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VIDEO. In Lapland, reindeer herders rebel against wind turbines

2022-01-13T15:41:15.575Z


Last October, a judgment of the Norwegian Supreme Court ordered the closure of two wind farms installed in the peninsula of F


On windswept ridges, the Jåma brothers, reindeer herders from father to son, slalom between wind turbines that rise as far as the eye can see, where their animals graze during the winter.

“Before, the area was perfect for our reindeer.

The place was immaculate, untouched by human activity.

Now everything is damaged, ”laments the younger brother, Leif Arne, behind the wheel of his 4x4.

A modern-day Don Quixote, these members of the Sami minority in northern Europe have stood up against large wind projects which they accuse of cutting into their livelihood. Lasso slung over the shoulder, the eldest of the Jåma, John Kristian, scrutinizes the horizon line bristling with these white giants through binoculars. Not the shadow of a reindeer around. “Today, it's impossible for the reindeer to come here with all the enormous disruption caused by the turbines spinning and scaring them. And then, they make so much noise… he laments. There are also the roads. Nature is completely destroyed here. There are only rocks and gravel left ”.

But in this classic tale of the earthen pot versus the iron pot, this time around, the earthen pot might just win out. Because in a resounding judgment, the Norwegian Supreme Court concluded last October that two wind farms erected on the Fosen peninsula (Norway) were violating the right of six Sami families to practice their culture, relying in particular on a text of the UN, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

With four neighboring smaller installations, the farms in question, Storheia and Roan, in fact form the largest onshore wind farm in Europe, with a total capacity of 1,057 MW, with 151 turbines.

Enough to cover the energy needs of more than 170,000 households.

But if the highest judicial body in the country has ruled invalid these wind turbines, it has however said nothing about their fate ... "These turbines must be dismantled", relaunch the Jåma brothers.

Completed in 2020, the Storheia wind farm deprives them, according to them, of the best of the three pastures to which they guide their livestock in winter.

Read also The wind syndrome recognized by justice

As the main shareholder in the offending project via the public group Statkraft, the Norwegian state is therefore plunged into a daunting dilemma. How to enforce the recent court ruling without compromising important economic interests? The six farms of the Fosen wind farm cost a total of more than 1 billion euros. The Storheia and Roan wind farms alone provided more than 20% of the energy produced by wind in Norway in 2020. In the immediate future, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, which issued the six concessions , requested additional expertise. "We have not yet decided whether these installations will be able to remain in place in part or in full," explains Minister Marte Mjøs Persen. A disappointment for the Sami,who accuse the Norwegian state of playing time while the turbines continue to run at full speed.

Living primarily in the Arctic, a region that warms three times faster than the planet, the Sami are at the forefront of climate change. “We who have lived and worked here all our lives are seeing how the vegetation changes, the area where the trees grow shifts, the permafrost is melting, new species of insects and plants are coming,” says Matti Blind Berg, who raises reindeer near Kiruna, in northern Sweden. In this context, wind farms, copper or rare earth veins destined for an increasingly electrified economy only increase the pressure on the land. "I fully understand that we need an ecological transition, I am the first to say it," she assures. But I find it odd to say the least that a green transition takes place at the expense of nature ”.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2022-01-13

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