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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Finnish
Clearcutting Indigenous Lands
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
5/23/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
The
Taiga Rescue Network reports on clearcutting of Finnish indigenous
lands. Despite UN Human Rights Committee appeals,
the Finnish Government
continues
to log reindeer herding lands of the Sami people. This article
was
posted in econet's taiga.news conference.
The Taiga Rescue Network
operates
a list server which sends occasional Urgent alerts relating to
temperate
forest conservation. You can join the
list by emailing:
taiga@nn.apc.org
g.b.
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/**
taiga.news: 283.0 **/
**
Topic: CLEARCUTTING FINNISH SAMI LAND **
**
Written 1:36 PM May
8, 1996 by nn:rogols in cdp:taiga.news **
Finland
Clearcutting
Sami land despite UN appeal
/From
Taiga News no 17/
APPEALS
FROM THE UNITED NATIONS Human Rights Committee did not help. This
winter,
the Finnish Government forest autority (Metsdhallitus) has been
logging
in the reindeer herding lands of the Sami close to Angeli village
in
northernmost Finland.
Having
exhausted all possible domestic legal measures, the local Sami tried
to
prevent logging in the area through a complaint to the UN Human Rights
Committee.
Last November, the Committee issued a decision on interim
measures
of protection, asking the Government to refrain from any measures
that
could cause irreparable damage. Despite this decision, the Government
forest
authority started logging. According to the plans, some 13.000 cubic
metres
were to be cut from an area of approximately 250 hectares. More than
80 per
cent of the harvest is pulpwood, bought by state-owned Enso and the
private
corporation UPM-Kymmene.
VALUABLE
OLD GROWTH FOREST
The
forest in question is growing on rather high altitude. Because the
trees
grow very slowly, they are rich with lichens that is an important
emergency
resource for the reindeer. (The area is also defined as old
growth
forest with high conservation values in a survey made by the Finnish
NGO
Nature League.) The lands is part of the most important winter herding
lands
of the local Sami (the Muotkatunturi Herdsmen). Many experts fear
that
the forest will never recover.
Another
logging controversy pending in the domestic court of first
instance
relates to the Mirhami area, part of the herding lands of the
Sallivaara
Herdsmen. Also this area is close to the treeline and of great
importance
for Sami reindeer herding. The Government forest authority
intends
to start logging in May 1996, clear-cutting
270 hectares. The
court
of first instance has decided on a temporary injunction.
In both
cases the Sami fear that Metsdhallitus will pursue with further
logging
if allowed to finish these pilot projects. The forest authority has
previously
conducted wide-scale logging in many other Sami areas.
ADVERSE
CONSEQUENCES ADMITTED
Finland
is a party to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) and
a
number of other human rights treaties. Is is widely understood that
article
27 of the CCPR protects the traditional way of life of minorities
and
indigenous peoples as an essential part of their culture. For the Sami,
an
Arctic indigenous people, particularly reindeer herding, and also
fishing
and hunting, are parts of their culture. Article 27 of the CCPR has
been
approved as a legal basis for Sami rights also by Finnish courts. In
the
Angeli Forestry Case the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal stated, on 16 June
1994,
that the provision, incorporated into Finnish law, formed sufficient
grounds
for the legal standing of Sami individuals to sue the Government
forest
auhority in order to prevent logging and road construction in Sami
reindeer
herding lands. The Court listed a number of adverse consequences
logging
would cause to the local Sami. Despite these consequences the Court
came to
the conclusion that the projected logging would not amount to "a
denial"
of the plaintiffs to enjoy their culture together with other Sami.
On 22
June 1995, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment.
MINING
- A GROWING THREAT
In
addition to clear-cut logging, mining activities seems to be a
growing
threat to the Sami way of living. After Finland entered the
European
Union foreign and multinational mining companies have shown
considerable
interest in Finnish mineral resources. The Ministry of Trade
and
Industry seems to approve practically all claims made. Each claim
usually
cover an area of one square kilometre (100 hectares), and the total
number
of new claims approved by the Ministry of Trade and Industry within
the
Sami homeland is more than 100 square kilometres. Already, the Sami
have
filed administrative complaints against 130 such decisions by the
Ministry,
because they fear considerable harm for reindeer herding. Article
27 of
the CCPR has a central place in their argumentation. The Supreme
Administrative
Court is expected to decide on the cases in 1996.
Martin
Scheinin
Department
of Public Law
University
of Helsinki
E-mail:
Martin.Scheinin@helsinki.fi
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