Response to interpellation 2025/26:387 on hunting and fishing on state land
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns hunting and fishing on state land as well as the conditions for the reindeer husbandry. KD argues that reindeer husbandry should be conducted with the preservation of the long-term production capacity and biological diversity of the natural grazing lands 1. KD emphasizes that reindeer husbandry contributes to maintaining the character of the mountains and that the reindeer provide ecosystem services 2. KD denies that there is evidence that the reindeer cause the overgrazing that is claimed 2. KD denies that the Sámi arrived in Sweden during the 1800s and 1900s and explains that the indigenous status rests on broad parliamentary anchoring 3. KD intends to appoint a new investigation of the reindeer husbandry legislation 3. KD considers that a substantive debate must be based on actual conditions 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Elsa Widding has asked me if I have made any analysis of the consequences for the environment linked to any potential overgrazing within large land areas in Sweden and what the effects would be for the environment if further areas are utilized for large-scale reindeer husbandry. Furthermore, Elsa Widding has asked me on what basis I and the government have made our decision as well as whether I and the government have considered Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Instrument of Government, the principle of equal treatment, in our decision. Finally, Elsa Widding has asked me if I and the government have made any analysis of the consequences of our decision.
The overall goal for the Sami policy (prop. 2000/01:1 expenditure area 23 section 7.3, bet. 2000/01:MJU2, rskr. 2000/01:86) remains fixed, Madam Speaker. So does the environmental quality objective Great Mountain Environment. According to 65 a § of the Reindeer Husbandry Act (1971:437), reindeer husbandry shall be conducted with the preservation of the long-term production capacity of the natural grazing lands so that these provide a sustainably good yield while biological diversity is maintained. Thus, reindeer husbandry, like other land-based industries, has environmental goals to adhere to.
In the Environmental Code, there are provisions that permits are required for certain activities and measures. In the same manner as for agriculture and forestry, the Sami Parliament may, after consultation in accordance with Section 10 of the Reindeer Husbandry Ordinance (1993:384), issue regulations regarding reindeer husbandry's consideration of the interests of nature conservation and cultural heritage conservation. If necessary for such regulations to be complied with, the County Administrative Board may issue orders or prohibitions.
Madam Speaker! The area where reindeer husbandry may be conducted is regulated in Section 3 of the Reindeer Husbandry Act. It is the County Administrative Board which, according to Section 15 of the same Act, determines the maximum number of reindeer that may be kept on pasture within a sameby's grazing area. The County Administrative Board's decision should, according to the preparatory works (prop. 1992/93:32), be based on an inventory of the reindeer pasture and information on how many reindeer have previously grazed within the sameby's area, as well as the animals' age and weight.
In its decision, the County Administrative Board shall take into account other interests, such as that other industries should also be able to be conducted in the area as well as animal welfare and nature conservation. Furthermore, the County Administrative Board may order a restriction of the grazing rights if it is necessary to preserve the reindeer grazing or otherwise promote reindeer husbandry. Here too, the County Administrative Board may make a balancing between the Sami village's interests and other considerations, which thus includes nature conservation.
In the balancing of interests, it must also be considered whether the maximum number of reindeer causes damage or inconvenience to the landowner or anyone else. The sameby's own interest in being able to maintain its permitted number of reindeer over time must also be considered. If a sameby violates the county administrative board's decision on the maximum number of reindeer or an order regarding restriction of grazing rights, the county administrative board may, by means of a fine, order the sameby to comply with the decision. An order to reduce the number of reindeer may, in applicable cases, also be directed against a member who does not follow the sameby's decision on how many reindeer the member may hold at most.
What Elsa Widding raises regarding the need for an analysis of the consequences of reindeer grazing for the environment is thus already covered by the mandate of the Sami Parliament and the County Administrative Boards, Madam Speaker. The Government has no plans to expand the area where reindeer husbandry may be conducted. It is not entirely clear to me which decision Elsa Widding claims that I and the Government have made, Madam Speaker. I therefore find it difficult to answer the question of whether I and the Government considered the requirement for equal treatment Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Instrument of Government in our decision. The same applies to the question of whether I and the Government have conducted any consequence analysis of the decision.
