Land-use conflicts between reindeer husbandry and mineral extraction in Finnmark, Norway: contested rationalities and the politics of belonging

ABSTRACT

The article compares decision-making on two mining projects in Sámi reindeer pastures: the Nussir and Biedjovággi initiatives in northern Norway. Key actors are reindeer pastoralists, mining companies, local politicians and the state. Based on interviews, government documents, media debates and observations of meetings between the actors, the study examines the actors’ claim to land and rationalities used in political decision-making. The case comparison shows that the actor groups used similar reasoning for claiming land. The mining companies argued that mining responded to local, national and global objectives and win-win opportunities of coexistence. The pastoralists referred to their customary rights to pastures and mining as threats to their livelihoods. In the Nussir case, the politicians approved the project based on environmental assessments, public hearings and the wellbeing of society. Their assumption was that conflicting interests could be solved through dialogue. However, the decision-making process ignored the contested rationalities and power relations in land-use conflict. In the Biedjovággi case, local politicians rejected the initiative at an early stage. Here, the mining proposal initiated a debate about identity and ethics. In both cases, politics of belonging influenced the public recognition of the pastoralists’ claim to land.

KEYWORDS:

• Belonging
• land-use conflicts
• rationality
• reindeer husbandry
• Sámi

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my appreciation to the informants who shared their experiences and insights with me. An early version of this article was presented at the Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference in Trondheim, June 2015. I thank the participants of this conference for their useful comments. I also thank the participants of Dávggas – in particular Tor A. Benjaminsen and Hugo Reinert – and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments that helped improve the manuscript. Any errors are mine.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Requirements for environmental impact assessments are regulated by the Mineral Act (KMD, 2014b). The Nussir project is a private proposal and therefore Nussir ASA commissioned and paid for the project plans and impact assessments. The company invited the pastoralist communities to suggest experts who conducted the impact assessment for reindeer husbandry.

2. A zoning plan is a detailed land-use map for planning purposes (KMD, 2014b). The first step in developing a zoning plan is to prepare a project proposal.

3. Most of the media attention concerning Nussir has focused on the plan to discharge tailings in the Repparfjord. Several political parties, the tourist and fishing organizations, recreational interests and environmental NGOs have publicly protested against this plan.

4. Some institutions have the authority to object to a zoning plan. The Regional Reindeer Husbandry Boards had – until they were terminated end of 2013 – such authority.

5. The court case concerned a claim for compensation for loss of pastures to the development of recreational homes (Hålogaland lagmannsrett, 27 September 2002, Case: LH-2001-812 – RG-2003-1 (1-2003)).

6. At this meeting the majority also addressed the need to revise national regulations in order to secure local economic benefits from mineral extraction. The politicians in Kvalsund are advocating the need for local benefit sharing. Here, the politicians are negotiating with Nussir ASA to secure 1% of the company's gross revenue (estimated at 1.2 million USD per year) for new development projects in the municipality.

7. Kvens are an ethnic minority who are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who migrated to Northern Norway during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The assimilation politics had its roots in Norwegian state building and social Darwinism (Minde, 2003; NOU, 2008).

Additional information

Funding

This article was written as part of the Dávggas project (The economics and land-use conflicts in Sámi reindeer herding in Finnmark: Exploring the alternatives), a multidisciplinary research project financed by the Research Council of Norway [grant number 215961].