State of Finland as an agent of sustainability – the consequences of introduction of hegemonic ecologies in Sami domicile

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Abstract:

In the forests of Upper-Lapland numerous interests collide – the Sami reindeer herders, nature conservators, state foresters and the local people wishing to get employment all have different angles to the forest as a resource. Ideas about the management of the forests differ also tremendously. The Sami of Finland have engaged themselves in a series of forest disputes with the state property regime Forest and Park Service in the Upper Lapland from the 1980s onwards. The disputes have also engaged other local, national, transnational and global' actors, and the state of Finland as a mediator, as well as, it will be argued, source of hegemonic policies and ecologies and an actor balancing between economic and ecological imperatives. Towards the end of the debates, there are emerging indications that the state has managed to influence the local forestry officials to tone down the means of forestry – a partialgreening' has taken place in the forestry discourses among the forestry officials.
The topic of the paper is the politics of sustainability articulated by the officials responsible of forestry politics of the state of Finland and the `costs' and consequences of the state intervention in the environmental management. The paper addresses following questions: What is the state agenda, actually, when the environment in the Finnish peripheries is protected? How has the state agenda and knowledge systems changed over time, and how have these changes affected the forestry and environmental management in the forests/pasture lands in Sami domicile of Finland? Which knowledge systems, ecologies and (identity) policies are marginalized in the process? What kind of an agency do the local actors, among them especially the Sami, have on the disputes, where the state acts on numerous capacities? What kind of ecological consequences can be pointed out at local level in the forests of Lapland? The paper is based on my prior studies on the environmental history of the Upper Lapland and in on-going studies on the state of Finlands minority policies, with a special focus on the policies concerning the Sami.