Elsa Widding (-)
Madam Speaker! There was a lot about the county administrative boards and many paragraphs. One small point, however, is that the county administrative boards' reindeer husbandry delegations, which decide on these issues, consist, as far as I know, of politicians, officials, and reindeer-owning Sámi. There is not a single representative from other minority peoples in the mountains. It almost seems as if the government here is pretending they do not exist – not much like equal treatment here!
If the demands from the five samebys are granted in court, it will mean even greater economic and political power for the individuals concerned with associated companies. At the same time, the rest of the population, not just the minority peoples in the mountains, will become second-class citizens in their own country.
Madam Speaker! We are talking here about how a few people, about 3,000, and their large-scale reindeer husbandry companies shall be allowed to exercise enormous power over a concentration of land and water. It is that development that is now underway in light of the ongoing legal processes where the five relevant samebyar are suing the Swedish state. It is very important that the young people in the gallery, and all other Swedes, are aware of this. It is also good if the government realizes that the samebyars' lawsuit against the state is completely groundless.
The discrimination of other peoples and historical users in Kiruna and Gällivare municipalities is already extensive. There, the reindeer husbandry companies operate according to entirely their own rulebooks instead of adhering to laws and regulations. It appears increasingly obvious that the immigrated Sami clans with their enormously large reindeer herds do not fit into the Swedish landscape. This method of reindeer husbandry, however, fitted very well in the sparsely populated areas of Russia and northern Finland from which the reindeer-owning Sami, who now engage in large-scale reindeer husbandry in Sweden, come.
The new investigation into the reindeer husbandry legislation will not solve this very difficult legislative problem. In the new investigation, the issues concerning the Swedish minority peoples in Sweden are completely omitted – all those who are being overridden today. Instead, everything is about accommodating the interests of the immigrated Sami. It concerns Sami who conduct large-scale reindeer husbandry at the expense of other people. Furthermore, the Sami Parliament is a non-functioning state authority that the National Audit Office has harshly criticized for corruption and abuse of power.
I hope that the government understands that Sweden is far too small in area for this extensive large-scale production with sometimes thousands of reindeer per reindeer owner. This leads to a heavy overgrazing of the reindeer lichen lands in the mountain and forest areas. The overgrazing results in the natural ground-level biodiversity being destroyed.
The State's positive preferential treatment of the Sami reindeer herders began 170 years ago with the first reindeer husbandry act. The actual problems arose when Sami people came from Russia, Finland, and Norway during the 1800s and up until the 1920s and began reindeer husbandry on a larger scale, which was completely new for Sweden.
The previous form of reindeer husbandry was practiced by Sami, Kven, Tornedalians and other mountain people – that is, by all those whom the government today chooses to discriminate against in favor of the immigrated Sami, from among others Russia, who conduct large-scale reindeer husbandry. The new form of reindeer husbandry consisted of large reindeer herds that stripped the mountains of reindeer lichen so that the biological diversity was reduced. Overgrazing in the areas around Karesuando and Jukkasjärvi led to conflicts with the sedentary inhabitants, which in turn led to the so-called forced relocation – hence the migration of the immigrated Sami groups southward.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! The number of reindeer in Sweden continues to decrease. There may be many reasons for this. One of them could be reduced access to grazing. Climate change can cause poorer grazing conditions as well as a shortage of reserve grazing and lichen forests.
The Sami Parliament already adopted an action plan for climate adaptation in 2017. During 2018–2023, twelve samebys produced their own climate and vulnerability analyses as well as action plans for adaptation. This adaptation requires continued competence development among other actors besides the samebys. Dialogue and cooperation with the Sami Parliament and other relevant authorities, such as the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, are also important parts of this work.
