"In northern Norway, Sami people fear a copper mine will disrupt their traditional lifestyles."
"Each summer, Nils Mikkelsen Utsi guides his reindeer to highland pastures overlooking a fjord, known to locals as Repparfjord, in northern Norway. There, under the Arctic midnight sun, female reindeer give birth and Mr. Utsi marks the ears of the calves. His ancestors have done this for generations.
“This is my reindeer district,” he said. “This is my life.”
Nearby, workers are building out the Nussir copper mine, the site of one of Norway’s most contentious environmental disputes. If it’s fully developed, Mr. Utsi fears the mine will cast a shadow over his way of life.
The Sami are Indigenous to Europe, and their territory, known as Sapmi, spreads across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. They have, for centuries, organized their lives around reindeer herding and fishing. Now, as with many traditional cultures, their way of life is colliding with the demands of a warming world."
