THE NEW BLACK CROW - on energy transition in the north of Sweden

Elle Eriksson comes from the Gallivare Forest Sami village. Her families herd depend solemnely on the forests in their region. She is studying forestry at the university of Umea, so that she can know the arguments of forest industry and have more competence in fighting agains them. Wearing traditional Sami “gabdde” clothing, Elle visits her reindeer before going to Boden for a launch of a book about her family’s history. She will there read a poem she wrote about the wind turbines on the Sami lands. Last time she wore the clothes she was laughed at in the local shopping mall, thus she rarely wears them in public and never when she is alone. Forstraskhed, Sweden, 03.2023

Carina Nutti Sikku is helping her mother, who is now 80 years old, feed her reindeer during wintertime. At the mountain where their family have their grazing land, ice covering lichen can get as thick as 20 centimeters, so reindeers would run further to the forest or die from starvation otherwise. The mountains behind them are currently being checked for the existence of rare minerals underground, as the Kiruna rare minerals deposit was discovered not far away from where they live. Ovre Soppero, Sweden, 03.2023

Photograph of Seth-Ivan Eriksson’s (90) great grandfather, his family and their reindeers hangs in the living room of Seth-Ivan among other family heirlooms. The photograph was probably taken by a village teacher as a souvenir photograph, during the time when Sami people were otherwise mainly photographed as part of Sweden state’s eugenic tests and verifications of the sizes of their sculps.
Forstraskhed, Sweden, 03.2023

Yana Mangi’s mother was one of the last Sami in the region still living a nomadic life. Yana has reindeers and her reindeer mark; however, she makes her living as a traditional Joik singer and from tourism in the village of Lannavaara. She receives about 1000 people each season and to each of them she talks about the same things, industries in the area, Sami traditional life and the impact of climate change forcing reindeer herders and herself to feed the reindeers with lichen bought from industrial farms in Finland, to have them survive.

Lannavaara, Sweden, 04.2023

Elli-Maria Nutti (80) poses for a photo in front of the house where she has been living all her life. She is one of the first women to live entirely out of reindeer herding, in the community where a man is still traditionally responsible for the family’s herd. Until today, she goes daily on a snowmobile to feed hundreds of her reindeers that are spending winter on a mountain nearby. Both of her daughters families, also in reindeer herding are currently activly opposing the creation of a new Talga company mine near Vittangi, where their reindeer have grazing lands. Ovre Soppero, Sweden, 03.2023

Samernas Utbi Idnings Centrum is the only existing Sami culture; craft and language school in Norway; Sweden and Finland. Students come from all over Sapmi region for a year or two to learn craft and language from the specific area of their families’ origins. Izabel Nordlund (right) grew up in Lulea to Sami mother and Swedish father; she then studied in Scotland and worked at the university of Umea as a researcher and then decided to come back to the north of the country and learn more about her origins. Jokkmokk; Sweden; 03.2023

Reindeer antlers and traditional duodji crafts; bags and decoration made of reindeer’s skin in Sami colors, hang in a living room of a Sami family, decorating an embroidery painting representing a Sami man dressed in traditional kolt holding a white reindeer. Forstraskhed, Sweden, 03.2023

Simon Isak Marianen is feeding pellets to his reindeer herd during winter. Together with his wife, they started in 2015 when grazing land they legally could use became too bare for their reindeer to survive only on naturally found food. This was also the year when Simon took over the reindeer after his brother, initially responsible for the herd, died of suicide. Ovre Soppero, Sweden, 04.04.2023

Lanta family of reindeer herders collected their reindeers earlier this year as they were scared that the animals would run out of food where they were grazing in winter. During the moving process one of the reindeer broke his neck running into the fence and another one hurt its leg which would unable the animal to move north with the others. Jokkmokk, Sweden, 03.2023

Katarina Svonni from Gabna Sami village lives in Svappavaara where she helps her father and her partner to take care of their reindeers. She is also one of the last people still drying reindeer skins in a traditional way on the wooden sticks. Hers belonged to her great grandfather. Katerina worked in LKAB for several years and resigned a few months ago, when the Per Geijer deposit of rare earth minerals was announced to have been discovered in the last remaining road for Gabna reindeers to move safely from their winter to summer grounds. She now works for Gabna Sami village, updating maps and statistics that prove the necessity of this land for her community, and effectively fight against LKAB for the rights of the land. Svappavaara, Sweden, 04.2023

