The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe - IUCN

threatened. It is extremely important to
locate the sites which no longer show
any visual signs of use, but which we
know that are still there according to
narrative tradition. One of the characteristics
of the Sámi cultural environments
is that the old way of living and
moving did not necessary leave traces
in nature – therefore, the natural surroundings
of many cultural sites look
completely untouched.
For years, the founding of a Sámi Cultural
Environment Unit has been one of
the most important goals of the Sámi
Museum. The Finnish Sámi Parliament,
too, has been very active in this regard,
supporting the establishment of
such a unit in its statements to different
authorities. We have now taken a step
forward in this matter, as a three-year
pilot project called Sámi Cultural Environments
will be launched at the beginning
of 2011. As the name suggests,
the project will carry out activities
that deal with Sámi cultural
environments.
The Sámi Museum Foundation has
been granted EU funding for 2.5 years
by the Regional Council of Lapland for
a project called Ealli biras – Elävä
ympäristö (‘Living Environment’). One
of the objectives of the project is to
draw up a Sámi Cultural Environment
Programme for the Sámi Area. The project
will employ a coordinator with expertise
in Sámi cultural environments.
Through special funding from the Ministry
of Education, the project will also
engage an archaeologist.
The Cultural Environment Unit will operate
under the auspices of the Sámi
Museum Siida. It has already been
agreed that during the pilot project, the
National Board of Antiquities will delegate
tasks concerning the management
and protection of cultural environments
to this office. In Finland, the
National Board of Antiquities has so far
made similar agreements with a number
of provincial museums.
Another objective of the pilot project is
to draw up an operations model for the
Sámi Cultural Environment Unit together
with the Sámi Parliament, the National
Board of Antiquities, the Ministry
of Education and the Centre for Economic
Development, Transport and the
Environment (ELY) in Lapland.
Our goal is to ensure permanent funding
for the Cultural Environment Unit so
that its activities will be carried out on
a permanent basis from the beginning
of 2014 onwards.
I would like to welcome the Delos
Workshop here in the midst of a Sámi
cultural landscape, which has been influenced
by all the three different Sámi
cultures and ways of life that coexist in
the municipality of Inari: the Inari Sámi,
the Skolt Sámi and the North Sámi
cultures.
35