RECOMMENDED READING · REPORT
Just Transition or ‘Green Colonialism’?
How mineral extraction and new energy projects without free, prior and informed consent are threatening Indigenous Sámi livelihoods and culture in Sweden, Norway and Finland
Published by Amnesty International and the Saami Council
The green transition is presented as a climate necessity. But in Sápmi it arrives as mines, wind farms and power lines on reindeer herding lands — often without the consent of the people who live there. This report examines three land use disputes in Sweden, Norway and Finland and asks what free, prior and informed consent means in practice.
How the report was made
- Three case studies across Sweden, Norway and Finland
- Interviews with fourteen Sámi reindeer herders and other rights holders involved in the disputes
- Official sources: permit applications, decisions, memoranda, court appeals and licensing correspondence
- Analysis against international legal norms and jurisprudence on free, prior and informed consent
Why we republish this
The pattern the report describes in Sápmi repeats across the Arctic — including in Russia, where consultation with Indigenous communities is largely absent and compensation is offered in place of consent. Our own guidebook looks at the same question from the Russian side.
Read Indigenous Peoples, Green Economy and the ArcticSourced from Saami council document archive