Anja Fjellgren Walkeapää is a reindeer herder in the southern part of the Swedish side of Sápmi. Her reindeer graze in a herding community called Mittådalen Mittahduhlen, and with a master’s degree in forestry, Anja has also worked at the Swedish Forest Agency as a national-level specialist in reindeer herding.
In today’s episode, Anja joins us to talk about Motion 131 – Protecting the Sápmi Forest: Safeguarding Biodiversity and Indigenous Livelihoods. This motion, submitted by WILD.org and co-sponsors as part of our work with our WILD Sápmi program and as a continuation of the 12th World Wilderness Congress’s Spontaneous Resolution 12, is heading to electronic vote at the 2025 International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress.
What does this mean? From August 27 to September 10, IUCN members will vote online to decide whether the motion passes. This decision will be made digitally. That’s why we need to make as much noise as possible, right now, to help ensure IUCN delegates vote in favor of it.
Sweden is eradicating old-growth forests at a rate six to seven times faster than the Amazon is being destroyed. Sámi reindeer herders have been some of the strongest defenders of these ancient forests, but without international support, they face overwhelming odds.
Motion 131 calls for a halt to the destruction of old-growth boreal forests in Sápmi and for the recognition and elevation of Sámi traditional knowledge and leadership in sustainable forest stewardship.
In this conversation, Anja explains explain what’s truly at stake if Sweden’s old-growth boreal forests continue to disappear at this pace, how Motion 131 aims to change that trajectory, why the traditional knowledge she was raised with is essential for effective conservation—and how she responds to the motion rejectors - those who claim this motion is a threat to economic growth.
Motion Guide: https://wild.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Motion-131-Marketing-Brief.pdf
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