Gun-Britt Retter
Viggo Henelius
Gun-Britt Retter
Gun-britt Retter is a norwegian politician born on the 31st of May 1971. She is head of the Artctic and enrivoenment unit of the Sami council. She is born on the shores of Varangerfjord in northern Norway as a member of the Sami people, the indigenous population of the northern parts of Scandinavia.
Sami People
The Sami people are the indegenous population of the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia.
Traditionally, the Sámi have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. Currently about 10% of the Sámi are connected to reindeer herding, providing them with meat, fur, and transportation. 2,800 Sámi people are actively involved in reindeer herding on a full-time basis in Norway. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved for only Sámi people in some regions of the Nordic countries.
Tourism is incresing in importance for the Sami people, yet a warmer climate threatens the cold arctic climate that makes tourism and reindeerfarming possible. One of the primary objectives fore Gun-Britts organization is comabting these changes and securinga future for the Sami.
Political Goals
The primary purpose of the Sami council is to represent the voices of indegenous populations in the Arctric Council. The Arctic council takes descisions regarding enviromental and political policies spanning the entirse arctic region. Gun-Britt has as a female indegnenous ambassador stood out in her efforts to increase the say of the Sami people in the council. Having grown up in an indigenous community in Norway but also having lived farther south she has had exposure to both the indegenous and non-indegenous parts of Scandinivia. This is important as Nordic governemts understanding of what benefeits the enviroment differs from that of indegenous people. Gun-Britts mission is to make sure that the values of the Sami are respected and undestood by the governments making descicions that will affect the Sami.