Inari, Finnish part of Sápmi, and the reindeer herding area of

important livelihoods are forestry (5 % of the employment in the municipality), reindeer herding (8. %), and, to an increasing extent, tourism (0 %). Nature conservation provides employment (. %) directly in the administration and management of the conservation areas and also by proving tourism with attractive destinations. 60 % of the total land area of the municipality and 0 % of the forests are protected. The largest national parks in Finland, Lemmenjoki NP and Urho Kekkonen NP are situated in Inari.

(Vatanen et al. 006.)

In Inari/Aanaar, 90 % of all the land is currently controlled by the Finnish State and managed by Metsähallitus. However, state ownership of the land is disputed, because Inari is part of the traditional territory of the indigenous Sámi people (Sápmi, or Sámiland, Map .). Finnish Sámi Parliament (Sámediggi), the representative body for Sámi cultural self-governance, maintains that the historical land rights of the Sámi have been confirmed by research (Korpijaakko 989) and this has been recognised by the Finnish State in government bills and statements by the Committee for Constitutional Law. Metsähallitus, in contrast, maintains that the land ownership of the state is undisputed since it is based on declarations by the Swedish Kings as well as on the Forest Act from 886.(Sandström et al. 000, 9.) A number of committees and experts have tried to find a solution to the issue in 990s and 000s, but to no avail thus far (Joona 00). Finland has consequently not been able to ratify the ILO Convention 69 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. Sámi

41 The borders of the traditional Sámiland (Sápmi) are not exactly defined or uncontested. Nowadays Sápmi covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland as well as North-West Russia, although it is well known that Sámi people in Finland, for instance, lived earlier in areas much further south (e.g. Massa 99, 58).

Map 4. Inari, Finnish part of Sápmi,

are a minority in most parts of their traditional territory, including Inari where 0 % of the population ( 00) is Sámi.

The traditional Sámi territories were gradually colonised from the7^th century onwards as the three states – Russia, Sweden and Denmark-Norway – and two churches – catholic church from the west and Greek orthodox from the east – competed over dominance in the area. (Massa 99, -.) In Inari/Aanaar, the share of ethnic Finns started to grow rapidly as the first roads from the south were built in the 90s (Massa 99, 8).

In comparison to other parts of Finland, the commercial use of forest resources began in Inari relatively late, but it has expanded rapidly. Some commercial timber harvest had taken place already at the beginning of the 0^th century, but extensive forest management began first in the 950s, when Finland had lost % of the total land area to Russia and rebuilding the country lead to increased attention to the natural resources of Lapland.

(Massa 99, 9, 0; Luhta 999, 75.) According to Luhta (999, 75) the kind of commercial forestry practiced in Inari in the 960s and 970s changed the nature of Inari more than any other human activity. The harvest levels reached their peak in 980 when the annual timber harvest level on state land in Inari (70 000 m) clearly exceeded the annual growth (70 – 0 000 m).

As mentioned in Chapter ., state forestry practices in Lapland began to cause both local and national criticism from the 970s onwards. Forest conflicts in Inari differ from the rest of Finland in that they include the issue of an indigenous peoples’ right to their culture and traditional livelihoods. The traditional livelihoods of the different Sámi groups include fishing, hunting, gathering, reindeer herding, handicrafts and small-scale agriculture. Nowadays, a minority of the Sámi practices the traditional livelihoods as their primary occupation, but they are nonetheless considered the material foundation of Sámi culture and identity by the Sámi organisations and by the Finnish state through its legislation. Fishing, hunting, gathering and reindeer herding have been and are also practiced by ethnic Finns living in Inari. Of the total population in the municipality, % has a hunting license, and majority of the households (up to 85 %) pick berries.

50 families have reindeer herding as their primary livelihood. (Luhta 999, 6, 6.) Although reindeer herding in Finland in general is practiced by both ethnic Sámis and Finns, the majority of the herders in Inari are Sámi. Forestry and related activities provide jobs for both ethnic groups: Metsähallitus has estimated that of 00 people making living in timber-related jobs in Inari 0 are Sámi (Veijola 005).

Reindeer herding is the one of the traditional livelihoods most adversely affected by forestry. Reindeer herding is based on the capacity of reindeer to utilise the scarce vegetation of the north for nutrition, and the quality and accessibility of wintertime pastures is crucial for the reindeers’ survival. Conflicts emerge between reindeer herding and forestry because of the adverse impacts forestry has on the amount and availability of reindeer nutrition – ground lichen and tree-hanging lichen – during the most critical period of the year. Old-growth forests are both valuable winter grazing areas for reindeer and rich in timber, which is why the interests of state logging operations and Sámi reindeer herding conflict in these areas. Tree harvesting, soil scarification, road construction and other forestry related activities diminish, deteriorate and fragment lichen grounds, cause

42 Altogether, it is estimated that there are 80 000 – 95 000 Sámi, of which 8 000 in Finland, 0 000 in Sweden, 50 – 65 000 in Norway and 000 in Russia (Pohjoismainen saamelaissopimus 005, 65).

