| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Norway court rules two windfarms harming Sami reindeer herders
Credit: Agence France-Presse in Oslo, Mon 11 Oct 2021, theguardian.com ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
More than 150 turbines may be torn down after licences to operate and build them are declared void.
Two windfarms in western Norway are harming reindeer herders from the Sami people by encroaching on their pastures, the country’s supreme court has ruled.
It was not immediately clear what the judgment’s consequences of would be, but lawyers for the herders said the 151 turbines on the Fosen peninsula could be torn down. The turbines, whose construction was completed in 2020, form part of the largest onshore windfarm in Europe.
“Their construction has been declared illegal, and it would be illegal to continue operating them,” said Andreas Bronner, who represented a group of herders alleging harm from one of the two windfarms.
Ole Berthelsen, a spokesperson for Norway’s ministry for oil and energy, said: “The supreme court verdict creates a need to clarify the situation”. He added that it would “communicate later about what to do next”.
The judges declared the licences issued by the ministry to build and operate the turbines void, saying they violated the international covenant on civil and political rights.
Article 27 of the UN treaty states that minority ethnic people “shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language”.
Traditional Sami reindeer herding is a form of protected cultural practice, the Norwegian court found.
Responding to the ruling, Tom Kristian Larsen, the general manager of Fosen Vind, which operates one of the windfarms, said: “Of course, this is a surprise to us. We based our action on definitive licences granted us by the authorities after a long and detailed process that heard from all parties. Special importance was given to reindeer herding”.
The company said it would now wait for the ministry’s decision on next steps.
The Sami number up to 100,000 people spread across Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia. Some of them make a living from raising semi-domesticated reindeer for their meat and hides.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=102079 ]
