A p p e n d i x   1 1 .

The Sámi Parliament 3.11.2000

To the Union of Forest Management Associations of northern Finland

Announcement on the implementation of the [FFCS] criterion 36

Translated by the authors of this report.

The Finnish constitution enacts (17.3 §) that the Sámi as an indigenous people have a right to maintain and develop their own language and culture. According to the grounds of the proposal HE 309/1993 vp of the Finnish government, the form of the Sámi culture safeguarded by the basic rights provision includes the traditional livelihoods of the Sámi such as reindeer herding.

The forest certification criterion 36 implies that in the Sámi homelands the management, use and protection of the natural resources administered by the Forest and Park Service is harmonised in cooperation with Sámi representatives such that the conditions for the practising of traditional livelihoods and the Sámi culture are maintained.

According to the 6 § of the Law on the Sámi Parliament the Sámi Parliament represents the Sámi in national and international matters that are included in the functions assigned to it.

 

The Sámi Parliament states

that the requirements mentioned in the criterion 36 are not met because the Forest and Park Service does not negotiate with the Sámi Parliament and the related reindeer herding co-operatives and harmonise measures that have significant effects on the traditional livelihoods of the Sámi, such as the Forest and Park Service Wilderness area plans and the lodging services, selling and leasing of land and land operations of the Wild North. As an example of the disadvantages of forest management operations to reindeer herding the Sámi Parliament refers to the letter of the Hammastunturi reindeer herding co-operative addressed to the Forest and Park Service on 26.10.2000 and to the letter of the Muotkatunturi reindeer herding co-operative to the Forest and Park Service in which the abovementioned co-operative points out to the Forest and Park Service that the Forest and Park Service has not met its statutory duty prescribed to state authorities by the Reindeer Herding Law (53 §) to negotiate when planning operations that significantly affect reindeer herding as every forest logging operation does.

The Sámi Parliament considers that the Forest and Park Service does not sufficiently pay attention to the legislative position of the Sámi and does not harmonise forest logging and management operations in co-operation with the Sámi and the reindeer herding co-operatives in the manner implied by the forest certification criterion 36.

In addition to the aforementioned the Sámi Parliament refers to the announcement given to the Forest and Park Service on 4.2.1998 on the Forest and Park Service's draft of guidelines on the management of pine-dominated forests of high areas.

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