Reindeer Husbandry and Barents 2030

SCENARIO 2: FREE MARKET

By 2020, oil prices have reached a stable level of 160 dollars a barrel and a strong market has meant a heavy investment in the energy sector. Public opinion has swung away from mitigation in favour of maintaining low energy prices at home, and CO 2 reduction ambitions have dwindled. This was facilitated by the fact that the dire climatic warnings in 2007–10 failed to materialise with the speed that had been predicted. As a result, the regulatory environment has loosened up and de- velopment has accelerated. Despite the best efforts of the Sámi Parliament and legal experts, no revenue sharing agreements have been made between the indigenous inhabitants and the energy sector. Many parts of the Barents region are declared incompatible with aboriginal land use and remaining herds are turned wild. As it happens, major pipeline development on the peninsula has se- verely disrupted traditional migrations and land use. For Sámi reindeer herders in Finnmark, the dense pattern of industrial development surrounding LNG plants on the coast has meant a dramatic reduction in pastures. Instal- lation “buffer zones” are created, and local officials finally succeeded in removing reindeer herds from the Ham- merfest region, claiming that the reindeer and disputes were a public nuisance and restraining development. A substantial increase in the population centres of the new LNG plants has pulled many people out of the Inner Finnmark region, as local opportunities in tra- ditional livelihoods are reduced and the Sámi Parlia- ment is no longer seen as an effective voice, leading to an intensification of community fractiousness in the Sámi area. The newcomers to the region, increasingly from all over the world, use their new found wealth

Svein Disch Mathiesen

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