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ENVIRONMENT

Reindeer vs wind turbines: Norway’s row with indigenous Sami explained

Scores of wind turbines are operating in Norway despite them being ruled illegal in 2021. They have sparked protests and even prompted Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to get involved.

Published: 12 October 2023 15:10 CEST
Reindeer vs wind turbines: Norway's row with indigenous Sami explained
A car drives past wind turbines of the Storheia wind farm, one of Europe's largest land-based wind parks, in Afjord municipality, Norway. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)

What’s the story?

On October 11th, 2021, Norway’s Supreme Court found that two wind farms in the Fosen region of western Norway — on land used by Sami reindeer herders — violated the rights of the indigenous people, guaranteed by the UN, to practise their culture of reindeer husbandry.

While the Supreme Court found that the expropriation and operating permits for the construction of the turbines were invalid, it gave no guidance on what should be done with the turbines, which were already in operation.

Two years later, the 151 turbines are still operating.

So there have been protests?

To mark the anniversary on October 11th, dozens of environment activists and Samis began a series of protests in the Norwegian capital expected to last several days, demanding the demolition of the turbines.

The president of the Sami Parliament, Silje Karine Muotka (2R) in traditional outfit delivers a speech in front of activists from the “Nature and Youth” and “Norwegian Samirs Riksforbund Nuorat” as they were blocking the Ministery of finances to protest against wind turbines built on land traditionally used to her reindeer, in Oslo, on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)

The following day, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joined them to block the entrance to the headquarters of state-owned energy group Statkraft, which operates 80 of the 151 turbines in Fosen.

On the third day of protests against the 151 turbines built on Sami reindeer herding land in the Fosen region in western Norway, dozens of activists, many dressed in traditional Sami clothing, sat outside the entrances of several ministries and called for the demolition of the wind parks.

Why was Thunberg involved?

“It’s important to show solidarity when human rights violations are taking place especially in Scandinavia against the Sami people,” Thunberg told AFP on Wednesday.

She was speaking just after a court in the southern Swedish town of Malmö had fined her for public disobedience at a July 24th protest in Malmö.

“All of us who can be there and show our support should,” she said.

She had sat on the ground next to activists clad in traditional Sami clothing at the foot of a lavvu, a Sami tent erected outside the Statkraft entrance.

Thunberg had already taken part in a demonstration in February to mark the 500th day since the Supreme Court ruling.

“Greta Thunberg is an important ally supporting our cause,” Sami activist and artist Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen said.

So if the turbines are illegal why aren’t they being torn down?

While the Supreme Court found that the expropriation and operating permits for the construction of the turbines were invalid, it gave no guidance on what should be done with the turbines, which were already in operation.

Norway’s government has apologised to Sami reindeer herding families and recognised that their human rights have been violated.

It has launched a mediation process to try to find a solution enabling both the herders and wind farms to continue their activities.

Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Aasland has said “the destruction of all wind turbines was excluded” and “not a likely outcome of either a decision-making process or a mediation process.”

The outcome could set a precedent for other infrastructure projects on the vast lands traditionally used by the Sami across Norway.

So what are Norwegian authorities going to do?

Norway’s government has apologised to Sami reindeer herding families and recognised that their human rights have been violated.

It has launched a mediation process to try to find a solution enabling both the herders and wind farms to continue their activities.

Tell me more about the Sami people

An indigenous minority of around 100,000 people spread over the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, the Sami have traditionally lived off reindeer herding and fishing.

Merete Gaup, mother of 37-year-old Sami herder Ante Niillas Gaup, dressed in traditional Sami attire, rests near a campfire after catching young reindeer identify them with a mark on their ear, in Reinfjord, in Northern Norway, on September 15, 2023. (Photo by Olivier MORIN / AFP)

Their relationship with Norway has been fraught.

Beginning in the 1700s, the Norwegian government carried out the official policy of Norwegianisation, which aimed to assimilate the non-Norwegian-speaking population into an ethnically and culturally uniform society.

The policy was initially targeted at the Sami people of northern Norway.

In June this year Norway’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report found that the Norwegianisation of the Sami has had severe consequences, which are being felt to this day.

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BUSINESS

Dying salmon worry Norway’s giant fish-farm industry

They are hailed for their omega-3 fatty acids and micronutrients, but Norway's salmon are not in the best of health themselves at the fish farms where they are bred.

