Title: Legal Protection of Sámi Traditional Livelihoods from the Adverse Impacts of Mining: A Comparison of the Level of Protection Enjoyed by Sámi in Their Four Home States
Authors/Institution: Timo Koivurova, Vladimir Masloboev, Kamrul Hossain, Vigdis Nygaard, Anna Petre´tei, & Svetlana Vinogradova – University of Lapland / Kola Science Centre / Northern Research Institute
Publication Year: 2015
This comparative study assesses how Sámi communities across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia are legally protected from the negative impacts of mining on their traditional livelihoods. Koivurova and colleagues argue that while the Sámi have achieved recognition through international law—particularly ILO Convention 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples— the domestic legal frameworks of the four home states often fall short of providing effective protection. The research highlights gaps in environmental law, limited recognition of customary land use, and weak consultation mechanisms.
A major contribution of the study is its comparative lens. By examining the varied legal contexts, the authors show how Norway’s frameworks—despite its strong human rights profile—still enable extractive projects to proceed with insufficient safeguards for Sámi livelihoods such as reindeer herding and coastal fisheries. These shortcomings underscore the tension between national ambitions for resource development and the rights of Indigenous peoples to maintain their cultural and economic practices.
These findings are highly relevant to the collapse of the €1 billion supply deal linked to the Repparfjorden copper project, which faced strong opposition from Sámi communities. The study helps explain why procedural consultation alone cannot resolve such conflicts: when legal protections are weak, Indigenous resistance becomes the primary defense mechanism. For Norway and international investors, the case illustrates that a credible license to operate depends not only on meeting procedural obligations, but also on strengthening substantive legal protections for Sámi cultural and environmental rights.