Browsing by Author "Ruotsalainen, Elise"

In Sápmi, the traditional homelands of the Indigenous Sámi, climate change and green transition have created together a double burden for the Arctic ecosystems and the Sámi. As an effort to mitigate the climate change, the transition towards green sources of energy and mineral intensive technologies have created conflicting interests for land use in Sápmi, as extractivist activities have been located for instance to their traditional reindeer pasture lands. This thesis focuses on representations of Western edited media about green transition related extractive activities in Sámi context. Construction and operation of Fosen wind farm in Norway and expansion of mineral extraction in Giron, Sweden, act as examples of such activities. The research question is: what issues the Western edited media represents when discussing extractive activities regarding green transition, in the Sámi context? The thesis derives from the identified research gap of the matter, as this kind of research regarding the Sámi has not been conducted before. The thesis uses inductive thematic analysis to identify issues the news media articles represent regarding cases of Fosen and Giron. The research data consists of 35 news articles, published between 2016-2024. The applicable case examples were identified in data collection as illustrating the green transition related extractivist activities having significant impact on the Sámi communities. Through thematic analysis, six themes were identified and further analyzed through the framework of Indigenous Environmental Justice (IEJ). The analysis shows that the media represents green transition related extractivism in both negative- and positive lights. Whereas wind power and mineral extraction are represented as essential drivers for sustainable future, they also have negative impacts for the ecosystems in Sápmi and to the Sámi culture and livelihoods. The activities are represented as causing disputes between the Sámi and other stakeholders, due to conflicting interests of land-use and the Sámi’s experiences of violation of rights and unfairness. The activities taking place in Sápmi are often represented as continuation of Western colonialism, planned without sufficient consultation and involvement of the local Sámi communities. Yet, the Sámi are represented as solution-oriented, aiming to actively protect their traditional lands. The struggle of the Sámi with Western extractivism was also represented as part of wider global struggle of Indigenous people, whose traditional homelands these activities have penetrated to. These issues identified support the notions of IEJ about Western legal systems as failing to resolve environmental injustices and current extractivist activities as a form of on-going colonialism. The analysis also shows that the provision of multiple ontologies and legal orders, intergenerational- and other-than-human justice and acknowledgement of the distinct legal status of Indigenous peoples are needed, as argued by IEJ scholars. In the future, as the extractivist activities in the Arctic are expected to intensify, there is an urgent need for critical assessment of the manner the green transition is currently carried out in Western societies, participatory evaluation of impacts of the extractive projects and emphasis on aspects of fairness.