I mean… it’s more complicated than that. Very few Sami people today are reindeer herders, and even fewer have it as their main occupation. I’m more familiar with the situation in Sweden than Norway, but here only about 100 herders (out of 4,600 people who own reindeer) have enough reindeer to live on. Economically the practice is heavily subsidized by the government (about 40-50 % of revenue come from compensation for predator kills and prize subsidies). Yet 30-50 % of all of Sweden is reindeer herding territory. Which means that almost any land use in half of the country run into these conflicts. Wind turbines, mines, roads, hunting, fishing - you name it.
Also, there are conflicts within the Sami over reindeer herding. You have to be a member of a “Sameby” to herd reindeer, and the “samebyar” has been accused by other Sami people to be discriminatory as the members decide who gets to be members, so it becomes a insider/outsider issue where Sami people who for some reason didn’t become members when they were formed are excluded despite having well documented Sami heritage.
Arkeolog t1_jabnxk8 wrote
Reply to comment by Kent_Knifen in Norway: Thunberg joins Indigenous protests against turbines. The young environmental activist says green energy cannot come at the expense of human rights. A court order has deemed the turbines' location in Norway illegal, as they disrupt Sami reindeer-herding traditions by DoremusJessup
I mean… it’s more complicated than that. Very few Sami people today are reindeer herders, and even fewer have it as their main occupation. I’m more familiar with the situation in Sweden than Norway, but here only about 100 herders (out of 4,600 people who own reindeer) have enough reindeer to live on. Economically the practice is heavily subsidized by the government (about 40-50 % of revenue come from compensation for predator kills and prize subsidies). Yet 30-50 % of all of Sweden is reindeer herding territory. Which means that almost any land use in half of the country run into these conflicts. Wind turbines, mines, roads, hunting, fishing - you name it.
Also, there are conflicts within the Sami over reindeer herding. You have to be a member of a “Sameby” to herd reindeer, and the “samebyar” has been accused by other Sami people to be discriminatory as the members decide who gets to be members, so it becomes a insider/outsider issue where Sami people who for some reason didn’t become members when they were formed are excluded despite having well documented Sami heritage.