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Laponian Area

Sweden
Date of Inscription: 1996
Criteria: (iii)(v)(vii)(viii)(ix)
Core zone: 940000 ha
County of Norrbotten. Municipalities – rural districts – Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Arjeplog
N67 19 59.988 E17 34 59.988
Ref: 774

Brief Description

The Arctic Circle region of northern Sweden is the home of the Saami, or Lapp people. It is the largest area in the world (and one of the last) with an ancestral way of life based on the seasonal movement of livestock. Every summer, the Saami lead their huge herds of reindeer towards the mountains through a natural landscape hitherto preserved, but now threatened by the advent of motor vehicles. Historical and ongoing geological processes can be seen in the glacial moraines and changing water courses.

Justification for Inscription

The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of natural criteria (vii), (viii) and (ix) and cultural criteria (iii) and (v). The Committee considered that the site is of outstanding universal value as it contains examples of ongoing geological, biological and ecological processes, a great variety of natural phenomena of exceptional beauty and significant biological diversity including a population of brown bear and alpine flora. It was noted that the site meets all conditions of integrity. The site has been occupied continuously by the Saami people since prehistoric times, is one of the last and unquestionably largest and best preserved examples of an area of transhumance, involving summer grazing by large reindeer herds, a practice that was widespread at one time and which dates back to an early stage in human economic and social development.

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