Indigenous Sámi activists intensified their protests against an illegal wind farm on Thursday, blocking the entrances of several Norwegian ministries. Led by Sámi youth, protesters are demanding the removal of a wind farm built in Sápmi, the traditional territory of the Sámi, which stretches across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and into Russia.
The Fosen Vind park, one of Europe’s largest onshore wind farms, consists of 151 turbines near the city of Trondheim, on the country’s central-west coast. The park is owned by Norwegian, Swiss, and German energy companies, and was built in a grazing area crucial to Sámi reindeer herders, threatening their traditional livelihoods and culture.
“The state must immediately stop the ongoing violations of the Sámi reindeer herders’ human rights and take measures to reparation (sic) to redress violations of human rights,” Silje Karine Muotka, president of the Sámi Parliament of Norway, wrote in a letter to the U.N. “The windmills must be demolished, and the area restored to reindeer grazing land.̶... Read more
