Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic

Abstract

This paper assesses the extent to which the justice concerns of local stakeholders in the Arctic region of Finland are reflected in recent legal reforms. The reforms concern the Mining Act, the Act on a Mined Minerals Tax, the Nature Conservation Act, the Environmental Damages Fund, and the Act on the Sámi Parliament. The assessment is made from the perspectives of distributive, procedural, recognition, and intergenerational justice. We identified the justice concerns by conducting 21 interviews and a workshop, after which we analysed the legal reforms and discussed whether they reflected the justice concerns expressed by local stakeholders. We concluded that most of the justice concerns had been addressed, but only to a certain extent. Still, the most fundamental features of the governance of mining activities have not changed. By its very nature, the Finnish system of mineral ownership has remained a claim system, albeit not an entirely pure one. The reforms were not designed to limit the total volume of mining activities, and the mineral industry, backed by the EU and national policies, is likely to grow in the region. The most important legal change concerns the position of the municipal council. Today, a local land use plan is a precondition for granting a mining permit. The national Parliament did not approve a government proposal to reform the Sámi Parliament Act, which was a significant failure in recognition justice.