Right now in Norway, there are major protests by both sami activists and activists from the youth climate organisation Nature and Youth. They protest in Oslo city centre, on the main road - Karl Johan, and yesterday, inside our Parliament - Stortinget. Today, they are protesting inside Statkraft, the state owned energy company in Norway.
But what are they protesting? To find out - we need to know a little bit of history:
The sami people have used the mountain area Roan and Storheia at Fosen since before year 1500 for their reindeers to graze in the winter months.
In 2006, Statkraft, the state owned energy company applies to build a wind turbine park in the area. In 2010 they are granted this permission. There is filed a complaint against this decision, but it is confirmed that the wind turbines will be built in 2013.
In 2014, the sami population of Fosen take this decision to the Norwegian court system, on the basis that the wind turbines will destroy important grazing territories and violate the samis rights to exercise their own culture.
In 2016, even thought the case has not gone through the entire Norwegian court system, the building starts to take place. The state grants permission to start the project earlier. 11 billions NOK is invested in the project.
In the meantime in 2018, the UN asks Norway to stop the building, until the court system has made a final verdict. This is on the basis of indigenous rights. The state does not follow this request and starts the running of the wind turbines in 2020.
In 2021 the Supreme Court in Norway, which is our highest court, unanimously states that the wind turbines violates the samis rights to exercise their culture. This is a human rights violation. The concessions to build are therefore invalid.
In 2022, despite the verdict in the Supreme Court, the wind turbines continues to run. The Norwegian government sends a letter to the Sami parliament saying they intend to have both sami herders and wind turbines in the same area.
When 500 days had passed, the sami- and nature and youth activists shut down several Ministries with civil disobedience.
It is now 700 days since the verdict fell in the Supreme Court and nothing has happened at Fosen with the wind turbines.
What does this have to do with the climate and environment you might ask? Don’t we need all the green energi sources we can get? A green transition can not be sustainable when it violates human rights and indigenous rights.
Greta Thunberg joined the activists today, saying Norway made a disgrace of themselves in this case.
There are so many pictures that illustrates the Fosen case, but for many high quality ones, follow this link to NRK.
So what are the demands of the protesters:
They demand that the Norwegian government delivers a solution before the ongoing human rights violation has reached 1000 days.
The money that has been earned since the Supreme Court made its verdict should be used to restore the land to the reindeer herders.
The climate crisis must be solved without violating indigenous human rights.
