Presenter(s): Augustine Beard − History, Environmental Studies
Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Carey
Poster 139
Research Area: Social Science
This paper seeks to understand the intersection of climate change and geopolitical challenges to the sovereignty and self-determination of Sami people in Sápmi, the artic region of modern-day Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. While much of previous research on climate change and Sami people has focused on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and management for reindeer herding or other natural resources within single states, fewer scholars have engaged the linkages between the challenges to sovereignty posed by the partition of Sami territory. This research will situate intergovernmental climate discourse within a longer narrative that includes colonization, partition, European integration, and globalization. Further, I will examine the impacts of inter-state approaches (or lack of such approaches) to climate mitigation and adaptation on local communities and cultures. There are two major areas of interest/questions for this research: (1) How do inter- European and international conversations about climate change compound or complicate the geopolitical challenges that the Sami face in self-determination? (2) How do the impacts of climate change on reindeer herding and Sami natural resource management impact their capacity to assert sovereignty to multiple state actors? In sum, this paper will demonstrate how international agreements and organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Paris Accords have perpetuated a pattern of marginalization and exclusion seen in previous geopolitical challenges to Sami sovereignty and natural resource management.