Nika Pittja (30) works at the Aitik mine every one of two weeks, the second week he is with the reindeers of his father, helping him to grow their herd. The money that he earns mainly goes for the food and compensate for the reindeers that they decide not to slaughter. He did not sleep last night as they spotted a lynx near the area where their reindeers spent winter. He was up on a snowmobile all night patrolling the area for trances of the animal. The cabin that he is staying in has no electricity, despite being on the lands that were affected when the hydroelectric powerplant was built in the nearby National Park and hundreds of people were forced to move, including his grandparents. Ruokto, Sweden, 04.2023

Photos of two brothers, Gustu (right) and Heaika (left) Marainen stand on their mother’s kitchen worktop. They both died by suicide within months from one another in 2014. Gustu was a reindeer herder, and his financial situation became particularly complicated in the months before his suicide. Swedish debt collecting agency, Kronofogden threatened him to take away his reindeers. Suicide rates in Sweden are the highest among young Sami men. Ovre Soppero, Sweden, 04.2023

A few buildings near Kiruna mine are localy know as “Sami Gate”. Small apartments for rent are occupied mainly by Sami people. Teenagers are coming from nearby villages to attend school and adults work part time in the mining industry or building of the new Kiruna center, both organized by LKAB company. For many the supplementary job is the only way to continue in reindeer herding business. Mine provides unbeatably higher salaries and more flexible schedule than any other employment in the region. People often came for a week or a few days each month and during this time, work up to 20 hours a day. Kiruna, Sweden, 04.2023

Nordic Lights seen near Harspranget, the largest country’s hydro power plant built on Lule River in Porjus town. The site is the single largest Sweden’s hydro power unit, of 450 MW. Porjus, Sweden, 03.2023

Ellen Marit Labba from Vittangi Sameby is showing her daughter, Elina Vitblom Labba a message about the possible new permit given to Talga company to open a graphite mine located right by their traditional herding grounds. The permit was granted a few days after, finishing ten years of fight between the mining company and local Sami villages. Viikusjarvi, Sweden, 04.2023

Reindeers from Sirges Sami community, some 50 km from Jokkmokk, spend their winter between electric lines going to the south of Sweden and Finland from hydro plants on Lule Alv River, and tree plantation of the state-owned forestry company, Sveaskog. Ovre Kuouka, Sweden, 03.2023

Explore the North company based in Swedish Lapland organizes weeklong stays for European tourists willing to explore winter; snow activities and see Nordic Lights. Meeting with a Sami community is one of the activities proposed for tourists. Reindeer tourism where people can feed the animals; try reindeer meat and drove a snowmobile in nature; together with searching for Nordic Lights are among the principal reasons for tourism in the area. It generates income for the community and some Sami people; but also disturbs the nature and further limits the areas available for reindeer grazing. Lannavaara; Sweden; 03.2023

Markbygden Wind Farm with capacity of 1001 units and production for up to 4000 MW is already the biggest offshore plant in the European Union. It extends over 450 square kilometres connected by a 300 km long road network. It was built on Östra Kikkejaure Sami village winter land after long lasting negotiations with the community. According to the specialists from Markbygden, if the Sweden’s plans for fossil free industries are to be realized, the capacity of wind farms in the north must grow 6 times in the next few years. Markbygden Pitea, Sweden, 03.2024

Logging of the forest by south of Jokkmokk, where most of the woods are state owned by Sveaskog. Near Lakatrask, Sweden, 03.2023

Logging near the Aitik Boliden mine in Gallivare, where the mine is creating a new open pit for cooper mining. Gallivare, Sweden, 04.2023

Logs are being unloaded and separated in the Smurfit Kappa paper mill in Pitea, one of the biggest in the northern region of the country. Pitea, Sweden, 03.2023

Water heated during the paper production process in Smurfit Kappa Paper Mill in Pitea is used for the central heating of the houses in the community. The mill became private in year 2000, before it was state owned and in connection with Sveaskog, state forest owners. Today still Sveaskog provides over 50% of the wood needs for the factory. Pitea, Sweden, 03.2023

Peter from Gabna Sami village walks by the newly placed drilling station in the area of Per Geijer where LKAB claims to have found the biggest European deposits of rare minerals needed for production of lithium batteries, on the top of new iron ore deposit. The area where the state owned company wants to start mining is the last remaining land that Gabna village reindeer herders can use to move their reindeers from their winter to summer grazing lands. Due to the existing mines, remaining of the mines already closed, infrastructure and the town of Kiruna, the special corridor was built for the reindeers to move safely. The corridor runs directly through the land of the new deposit. Kiruna, Sweden, 04.2023

