ABSTRACT
The case of Inari offers an opportunity to study the environmental consequences of the establishment of Finnish territorial sovereignty in a unique land ownership and ethnic setting. The establishment of Finnish territorial sovereignty, or “colonization” (the term will be discussed later on in this chapter), meant, among other things, establishing new property rights and land régime structures in the lands formerly owned by the siidas, or lappvillages.1 In the present situation, the land in Inari is owned almost exclusively by the state: in 1975, 93.7 percent of the land was state-owned (Lapin metsätalous 1975: 19-21). Land is managed by the Forest Government of Finland (Metsähallitus) and its local representative, the District of Inari. As a state property régime, the Forest Government has the right to regulate use of and access to land in Inari. The Forest Government’s authority, however, is not “full ownership.” The other régime utilizing the same land in the Finnish Lapland is the Reindeer Herders’ Association (Paliskuntain yhdistys). At a local level, reindeer herding is managed by the association’s subordinate herding cooperatives (paliskunnat), which resemble common property régimes. However, this is only a resemblance, since a régime’s claim to land is not one of private property for a group of co-owners. Cooperatives have rights to use the land, and they lease small areas from the Forest Government for herding infrastructure.
