ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses climate change impacts on Sámi Indigenous Peoples in the Nordic region and how threats to their culture from climate change implicate their rights of self-determination. Exploring the triadic connection between Indigenous self-determination, Indigenous cultural integrity, and Indigenous lands, territories, and resources, this chapter argues that climate change impacts now threatening the cultural integrity of Indigenous Peoples constitute a form of “displacement” for Indigenous Peoples even in the absence of physical mobility and also threaten their existence and survival as “peoples” under international law. For Sámi, such impacts on culture are a consequence of changing environmental conditions as well as the implementation of green energy projects by Nordic States. This chapter suggests that identifying the reality of cultural displacement, as well as strengthening conceptions of “cultural self-determination,” could help Indigenous Peoples vindicate their rights as “peoples.” The chapter concludes with a discussion of legal responsibility associated with Indigenous cultural displacement and infringement on Indigenous self-determination, including its cultural aspects, from climate change impacts.
