Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic
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 t...
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University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law
2023
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Online Access: | https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903 https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 |
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ftjarlp:oai:nordicopenaccess.no:article/5903 2024-05-19T07:32:49+00:00 Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic Similä, Jukka Wallen, Henri 2023-12-04 application/pdf text/html application/epub+zip text/xml https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903 https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 eng eng University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9317 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9318 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9319 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9320 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903 doi:10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 Copyright (c) 2023 Jukka Similä, Henri Wallen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Arctic Review on Law and Politics; Vol. 14 (2023); 228–250 2387-4562 mining the Arctic Finland legal reforms justice info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2023 ftjarlp https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 2024-04-28T23:40:25Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Arctic review on law and politics Arctic Review on Law and Politics Arctic Review on Law and Politics 14 |
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Arctic Review on Law and Politics |
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English |
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mining the Arctic Finland legal reforms justice |
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mining the Arctic Finland legal reforms justice Similä, Jukka Wallen, Henri Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic |
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mining the Arctic Finland legal reforms justice |
description |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Similä, Jukka Wallen, Henri |
author_facet |
Similä, Jukka Wallen, Henri |
author_sort |
Similä, Jukka |
title |
Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic |
title_short |
Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic |
title_full |
Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Justice, Mining, and Legal Reforms in the Finnish Arctic |
title_sort |
justice, mining, and legal reforms in the finnish arctic |
publisher |
University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903 https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Arctic review on law and politics |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Arctic review on law and politics |
op_source |
Arctic Review on Law and Politics; Vol. 14 (2023); 228–250 2387-4562 |
op_relation |
https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9317 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9318 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9319 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903/9320 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/5903 doi:10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2023 Jukka Similä, Henri Wallen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v14.5903 |
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Arctic Review on Law and Politics |
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14 |
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