The Sámi Parliament not in place at the climate summit: "Does not have the personnel resources"

Indigenous representatives have already gathered in Egypt last week to prepare what they want to raise at the Cop meeting.

The Swedish Sami Parliament is not in place.

- The main reason is that we do not have the necessary resources, not only financial but also personal resources.

I am of course very sad about that, says the chairman of the board of the Sami Parliament, Håkan Jonsson.

It's a meeting you know is coming, couldn't you have planned it in time?

- There are a lot of international meetings.

We have chosen to prioritize the meeting on the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, says Jonsson.

The indigenous peoples on site raise traditional knowledge

Cop 27 runs for two weeks.

The Indigenous Platform, the platform for indigenous people and local communities, held an activity for knowledge bearers on Monday, highlighting traditional Sami knowledge as part of the climate work.

Four more activities will be held, with the aim of raising important indigenous issues in the climate negotiations.

The Sami Council takes over from the Inuit as the Arctic's representative in the development work of the indigenous platform.

"Good that the Finnish Sami Parliament is here"

The Sámi Parliament has made a deal within the Sámi Parliamentary Council to share the political representation at the international meetings.

Jon Petter Gintal is the Norwegian Sámi Parliament's representative at Cop 27. He thinks the work of officials in the Nordic countries' delegations is important.

- Then we get insight into what is happening.

It is good that the Finnish Sámi Parliament is here, so we get an insight into the EU delegation.

As the EU is a major actor in the climate negotiations.

It's also about contacts and maintaining continuity, says Jon Petter Gintal, for the Sami Parliament in Norway.

For the Finnish Sami Parliament, Lars Anders Baer will be present at the meeting.

Håkan Jonsson emphasizes that they are in contact with the Swedish delegation on site.

There have been many alarming reports about the climate ahead of this meeting, do you feel that you have prioritized correctly?

- Yes I think so.

The Convention on Biological Diversity this December is extremely important, and deals a lot with the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples.

The climate meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh is also very important, but at the same time it seems that the climate goals will be slightly overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and by the fact that the meeting is held in Egypt.

Hear Håkan Jonsson about the prioritization in the clip above.