Boliden Aitik copper mine is Europe’s biggest open pit copper mine and crashes about 45 million tons of ore per year. The mine is currently expanding for another open pit. Gallivare, Sweden, 04.2023

Kiruna mine currently produces over 75000 tons of iron ore a day. Each day holes are being drilled in the underground mine walls, where explosive materials are placed and triggered daily, causing the town to shake each night. Drilling is one of a few tasks still operated by a physical worker, as most of the jobs has been modernized and is now directed from safety of controlling rooms with computers and screens. Kiruna, Sweden, 03.2023

Each of the trucks in Boliden Aitik copper mine, some of them operated partly on electricity, can transport between 300-400 tons of rocks in one run. Cooper is send directly to the production area and rocks are used to produce gravel used locally in the mine, as the company is constantly building and expanding. The mine is currently expanding for another open pit. Gallivare, Sweden, 04.2023

Processing area in Aitik Boliden mine. Production of electric cars needs almost 20 times more of copper than fuel car, therefore cooper mines in the north of Sweden are looking to expand, reestablish old permits or access new ones. The mine is currently expanding for another open pit. Gallivare, Sweden, 04.2023

Part of Kiruna iron-ore mine, the largest and most modern iron underground mine in the world. The mine belonging to LKAB company is expanding and the town is currently in the process of moving due to the sinking of the ground caused by mining. LKAB's president and CEO Jan Mostrom, announced earlier in 2023 the finding of additional one million tonnes of rare earth oxides needed for green transition and constructions of electric cars or wind turbines. The discovery of for now, the largest known deposit in Europe is seen to end the dependency on China which currently accounts for approximately 70 percent of the world's production of these metals. Kiruna, Sweden, 03.2023

Dead reindeers lying by the road on the way between Jokkmokk and Lulea. According to herders from the area, reindeer get tricked by snowmobile tracks under the electric lines, follow them and end up on the roads. The traffic is particularly heavy at the beginning and end of each week, as people working on week long shifts in the regional mines, drive in and out to the shore, where they live. Near Kaskats, Sweden, 03.2023

The Sámi indigenous people have inhabited northern Sweden for thousands of years. The group comprises roughly 80,000 people across north Scandinavia and is commonly associated with a semi-nomadic lifestyle of reindeer herding, even though only a minority of Sámis live this way today. Now, their way of life is threatened by giant wind farms, mines rich in rare battery minerals, and logging. The European green revolution, designed to slow down climate change globally, is threatening the way of life of the Sámi people, one of the continent's last remaining indigenous groups.

It's not the first time progress and industrial development in Sweden come at the expense of the Sámi. In the past, they have been persecuted and oppressed by some Swedish and Norwegian institutions. Sweden never had any colonies, but instead, it colonized its north, a Swedish saying goes. The abundant minerals, wood, and water that helped the country become one of the world's wealthiest during the 20th century are found mainly in the wild and sparsely populated region, the Sámi's ancestral territory.

Scientists say the Arctic and Polar Circle are warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the world due to climate change. It’s local consequences only exacerbate the situation.

The only natural reindeer winter food, lichen, grows on the ground or from the trees. Milder winters are causing the melting snow to freeze, covering the lichen on the ground with an ice barrier. Biodiversity loss in some areas due to mining and logging resulted in a 70% decline in tree lichen over the past 50 years. Sámi herders feed their animals with commercial food, but it’s still insufficient. Only near Jokkmokk, considered a capital of Sami culture, in the last ten years, the community's reindeer number shrank from about 30 thousand to only 8 thousand last year. Most died of starvation.

Sweden is the world's third-largest exporter of forest products. While it has less than 1 percent of its forests, it supplies nearly 9 percent of paper products. Research from the Swedish University of Umea states that the current logging rate in the country is 5 to 10 times higher than in the Amazon Forest. Most is happening in the north and of ancestral Sami lands. Nine out of twelve mines in Sweden are also located on Sami land; some are expanding, and three new mines have received permission to operate in the region. The LKAB discovery of precious minerals in Kiruna has motivated other companies to start drilling for samples, hoping to discover more lucrative minerals. The discovery has been presented to public opinion as a way for the European Union's independence from Chinese and Russian imports.

When we think about climate change, we rarely think about reindeer starving to death or dying on motorways. In Sweden, the indigenous land and the culture inseparably connected to it are shrinking in the north of Europe, in one of the most developed countries in the world. In ancestral Sami belief, a crow that lingers over dead animals' bodies represents fear and authority. Nowadays, they are talking about the crows of the green transition.