“The green transition will be our death” : legal resistance by indigenous peoples against climate mitigation activities

Abstract

In the era of global warming and climate change, the need to move towards a sustainable future is vital, which is often realised through the green transition. However, this shift frequently causes conflicts over competing land uses, particularly impacting indigenous peoples' rights to their ancestral lands and threatening their culture and identity. Additionally, there is a lack of political will to resolve these conflicts, prompting indigenous peoples to increasingly turn to courts to assert their rights. In turn, this thesis examines how indigenous peoples utilise legal litigation to claim their rights. Using the case study of the Sámi people in Sweden, data collected in interviews and analysed with the reflexive thematic analysis, the thesis illustrates that while the recognition of indigenous rights exists, their protection and practical implementation are lacking, driving the Sámi to increasingly seek judicial remedies. This thesis concludes that the existing legal framework requires significant improvement to ensure full effective protection of indigenous peoples’ rights. This need for enhancement is evident at national, regional and global levels, but particularly at the European level, which is lacking effective paths and tools that would support its only indigenous people—the Sámi. Keywords: indigenous peoples, green transition, legal litigation