Inkludering av renskötseln i vattenkraftens omprövning

The document examines the negative impacts of hydropower on reindeer husbandry in Sápmi, including landscape fragmentation, safety risks, and the loss of traditional knowledge. It proposes specific mitigation measures—such as building reindeer bridges and using drones—and argues that Swedish authorities, particularly County Administrative Boards, have a legal obligation under the Minority Act and international law to ensure the effective participation and influence of Sami communities in the hydropower permit review process.

• Hydropower significantly disrupts reindeer husbandry by fragmenting the landscape, leading to the loss of grazing lands, migration routes, calving grounds, and natural gathering sites. This occurs both through direct flooding and indirectly by making other areas inaccessible.
• The regulation of water flows creates severe safety risks for both reindeer and herders, including unpredictable ice thickness, open water at power plant outlets, and air pockets under the ice, which can lead to drowning accidents.
• Hydropower causes economic strain on reindeer herders due to the need for costly adaptations, such as transporting reindeer by truck instead of on foot, purchasing supplementary feed to replace lost grazing land, and investing in safety equipment like flotation suits.
• The inability to conduct traditional migrations on foot results in a loss of traditional knowledge transfer, as younger generations cannot learn migration routes and the language and place names associated with the natural landscape disappear.
• To mitigate negative impacts, the document suggests physical and technical measures, including building reindeer bridges, using drones for scouting dangerous areas, establishing ice thickness measurements on snowmobile trails, and creating 'reindeer keeper huts' to facilitate monitoring.
• Swedish authorities, specifically the County Administrative Boards (länsstyrelserna), have a legal obligation under the Minority Act (minoritetslagen) and the Council of Europe's Framework Convention to ensure that Sami people have effective participation and significant influence in decisions affecting their culture and traditional lands.
• There is a conflict in how authorities view Sami interests; while the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (Havs- och vattenmyndigheten) suggests authorities are not obligated to collaborate with 'individual interests,' the document argues that Sami interests are simultaneously general and individual, and must be protected under the Environmental Code.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2025). Inkludering av renskötseln i vattenkraftens omprövning. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/inkludering-av-renskotseln-i-vattenkraftens-omprovning-digital.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Inkludering av renskötseln i vattenkraftens omprövning. 2025. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/inkludering-av-renskotseln-i-vattenkraftens-omprovning-digital.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Inkludering av renskötseln i vattenkraftens omprövning |date=2025 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/inkludering-av-renskotseln-i-vattenkraftens-omprovning-digital.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2025inkludering, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Inkludering av renskötseln i vattenkraftens omprövning}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/inkludering-av-renskotseln-i-vattenkraftens-omprovning-digital.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }