Mining legacies and land use

In the Swedish Arctic, mining has been ongoing since the 17th century, and fast growing from the late 19th century.

The demand for minerals is increasing globally, leading to a rapid expansion of mining within the Arctic region. Historically, until today, land rights are both contested and sometimes considered unclear. This together has generated complex and protracted land use conflicts involving a variety of actors with different perspectives on how to utilize the land and its natural resources. Accordingly, one of the greatest challenges in mining in this region historically and today are conflicts over land use and more generally about what is to be understood as a desirable future.

Mining entails more than physical impacts in the form of mines. It requires large systems of various infrastructure to function and in addition must compete against other land use interests which includes for example reindeer husbandry, hunting, tourism as well as other forms of human activity. To comprehend the consequences of mining in relation to land use, one must look at the whole socio-technical system, how this has affected different actors and how these actors have related to various components of the system.

The aim of this PhD project is to explain how and why land use conflicts pertaining to mining have emerged, developed and ended or more specifically; from a historical perspective make sense of the complex relationship between mining and the local communities which are affected by and embedded within the large sociotechnical systems connected to mining.