Hyvönen, Hannu. The Last Yoik in Saami Forests? Watertown: Documentary Educational Resources, Inc., 2007. 35 mm, 60 min. https://youtu.be/bWzPGi6FIso.
The Last Yoik in Saami Forests? chronicles the logging damage that has taken place in the forests of Finnish Lapland over the past 50 years. Home to the indigenous Saami peoples, these Northern old growth forests are essential to Saami reindeer herding, a traditional way of life that the Saami hope to continue into future generations. Population growth in Finland has created economic pressure—prompting migration to the Saami lands in the North. The resulting forest cutting severely depletes the lichen necessary for free reindeer grazing, and logging infrastructure disrupts the entire forest ecosystem. A tense conflict emerges between the alliance of Greenpeace and Saami activists, who in 2005 set up a “Forest Rescue Station” in the woods to stop the cutting, and logging workers, worried about losing their jobs, who create their own “anti-terror camp” in response. The situation becomes dramatic as those in the “anti-terror” camp continually assault the Greenpeace workers with noise and threatening behavior. The film explores possible economic alternatives to logging, such as tourism, as well as more efficient uses for Lappish timber than paper pulp, fuel or railways stocks—the wood is an excellent building material that could be commanding a higher price. (Source: Documentary Educational Resources, Inc.)
© 2007 Documentary Educational Resources, Inc. Trailer used with permission.
This film is available at the Rachel Carson Center Library (RCC, 4th floor, Leopoldstrasse 11a, 80802 Munich) for on-site viewing only. For more information, please contact library@rcc.lmu.de.
