Laponia
The Swedish UNESCO World Heritage Site Laponia is located in the Swedish part of Lapland and is part of Europe's largest, largely unaffected wilderness (if you exclude northwestern Russia). It is both a world natural and a world cultural heritage and was established in 1996.
Laponia is also one of four world heritage areas in which indigenous peoples live. In this case, it is the seven Sami reindeer herder associations ( Samebyer ) named below , which operate reindeer farming in the summer months both within and outside the boundaries of the world heritage site: Baste Čearru (Mellanbyn), Unna Čearuš (Sörkaitum), Sirkas, Jåhkågasska and Tuorpon , as well as Luokta-Mávas and Gällivare skogssameby.
Most of the Sameby settlements and the hiking huts (some of which are in the Sami settlements) can only be reached by helicopter.
Division and description
The protected area currently covers 9,400 square kilometers (for comparison: Corsica = 8,680 km²). It lies north of the Arctic Circle and borders Norway to the west . The world heritage includes four national parks ( Muddus , Sarek , Padjelanta and Stora Sjöfallet ) as well as the nature reserves Sjaunja , Stubba , Sulitelma , Tjuoltadalen and Rapadalen . According to the Swedish National Park Plan of 2007 , the three last-named nature reserves are to be incorporated into national parks at national level in the following period. In the south and east of the area in particular, there are other large protected areas, mostly nature reserves in forest areas close to the mountains of high ecological value. In the west, the small Norwegian Rago National Park borders directly on Laponia.
In the west of Laponia lies the Padjelanta plateau, rich in lakes, which merge to the east into the high mountain regions of Sareks and Stora Sjöfallets, the summit regions of which have some glaciers. Sarek - known for its deep U-shaped valleys - has some of Sweden's highest mountains. The moor and wooded foothills of the Skanden stretches even further to the east and flattens from Sjaunja to the Muddus area. These almost untouched, water-rich landscapes are often much more difficult to access than the mountainous regions of Laponia, which are criss-crossed by a wide-meshed network of hiking trails, some of which are well maintained.
In the original landscape of the protected area there is a rich flora and fauna with many endangered species. The habitats range from the boreal coniferous forests , which are dominated by spruce and pine , to the mountain birch forests typical of the Scandinavian mountains (a form of the forest tundra ) up to the sub-Arctic mountain tundra , the fells with its boulder-rich, overgrown with grasses , mosses and dwarf shrubs Mountain slopes. All plants of the northern European mountains are represented here on quite different soils. Laponia houses the largest continental European population of the arctic fox , (which is, however, globally very small) . Other rare mammals include the brown bear , wolverine and lynx . The wolf, on the other hand, has no viable population here . This is mainly due to the centuries of hunting by the Sami, who traditionally protect their reindeer from loss. The semi-tame reindeer is by far the most common mammal in the area. A particularly well-known mammal whose populations tend to mass increase at irregular intervals is the mountain leming, a rodent about the size of a hamster. The bird fauna is also represented with many rare species. B. in the birds of prey golden eagles , sea eagles and ospreys .
Seeds
The area has been inhabited by semi-nomadic Fjäll Sami since prehistoric times . Hunting and fishing formed the basis of their subsistence supply until the Middle Ages . When reindeer pastoralism became the main livelihood of the Sami, they adapted to the grazing behavior of the animals. The reindeer herds were moved to the pastures, which changed from season to season. Even today, reindeer herding follows the migrations of the reindeer herds. Not only reindeer herding, but also handicrafts were and are an important source of income for the Sami population in the area of world heritage.
In 2011 the association "Laponiatjuottjudus" was awarded by the WWF . According to the WWF, the association has developed a future-oriented form of joint administration for Laponia, which makes it possible in future to divide responsibility for this enormous protected area between the local Sámi communities, the state administration of Norrbotten and the state nature conservation authority. The result was a locally anchored management - in which the indigenous Sami culture and its reindeer herding have become an integral part.
tourism
Laponia attracts many nature enthusiasts every year. Although the number of visitors to this remote and very sparsely populated wilderness without any noteworthy infrastructure is far lower than z. In the Alps, for example, tourism is an important economic factor for the Jokkmokk and Gällivare regions . Due to the promotion of Sami culture through the world heritage, some tourism offers for the indigenous population have emerged: for example, the Sami hikers' huts in Padjelanta are maintained and small ones Sami tourism companies offer various activities in the mountainous parts of the area. The evidence of the Sami culture is particularly vivid in Laponia: the sale of typical foods such as B. dried fish, reindeer meat or flatbread as well as various handicraft items for hikers or the boat transfer over the numerous lakes contribute to this. In various places it is also possible to live for a while in the traditional Sami peat pits , which most of the Sami, however, are mostly only used as storage buildings.
The most common tourist use of Laponia is mountain hiking in the form of multi-day hut or trekking tours . Accidents happen every year because the subarctic weather conditions and the very long distances from roads and settlements are underestimated by many tourists. The Swedish pole of inaccessibility is in the Padjelanta National Park: At this point, the next road is around 47 km as the crow flies.
Environmental damage
As early as 1919, the Stora Sjöfallet National Park, which had only been established ten years earlier, was reduced in size for economic reasons. With the dam on the Akkajaure , significant changes were made to the bank zone, which has negative effects on the vegetation due to the fluctuations in the water level (423–453 m). Since 2006, efforts have been increasing in the search for ores in the vicinity of the world natural heritage : south of the Muddus, for example, a British company is planning the construction of an iron ore mine and north of Sjaunja, an Australian company is trying to obtain the mining rights for the huge Ekströmsberg deposit. The latter project has so far been rejected for nature conservation reasons, but the prospect of profits for the province of Norrbotten County may lead to new assessments in the future. Conservationists and reindeer keepers fear that mining will have a significant negative impact on the reindeer economy and the sensitive environment.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2327&artikel=4744003 broadcast on Swedish radio on October 12, 2011
- ↑ Mineralrusch i norr. In: Sveriges nature. No. 1, 2013, pp. 32-37.
Cultural heritage: Royal Summer Palace Drottningholm (1991) | Viking settlements of Birka and Hovgården (1993) | Engelberg ironworks (1993) | Rock carvings from Tanum (1994) | Skogskyrkogården (cemetery) near Stockholm (1994) | Hanseatic City of Visby on Gotland (1995) | Gammelstad church district in Luleå (1996) | Karlskrona naval port (1998) | Agricultural landscape of South Öland (2000) | Historical industrial landscape "Great Copper Mountain" in Falun (2001) | Radio station Grimeton near Varberg (2004) | Struve Arch (2005) | Wooden farmhouses in the province of Hälsingland (2012)
Natural heritage: Archipelago - Höga Kusten (2000)
Cultural / natural heritage: Arctic cultural landscape of Lapland (1996)
Coordinates: 67 ° 19 ′ N , 17 ° 34 ′ E