Published: 30 April 2024 15:04 CEST
Dying salmon worry Norway's giant fish-farm industry

Almost 63 million salmon — a record — died prematurely last year in the large underwater sea pens that dot the fjords of Norway, the world’s biggest producer of Atlantic salmon.

That represents a mortality rate of 16.7 percent, also a record high and a number that has gradually risen over the years — posing an economic and an ethical problem to producers.

The salmon succumb to illnesses of the pancreas, gills or heart, or to injuries suffered during the removal of sea lice parasites.

“The death of animals is a waste of life and resources,” Edgar Brun, director of Aquatic Animal Health and Welfare at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, told AFP. “We also have a moral and ethical responsibility to guarantee them the best possible conditions.”

Norway’s salmon exports exceeded $11 billion last year, with the 1.2 million tonnes sold representing the equivalent of 16 million meals per day.

The 63 million prematurely dead salmon represent almost $2 billion in lost income for the industry.

Not so appetising

Salmon that die prematurely are usually turned into animal feed or biofuel.

But according to Norwegian media, some fish that are in dire health at the time of slaughter, or even already dead, do sometimes end up on dinner plates, occasionally even sent off with a label marked “superior”.

“I see fish on sale that I myself would not eat,” a former head of quality control at a salmon slaughterhouse, Laila Sele Navikauskas, told public broadcaster NRK in November.

Eating those salmon poses no danger to human health, experts say.

“The pathogens that cause these illnesses in the salmon cannot be passed on to humans,” Brun explained.

But the revelations damage the salmon’s precious image.

“If you buy meat in a store, you expect it to come from an animal that was slaughtered in line with regulations and not one that was lying dead outside the barn,” said Trygve Poppe, a specialist in fish health. “Otherwise, as a consumer you feel tricked.”

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority said it observed anomalies at half of the fish farms inspected last year, noting that, among other things, injured or deformed fish had been exported in violation of Norwegian regulations.

In order to maintain its strong reputation, only salmon of ordinary or superior quality is authorised for export.

The lower quality fish — which accounts for a growing share of stocks, up to a third last winter — can only be sold abroad after it has been transformed, into fillets for example.

Matter of trust

Robert Eriksson, head of the Norwegian Seafood Association which represents small producers — generally considered less at fault — said the irregularities reported at some breeders were “totally unacceptable”.

“We live off of trust,” he said.

Taking shortcuts means “you get punished by the market and the economic impact is much bigger than the few extra kilos you sold.”

The Norwegian Seafood Federation — representing the biggest fish farming companies, those most often singled out over quality — insists it is addressing the matter but says more time is needed.

“On average, it takes three years to breed a salmon,” said the body’s director, Geir Ove Ystmark.

“So it’s very difficult to see immediate results today, even though we have launched a series of initiatives and measures.”

It is precisely the speed at which the fish are bred that is the problem, according to fish health specialist Poppe, who criticised the “terribly bad animal conditions” and who has stopped eating farmed salmon.

“The salmon are subjected to stress their entire lives, from the time they hatch in fresh water until their slaughter,” said Poppe.

“For example, during the first phase in fresh water, the light and temperature is manipulated so they’ll grow as quickly as possible,” he explained.

“In the wild, this phase takes two to six years. When they’re bred, it takes six months to a year.”

New technology

Truls Gulowsen, head of Friends of the Earth Norway, said recent years’ higher mortality rates were the result of aggressive industrialisation.

“We have bred a farmed fish that has poor chances of survival and which is dying from a combination of stress and bad genes because it’s been bred to grow as fast as possible and subjected to a major change in diet.”

The Norwegian Seafood Association aims to halve the mortality rate by 2030, and industry giant Salmar has allocated $45 million to tackle the issue.

Among the frequently mentioned possibilities are greater spacing between fish farms, and new technology, including so-called closed facilities.

The latter, where sea water is filtered, would help prevent sea lice but are more costly.

The government insists it is up to fish farms to respect the rules.

“Not all producers have the same mortality rates, so it is possible to reduce them,” said Even Tronstad Sagebakken, a state secretary at the fisheries ministry.

In the meantime, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority says it has not yet received any reports of salmon not fit for export being sold abroad.

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