Finnmark deserves more than becoming a resource colony
Finnmark is not an empty area that can be used to fill holes in Norway's climate accounts or a resource bank from which southern Norwegian and foreign companies can extract values. Finnmark is home to people who want to live here, work here and build lives here.
Finnmark has always been a rich area – not only on natural resources, but also on culture, history and people who know how to create values of nature's gifts. Nevertheless, we are treated as a resource colony. We see how our fish disappears south in trawlers, how our mountains should be destroyed by giant wind turbines, and how our coastal communities weather because of a fishing policy that does not benefit us. It's time to say stop.
The Government and the Storting have for years pursued a policy that taps Finnmark for both natural resources and jobs. We have witnessed the quota barons having drained the sea for fish without the values remaining here. And now we see that our areas will be used for giant wind power projects, not to give us cheap electricity or jobs, but to decorate Norway's climate accounts – while in Finnmark we have to pay the price.
Moving along the coast of Finnmark is not due to weather and wind, but political choices. For decades, the Right and the Labor Party have provided a fisheries policy that does not serve the coastal communities. The quota report is the last example of a policy that favors the big ones, and does not take into account us who actually live and live here.
Think about how many jobs we have lost because local fishermen have to watch trawlers emptying the fjords and delivering the fish far away from Finnmark. Think about what it could be like if we had a system where the fish absorbed from the sea also contributes to workplaces here in the north. It's not a dream – it's a choice.
NSR will do something about this:
● Røke up in the quota system, so that local fishermen have the opportunity to fish.
● Ensure that the fish is delivered here, so that we build on value creation in our own communities.
● Reception the reception and processing industry with support schemes that ensure that value creation takes place locally.
● Invest in sustainable innovation and tourism, to create new jobs.
● Improve infrastructure: Better roads, better flight offers and proper internet and mobile coverage.
● Build homes through distinctive schemes in the Housing Bank, making it easier to establish itself in Finnmark.
The wind power plants planned in Finnmark will not only destroy reindeer husbandry areas, but also for berry picking, sinking and outdoor life. Mining with seabedry destroys our fjords and threatens the fish stocks. This is not development – it is the demolition of our own future.
Those who think this is the only solution does not see the big picture. They do not want to talk about the real problem is how fishing policy has emptied our coastal communities for jobs. They do not want to talk about how we could build a sustainable economy based on local resources – without destroying them.
Through the Sami Parliament, NSR has invested millions in value creation along the coast of Finnmark. We have supported fishing vessels, port development, agriculture and other industries that contribute to vibrant societies. Only this period has 67 young fishermen received a grant for first -time investment in fishing vessels from the Sami Parliament.
One of the largest political scandals in recent times happened in 2011, when the Northern Calotte people and the Labor Party voted against the local population getting statutory rights to fishing outside the fjords. The result? The quota barons empties the sea, while the Seaside Sami villages are weathering.
NSR sees this as the next big rights struggle. It is unsustainable that those who have been fishing in these areas for generations do not have the right to their own resources. We are working for a sharp increase in the coastal fishing scheme and for the locals to get the rights they deserve.
Finnmark must be developed on its own premises, with capital and local ownership. NSR has fought for a Sami investment fund, and set aside funds in the budget to start that work. If Finnmark is to grow, we must invest in ourselves.
There are those who believe that the solution for Finnmark is to let go of our own nature and our own cultural basis. That we must accept that fjords are filled with mining sludge, and that our mountains are covered by wind turbines. These projects are presented as necessary for jobs and economic development. But who earns them?
Not us who live here.
