growth of the forest industry.

Unique identifier: GP0STT1QA

Type: Image

Shoot date: 02/02/2019

Locations: Europe, Finland, Inari, Ivalo, Lapland (Finland)

Credit line: © Jani Sipilä / Greenpeace

Ranking: ★★★★★★ (B)

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Sámi Reindeer Herders Oppose Railroad Construction in Finland

The Indigenous Sàmi communities in Northern Finland have practiced traditional reindeer-herding for generations where the reindeer depend on old-growth forests and lichen for winter forage. Industrial forestry has for years been destroying and fragmenting these forests, pushing the communities to the limit. Greenpeace has worked with them since 2002 to push back against the forest industry and to protect these forests.
Now they are facing a new threat: A mega-railroad project that is being planned to connect Finland, and its natural resources, to the Arctic Ocean, facilitating the opening of mines on the Sámi Homeland as well as serving the growth of the forest industry. The Finnish government is betting that the melting Arctic will provide a trade route to exploit Saami lands. They want more pulp mills, more logging, more mines. As the Sàmi put it: “The Finnish government is trading away our rights and our land. We do not consent.”

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