Not Just Mining

Abstract

Abstract This chapter focuses on the experience of Sami reindeer herders in Sweden, which is Europe’s largest mineral producer, and which has experienced a rapid growth in mineral exploration and development in the last two decades. An analysis of the Sami experience brings into sharp focus the way in which cumulative impacts from mining in combination with other development activities affect Indigenous livelihoods, including forestry, renewable energy projects, infrastructure development, and tourism. The chapter provides a brief overview of the Sami as a people and of reindeer herding as a way of life. It then reviews the policies of the Swedish state, its support for mining, and its failure to acknowledge the rights of Sami people to control development on their traditional territories. Historically, Sami have had little capacity to stop, or to benefit from, industrial development on their territories. The chapter uses case studies of two mining projects that are currently stalled by Sami opposition to assess whether this situation is changing.