Maidi Eira Andersson, a young Sámi reindeer herder, knelt beside the three reindeer does, their blood staining the nearby snow. The females had been healthy and pregnant before their gruesome and intentional slaying. Maidi, known by everyone who meets her for her fearless confidence, was momentarily shaken.

“We are charged with the protection of our beautiful reindeer, but I could not protect these three,” she lamented. Like the Sámi themselves, Maidi does not bend to fear or threats, and her resolve to protect her reindeer and the forests upon which they depend has only strengthened since the killing.

Less than six months prior to the reindeer killing, Maidi drafted a resolution at the 12th World Wilderness Congress (WILD12). It called for a ban on old growth deforestation in Sápmi, the traditional homeland of the Sámi which makes up large swaths of Sweden, Norway, and Finland, and a small portion of Russia.

Fewer institutions have been more stalwart in their resistance to old growth deforestation than Sámi reindeer herders whose livelihoods depend on two species of lichen, which the reindeer eat during the winter, that only grow on old growth trees. In the last thirty years, Sweden has destroyed their old growth forests at a rate six to seven times higher than the destruction of the Amazon. 

The result has been near catastrophic for Sámi lifeways while also reducing the biodiversity in the boreal forests and releasing carbon dioxide stored in their rich soils. In the midst of the climate crisis, when old growth forests are some of humankind’s greatest allies for the sequestration of carbon services they perform, it is difficult to find a reasonable justification for the wholesale destruction of boreal old growth. Meanwhile, scientists estimate that perhaps only 4% of old growth outside of protected areas remains in Sweden.

Culturally, old growth destruction is forcing many Sámi to abandon their traditional lifeways. 

Over the years, natural grazing grounds have been impacted significantly by extensive forest clearcuts. Combined with climate change, this has created a very fragile and fragmented landscape, one that is nearly impossible to navigate for healthy grazing grounds in the winter months. Landscapes once rich in fertile, lichen-clad forests have since been cleared to make way for modern infrastructure. Roads, mines, windmills, and now car races. Each new addition to the landscape removes a piece of the life-giving green infrastructure that helps regulate Earth’s climate and upon which an entire culture depends for its very existence.

As Sámi reindeer herders navigate this increasingly fragmented ecosystem, they and their conservation allies also resist the continued destruction of the old growth. The culprits are mainly Swedish agroforestry companies who negotiate yearly with the Sámi districts on what new areas of forest will be cleared in the coming years. Despite the Sámi’s protests, the old growth is disappearing at an alarming rate.

In 2020, the European Union adopted a set of policies, called the European Green Deal, designed to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. These policies include ending old growth deforestation. Predictably, Sweden and other Nordic countries have resisted the implementation of the European Green Deal, a resistance led by the agroforestry sector.

While many citizens of Nordic countries are proud of the environmental reputations, it is equally clear that many are unaware of or powerless against the continued destruction of an ecosystem utterly necessary for the fight to halt the climate crisis. In such a context, both the Sámi and Swedish citizens, as well as the European Union, all of whom oppose old growth deforestation, would benefit from increased global attention to this matter.

That is why Maidi and other WILD12 delegates drafted a resolution calling for a ban on old growth deforestation in Sápmi. It is why WILD12 delegates from 40 different countries adopted it. And it is why WILD.org is carrying it forward to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress this October. 

The IUCN, the world’s largest volunteer network of conservation scientists, plays a similar (if not identical) role informing the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) does in guiding the United Nations’ Climate Convention. The IUCN does this by holding a congress once every four years, during which scientists and governments alike vote on which policies the IUCN will prioritize during the proceeding four years, including at the United Nations.

In drafting this resolution, Maidi hopes to make the world aware of what is happening in her homeland and to the forests she and her reindeer depend upon. She believes that should the IUCN adopt it, she and her people will gain a powerful tool in their ability to protect these same forests.

Johanna Nilsson, director of WILD Sápmi, WILD’s new initiative which will work long-term to halt old growth deforestation in Sápmi by supporting Sámi-led actions, notes the importance of Sámi leadership in this issue.

“Protecting Indigenous Sámi rights means safeguarding the heart of Sápmi and honoring a way of life deeply connected to the land. When we fight for our rights, we stand for the right of all Indigenous Peoples to live with dignity, respect, and sovereignty,” Nilsson said.

WILD calls on all IUCN members to vote for Motion 131 at the end of August when it goes to electronic vote. Your vote is more than just a position on a motion. It is an important show of solidarity with the boreal forests, the Sámi, and the motion’s drafter, Maidi Andersson.

Do you stand for a healthier climate, Indigenous rights and lifeways, and a healthy and intact boreal forest? If so, vote for Motion 131 this August.