Report: Climate is central to truth and reconciliation for the Sámi

Earlier this month, the Finnish government published the Truth and Reconciliation reportwhich documents years of harm inflicted on the country's indigenous Sami people. Truth and reconciliation commissions have emerged since the 1970s and have had varying degrees of impact. The 1998 South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, which called attention to the harm of the apartheid regime that the country had only recently overthrown, is probably the best known; it established a system of reparations for victims, although critics say that payments are delayed, insufficient and exclude some of the most vulnerable.

What's different about the report, released last week, is that it puts climate change front and center in its findings and recommendations. Climate threats to Sami life, including warmer winters, erratic weather and encroaching mining and energy development, are linked to many of the Finnish government's past failures. The report argues that the country's current leaders must renew cooperation with the Sami to counter these threats.

For thousands of years, the Sami lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle based on reindeer herding and fishing, moving freely between Norway, Sweden, Russia and Finland before the creation of modern states. Unlike neighboring Norway and Sweden, the Finnish government never enshrined the forced integration of the Sami in legislation, but the imposition of Finnish language and culture on the indigenous peoples became the default standard regardless. The Sami were sent to boarding schools, depriving them of the ability to speak their native language and alienating many from their culture. During World War II, the Sami were evacuated from Northern Finland, and subsequent reconstruction of the area by the Finnish state after the end of hostilities led to further loss of indigenous territories.

Eat O There are between 75,000 and 100,000 Sami people in the world, and about 10,000 live in Finland. Currently, according to the report, the traditional Sami way of life is threatened primarily by warm winters, increasingly unpredictable weather, and developments in the mining and energy industries. Reindeer husbandry became more difficult as the milder cold season increased rainfall in the north. When rain falls on thick snow, it freezes into a crust of ice, making it difficult for deer to reach down and forage for lichen and grass. Replacing reindeer game with imported food is expensive and requires a lot of additional labor, explained Aslak Holmberg, a member of the Sami Council and former member of the Sami Parliament. The longer warm season has also resulted in higher tree lines, adding to the deer's difficulties by making it more difficult for them to access leaves. Salmon populations are also becoming thinner and providing the Sami with less and less food.

The Sami also know that mining and wind power plants are being built on their lands. It is also increasingly used by the Finnish Defense Forces for exercises as geopolitical tensions in the Arctic rise. The final report made nearly 70 recommendations on how Finland could improve relations with indigenous peoples, many of which focused on giving the Sami more control over land use and regulation. It calls on the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to collaborate with the Sámi Climate Council in developing an adaptation plan based on both scientific research and traditional knowledge, which studies have shown is often the best path to ecosystem restoration.

The report also demands that old-growth forests in Sami territory be protected from the timber industry, that the industry pay reparations to Sami reindeer herders for damage to existing forests, and that the Finnish state work with the Sami parliament to create a Sami Business and Climate Fund to support action to combat climate change while protecting Sami livelihoods.

Giving the Sami more power over their own territory is crucial, Holmberg said, and coordinating with the Finnish Defense Forces, for example, could reduce the military's influence on reindeer herding. “The Sami also feel this tension in the security situation,” Holmberg said. “So the Sami are not against military activity, but much can be done to improve or avoid the negative consequences of military activity.”

Following the publication of the report, the Prime Minister of Finland said that the government should apologize to the Sami for the harm it caused them. However, some warn that the prime minister's repentance is premature. “I think just apologizing at this point would be very effective if there was no commitment to actually change anything,” Holmberg said.

The report is only the first step in a much longer process of reconstruction, said Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair Hannele Pokka, but she is optimistic that the Finnish people will act on the report's recommendations.

“We just tried to describe the truth,” she said. “And then we must continue to talk about reconciliation.”