Government adopts Decree on Sámi Climate Council

The Sámi Climate Council to be established under the new Climate Act will begin its work in the spring. The purpose of the Sámi Climate Council is to bring the knowledge base and perspectives of the Sámi people into the climate policy processes.

Today, on 9 March, the Government adopted the Decree on the Sámi Climate Council. The Sámi Climate Council is an independent expert body. Its task is to bring the knowledge base and perspectives of the Sámi people into the climate policy processes.

“Warming climate has very particular impacts on the Sámi culture and traditional livelihoods that are based on the Arctic environment. This is why it is an absolute necessity to integrate the knowledge of the indigenous Sámi people strongly into the decision-making concerning climate policy. The Sámi Climate Council also has the potential to serve as a trailblazer in international contexts and lead the way towards a climate policy that takes the rights of indigenous peoples into account,” says Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Maria Ohisalo.

Sámi Climate Council produces knowledge base from perspective of Sámi culture and rights of Sámi people

The Decree adopted today further specifies the provisions on the Sámi Climate Council in the Climate Act. The Sámi Climate Council has a chairperson, a deputy chairperson and a maximum of ten other members. At least half of the members must be holders of traditional Sámi knowledge. The other members of the Sámi Climate Council represent environmental sciences or other relevant fields of science.

The tasks of the Sámi Climate Council include producing a knowledge base for assessing and monitoring the impacts of the national climate policy from the perspective of the Sámi culture and the rights of the Sámi people. 

Sámi culture is particularly vulnerable to climate change

The climate is warming much faster in the Arctic regions than elsewhere in the world. The Sámi culture is particularly vulnerable to climate warming as the traditional Sámi culture is closely linked to the Arctic environment.

The Sámi Climate Council is an internationally unique national body tasked with ensuring that the rights of indigenous peoples are taken into account.
The appointment of the Sámi Climate Council will be prepared during spring 2023.

Inquiries:

Karin Cederlöf
Senior Officer, Legal Affairs
Ministry of the Environment
tel. +358 295 250 010
[email protected]

Requests for interviews with the Minister
Heikki Isotalo
Special Adviser to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
tel. +358 40 861 7204
[email protected]