Frame Alignment Between Environmentalists and the Sámi in the Forest Dispute in Inari, Finland Until the 2000s—Competing Conservation Needs and Obstacles for Co-Living With the Non-Human

Abstract

The cooperation between Sámi actors and environmentalists in the resistance of loggings in the conflict over forestry in Inari, in Finnish Sápmi, in the 2000s has been presented as a cohesive alliance, innovative in creating new political space and channels of influence. Looking more closely, there were foundational non-aligning factors causing friction to the alliance, relating to the legitimacy of the presence of the non-human in the biotic system. I shall examine as to what extent and why the frames employed aligned or conflicted. One way to grasp the fragility of the frame alignment is to study the opinions held by the different actors about what needs restoring/conserving, whether these are economic, ecological, or cultural elements, or a combination of these, and how the entities to be protected were situated in time. The historical context of this article is the long series of forestry conflicts in Inari, for the duration of which the transformations and varying strategies of alignment of environmental, herder, and forestry frames are studied. It is argued that the combination and number of the non-human animals to be protected were one root cause for misalignment, deepening the rifts between environmentalists and the Sámi to this day.