Reindeer husbandry plans are the samebys' own tool for describing their land use. The Government has allocated funds for the purpose of developing the plans so that they can provide a better overview of the availability of grazing areas suitable for reindeer husbandry. As part of the development of the reindeer husbandry plans, work is being carried out on lichen inventory. During the summer of 2025, the Sami Parliament organized two training sessions for samebys in forest and lichen inventory. Together with researchers at SLU, they have also developed lichen indicators for two time periods.
Both maps make it possible for land users to study how the availability of landlav has changed since the 80s. They can be used as a basis for dialogue, planning, and knowledge in matters linked to land use.
The Government assesses that reindeer husbandry contributes to maintaining the mountain's character as a pasture-dominated and magnificent landscape, which is important for achieving the environmental quality goal Magnificent Mountain Environment. The reindeer provides ecosystem services by grazing and maintaining vegetation, everything from herbs and grasses to lichens. It also contributes to Swedish environmental and nature conservation work by being an indicator for the condition of the cohesive landscape and the ecosystems in which it operates.
It is the Sami Parliament that, according to Section 7 of the Reindeer Husbandry Act, allocates the reindeer grazing lands between the samebys. As I mentioned earlier, it is the county administrative boards that determine the maximum number of reindeer that may be kept on pasture within a sameby's area.
The relevant County Administrative Boards worked last year with the supervision of the samebys' reindeer numbers. The County Administrative Board in Norrbotten reported that many samebys had low reindeer numbers. The County Administrative Board in Västerbotten informed that the total reindeer number in the county remained below the maximum permitted number. The County Administrative Board in Jämtland has issued orders to reduce the reindeer numbers in two of the county's eleven samebys. I see no direct evidence that the samebys would exceed the maximum permitted reindeer number in such a way that the reindeer would cause the overgrazing that is alleged to occur.
Elsa Widding (-)
Madam Speaker! I understand that the Minister here referred to a corrupt Sami Parliament. In some parts of the mountains, there is not a trace of reindeer lichen – period.
That reindeer husbandry should be environmentally friendly is a myth that the reindeer herders of older times did not create themselves, but it is precisely the opposite. Thus wrote adjunkt Torkel Tomasson at the Swedish Lapp people's meeting in Östersund already in 1918: The strange thing with reindeer husbandry is, however, that the longer one uses and exploits an area, the more unproductive it becomes – eventually it becomes almost worthless.
Just as the Minister said here, the reindeer become very small. Already in 1918, the state should have realized how the reindeer husbandry violates the Environmental Code.
Madam Speaker! It is not worthy of a democracy to treat the actual indigenous population in the far north – the Kvens, the Tornevians, the Lantalaiset, and other mountain people – as second-class citizens. It is also not worthy of a true democracy to give a late-arriving industry such as the extensive and large-scale reindeer husbandry, which does not even fit in Sweden, exclusive rights at the expense of the actual indigenous peoples. How is that even possible?
One can also wonder what is the purpose of the historical falsification that the government systematically supports. Please explain that to the Swedish people!
The Minister is ultimately responsible for allowing reindeer-owning Sámi to claim ever larger areas of land and for allowing this to happen at the expense of the indigenous population and the landowners. Privately owned forest properties are currently used both as reindeer grazing and for hunting and fishing by reindeer-owning Sámi. Why are these reindeer owners allowed to violate everything that property rights stands for?
The value of lands bordering the reindeer grazing area is falling. The value of the lands becomes significantly lower for the landowner due to the encroachment from the reindeer owners and their support in the law, where reindeer husbandry is called a national interest. The Swedish state's actions thus favor the immigrated Sami at the expense of the indigenous people.
The state has appropriated properties from the Lantalaiset, Kven, and the people of the mountain regions and denied them their historical right to their own land. How are we to understand this cultural murder? The old mountain Sámi villages were significantly smaller than the current mountain Sámi villages. Please study the Vapsten case in Lycksele District Court! Vapsten's lappby practiced a so-called intensive reindeer husbandry with semi-domesticated reindeer. In the 1920s, a large number of Sámi immigrated from the north to Sweden, and they engaged in large-scale operations instead. What happened then? Well, then the old families in Vapsten's lappby were pushed out. That is how it happened.
