Second Seminar for the NORSIL-NKJ Project

The Nordic Research Network for Sami and Indigenous Peoples Law (NORSIL)

The Nordic Research Network for Sami and Indigenous Peoples Law (NORSIL) is an informal and transdisciplinary Nordic research network that consists of Nordic, Sámi, and international scholars. A core question for NORSIL has always been Sámi reindeer herding, and the protection of the reindeer herding right, both as a property right and as fundamental to sustaining and developing Sámi culture, languages, and traditional knowledge (árbediehtu).

The Nordic Joint Committee for Agriculture and Food Research (NKJ) funded the NORSIL project for 2025-2027. The NORSIL-NKJ project investigates pressing sustainable development and climate change questions in law and policy of importance to the Sámi people. It focuses on addressing three important aspects: (i) comparing laws and policies across Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Sápmi, i.e. within the reindeer herding areas, to enhance national cooperation at the Nordic level and transnational learning, (ii) focusing on the Sámi traditional knowledge (árbediehtu) within reindeer herding and analyze if and how it may offer solutions for a sustainable land use in times of rapid change, and (iii) supporting an understanding, development and implementation of law and policy that advance a just sustainable development in the Scandinavian North concerning the planned and ongoing industrialization projects.

The Focus of the Seminar

The second seminar for the NORSIL-NKJ project will be organized in Tromsø from 16-17 June 2026. The seminar seeks to explore whether Sámi institutions and traditional knowledge within reindeer herding (árbediehtu) are relevant, and if so why, in Norway, Sweden and/or Finland in the context of “green transition”. It will further examine whether and how national and transnational legal frameworks, as well as domestic courts and human rights bodies, recognize Sámi traditional knowledge as sources of law in governing the “green transition” pathways. In so doing, it will foster transnational learning and collaboration across the Nordic region. Around 30 researchers from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland will arrive in Tromsø to participate in the seminar. For detailed information about the contents of the seminar, see the program.

The "GRIP-Bear – Research Collaboration on Climate Change, Green Energy Transition, and Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region" project, funded by the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, provides financial support for the participation of two PhD students and a representative from the Barents Euro-Arctic Cooperation Working Group on Indigenous Peoples (WGIP) and the Barents Youth Council (BYC).