Quantifying Sámi populations is both practically difficult and politically problematic. Not all Sámi have registered as Sámi, and the definitions of who is Sámi are in themselves contested. The nation states have historically subjected Sámi to forms of nationalism that both explicitly prevented and implicitly discouraged any identification with Sámi culture (systematically practiced through e.g.

outlawing of Sámi language use at schools).

additional work for herders and further decrease the possibility for reindeer to graze freely.

Reindeer graze occasionally on logged areas in winter, but less so than in old unmanaged forests. Decreasing amounts of undisturbed winter grazing grounds increase the need for supplementary feeding, which is expensive. (Helle 995; Kumpula 00, 0–5; 00.) Reindeer herding is allowed in most protected areas and reindeer herders have therefore often been positive to increased forest conservation (e.g. Hallikainen et al. 006). The demands to set aside important pasture forests from commercial activity, on the other hand, have been considered by the forest industry as a threat to the economic viability and employment in state forestry. As in Kainuu, also in Inari the age structure of the commercial state forests is uneven, which makes the old forests particularly desirable for timber production (Figure 9).

Altogether, there are over 700 reindeer herders in Inari and they are organised in eight reindeer-herding co-operatives (RHC). Reindeer are the private property of reindeer herders, who are by law obliged to belong to a reindeer-herding co-operative within which reindeer are collectively herded. A RHC is both a legal-administrative as well as social unit. Each co-operative has also a legally defined geographical area (Map 5).

Inari/Aanaar was chosen as one of the case studies because it can be considered an extreme or critical case in many ways (Flyvbjerg 00, 78–79). Metsähallitus has organised consultative meetings with RHCs in Inari/Aanaar since 977 (Piiparinen &

Kotisaari 006, 7). There has been ample time to learn and to adapt the collaborative planning practices. The adverse impacts of forestry on reindeer herding or the special status of reindeer herding as a part of the Sámi culture are no longer under dispute between the Finnish state and the Sámi reindeer herders. Finland has concluded that of all land use forms, forestry has the most significant adverse impact on reindeer pastures (Porotaloustyöryhmän muistio 999). Metsähallitus has therefore set it as a one of its primary tasks in Inari to reconcile its forestry measures with the needs of reindeer herding (Sandström et al. 000).

43 In Finnish, paliskunta; equivalent to sameby in Sweden.

Figure 9. The age structure of commercial forests (productive forest land) in North Lapland (Sihvo et al. 006, Figure ). Majority of these forests are in Inari.

0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000

0 1-20 21-40

41-60 61-80

81-100 101-120

121-140 141-160

161-180 181-200

over 200 khl 50 Hectares

The northern location, as well as reindeer herding and Sámi culture, have all have contributed to significantly lower economic targets for Metsähallitus’ timber production in Inari than elsewhere in the country. Metsähallitus also prides itself on its current attempts at ‘softer’ forest management methods adapted to the northern conditions. As such, one might assume that if conflict management were likely to succeed anywhere in state forests, it should do so in an area with a long experience of collaboration, low profit expectations for Metsähallitus, and strong legal protection of the traditional land uses – as is the case in Inari. Yet, despite these circumstances, as well as the relatively high percentage of conservation areas, and low percentage of commercial forestry on state land, conflicts between nature conservation, reindeer herding and forestry have persisted in Inari/Aanaar.

On the other hand, Inari/Aanaar is a very special area also in ways that make the conflicts there less amicable to resolution. As the title to land is yet to be settled, the legitimacy of the State or Metsähallitus as the decision maker and controller of the land has been questioned. Thus Inari/Aanaar, or the Finnish part of Sápmi as a whole, is an extreme case in the sense that the land rights conflict makes it more difficult for the State to succeed in the management of the forest conflicts. To address this point, the Kainuu case study was chosen from an area where land rights conflicts do not exist.

The time span of the empirical analysis in the Inari case study is 997–006. While the disputes over the state forests in Inari/Aanaar have a long history, and it is difficult to define exact periods during the conflict, the introduction of the new planning tools in late 990s provides a fruitful starting point for the analysis of the most recent events.