Here we have the root cause of why the large-scale operators have insatiable needs for land areas and, via the current law, where the reindeer husbandry is spoken of as a national interest, counteracts all social development in the mountains. This has led to an undemocratic society where the immigrated Sami have been given far too much power to govern social development, especially in Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties. The reindeer herders and their staff float like some kind of nobility above laws and regulations. The double-registered moose hunting in Norrbotten is just one example.
It is outrageous that a small Sami reindeer herding group is suing the Swedish state to obtain better rights to land and water in the Swedish mountain area. What does one actually think, and where is the justice in this?
That the reindeer husbandry is environmentally friendly is truly a myth.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Elsa Widding claims that the government supports the indigenous status for the Sami who arrived in Sweden during the 1800s and 1900s. It is historically incorrect to portray the Sami as a group that arrived in Sweden during this period. The Sami received status as an indigenous people in 1977, when the Riksdag made a decision on this. It is therefore not a decision that has been made by the sitting government, but a recognition that rests on broad parliamentary anchoring in the Riksdag and which is based on historical, legal, and international law assessments.
What the government does, however, actually intends to decide on is to appoint a new investigation of the reindeer husbandry legislation. The purpose of the new investigation is to work out proposals that have broad anchoring, and this work is currently ongoing in the Government Offices.
Regarding the five Sami villages' lawsuits against the state, which Elsa Widding mentions in the question, I can state that these are complicated issues that the courts now have to take a position on. The Government follows the authorities' work continuously, and I proceed from and have confidence that the Chancellor of Justice is doing its utmost to assert the state's rights in an objective manner in all cases where the state is a party.
The constitutional provisions, which Elsa Widding also highlighted, in Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Instrument of Government also apply to the courts, meaning that everyone's equality before the law shall be observed and that objectivity and impartiality shall be maintained.
I cannot go into more detail on the individual case because it concerns ongoing legal proceedings.
Elsa Widding (-)
Madam Speaker! It is all of us who are the state in Sweden. It is therefore from all of us that these reindeer herders who immigrated to Sweden and the samebys who conduct large-scale reindeer husbandry want to take possession of the area in question. This question is about democracy in society. Are we for or against democracy? Are we for or against parallel legal systems? It is not about pitting ethnic groups against each other. That is an irrelevant excuse, a post-hoc construction, or plain and simple historical falsification.
This is about the principles of the rule of law. The Swedish constitution shall be based on all citizens' equal rights. The Swedish state shall therefore own and manage the Swedish mountain area. Kvens, Lantalaiset, and Tornedalians shall be recognized by law as indigenous peoples and native peoples in Sweden because that is exactly what they are, regardless of what one thought in 1977. The state subsidies to the different indigenous populations in Sweden shall be distributed equally.
The Reindeer Husbandry Act and the public interest of reindeer husbandry must therefore be abolished. This guild system with a direct connection to the right to own and operate reindeer husbandry and with the requirement to belong to a sameby must cease. Reindeer husbandry enterprises shall be regulated in the legislation as any other form of enterprise. All landowners shall, of course, hold the right to own and operate reindeer husbandry above and west of the cultivation limit. Everyone shall have the same right to land and water above and west of the cultivation limit on all state land, regarding hunting and fishing.
I really hope that the Minister and the government agree on this. Anything else would be very strange.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! A substantive debate on Sami rights, environmental issues related to reindeer husbandry, and the possibility for everyone to hunt and fish on state land is much needed. But such a debate must rest on actual conditions and not on constructed claims about government decisions. Moving forward, it would facilitate matters if the interpellator includes clear references to the actual decisions she wishes to debate. Only then is a serious debate and a responsible response from both me and the government made possible.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.