Policy Brief: Long way to fair impact assessments for Indigenous land

According to international law, Indigenous peoples like the Sámi have rights to the land where they live and pursue traditional livelihoods. Sámi are at the same time stakeholders in environmental impact assessments related to different land use projects in the Nordic countries. The difference between the status of rights holders vis-à-vis stakeholders is evident in impact assessment processes where a lot remains to be done to respect Sámi rights as an Indigenous people. This is the main result of research by Kaisa Raitio, researcher at the Mistra Environmental Communication programme.

– Swedish regulations of impact assessments does not consider reindeer herding to be the right that it is, instead considering it a public interest. There are also deficiencies in the assessments of cumulative effects of competing developments on reindeer grazing grounds. These lacunas allow for projects to pass environmental impact assessments, projects that violate rights that the Swedish state is committed to uphold, says Raitio.

Raitio is the author of a Policy Brief together with Rasmus Klöcker Larsen, researcher at the Swedish Environment Institute. A Policy Brief is intended to suggest policy changes in a clear format that is easy to grasp for decision makers and non-specialists.

Recommendations for current best practice

Raitio and Klöcker Larsen posit ten recommendations for how the assessment of cumulative impacts can respect Indigenous rights in the future, instead of treating Indigenous people merely as stakeholders.

– Changes in laws are necessary to ensure the Sámi status as rights-holders, and to include the cumulative effects of all competing land use in impact assessments. However, companies and public atuhorities can, and should, presuppose a rights-based perspective already. Our recommendations are intended to support this work, says Raitio.

Download the Policy Brief: Cumulative Impact Assessments and Sámi Indigenous Rights here.