Protesters block entry to Norway Energy Ministry to protest wind farms on indigenous land

Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other activists blocked entrances to Norway’s Energy Ministry on Monday. The move was to protest against wind turbines built on land traditionally used by Indigenous Sami reindeer herders.

“Indigenous rights and human rights must go hand-in-hand with climate protection and climate action. That can’t happen at the expense of some people. Then it is not climate justice,” Thunberg said.

In 2021, the Norwegian Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, held that the concession for a wind turbine park in the Fosen-halvøya (Fosen peninsula) area of Norway violated the indigenous Sami people’s right to exercise their cultural rights because the windmills prevented them from herding reindeer in the area.

The Climate Action Network expressed solidarity with Indigenous protestors & youth activists in Norway.

“Infringing on Sámi land is a violation of human rights,” the network posted on Twitter, tagging Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.