Kola Waste Project: Cleaning of the Sámi Territory in the Murmansk Region (2018-2020)

Abstract

The Saami Council and its member organization and lo-cal partner, OOSMO, have been leading the Kola Waste project since April 2018. The project was supported by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Murmansk Region and by the Arctic Council’s Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP) Working Group. The project has been financed by Norway and Sweden within the work of ACAP’s Indigenous Peoples’ Contaminants Action Program (IPCAP EG). The goal of the project was to map local sources of pos-sible pollution (waste dumpsites), clean up previously mapped abandoned and unauthorized dumpsites, and, thus, contribute to a better environment for the Sámi communities of the Kola peninsula (Russian Federation). Part of the project has been to raise awareness of the risks of pollution from unauthorized dumpsites and prevent appearance of new dumpsites, and to en-gage local population, including youth.