"Scream from the wilderness", Tomas Stenlund, chairman of Malå Sami village, describes the call in the debate article in Aftonbladet.
- The government must decide whether the Sami, who are Sweden's indigenous peoples, should be allowed to survive and continue with reindeer husbandry.
If the fellings continue at this rate, we will soon have no pasture left for our reindeer, he says.
State Sveaskog is singled out
The criticism applies to all the forest companies that operate within Sápmi, but above all state-owned Sveaskog.
- Of course, the forest companies have the right to use these lands, but we also have a reindeer husbandry right, which means that we have as strong a right to use these lands as the forest companies.
We demand that the government takes its responsibility and intervenes so that the fellings are reduced and there is a sensible balance between the forest companies' right of use and our reindeer husbandry right, says Åsa Larsson-Blind who is chairman of the Swedish Sami National Association, SSR.
System collapse: "Pastures have become an industrial area"
The Sami villages believe that in addition to the climate crisis, the forest's entire ecosystem is on the verge of collapse due to the thousands of hectares that the forest companies want to harvest.
- Our pastures have become an industrial area where the forest is cleared at a furious pace and large parts of the old low-rich forest disappear and then we have no pasture for the reindeer.
This is extremely pressing for us, says Tomas Stenlund.
The forest company is waiting with an answer
Sveaskog has taken note of the Sami villages' views but is not prepared to comment on Friday.
- We are preparing an answer that we will give next week, says Edvard Unsgaard, press manager at Sveaskog.