Ontological conflict over forests in Inari/Aanaar: Sámi’s fight for preservation and renewal

This article explores the conflict over forests in the Sámi homeland of Northern Finland with a focus on recent events since 2018 and the role of the Forest Steward Council (FSC) certification scheme. Data gathered during fieldwork was analysed utilising narrative analysis and a Political Ontology lens to establish: 1) how the conflict over forests in Finnish Sápmi is an ontological conflict, and 2) how different ontologies were performed into being and with what consequences. Three conflict narratives were identified that highlight different understandings of the conflict. Focusing on these revealed the conflict to be much more than a disagreement over logging, bringing to light ontological politics. It is a conflict in which Sámi defend their world founded on relationality against the Euro-modern world and engage in resisting unwanted interventions to their land and building alternatives to industrial land uses simultaneously. The Euro-modern world finds expression and support in forestry planners dismissing herders’ knowledge of forests, the FSC relying only on measurable indicators to understand forests, and discursive practices invalidating reindeer herding’s dependence on unfragmented pastures. Resolving the conflict requires addressing the root cause, the misrecognition of the connection between the Sámi, reindeer, and the land. Promoting its recognition requires the ratification of ILO169, developing the interpretative capacity of local people, politicians, and officials to make sense of the Sámi’s experience and knowledge, overcoming the principle of overlapping use as a guiding principle to forestry policy, and drawing equally on scientific and Sámi Indigenous knowledge in planning processes.