Contact: Kristiina Karppi <atkrse@uta.fi>
Cross-Border Development in the New Europe
Date: April 1999
This is a three-year comparative project funded by the Academy of Finland. Kristiina Karppi will join this programme in May 1999. Covering the overlapping areas of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (BEAR) and Sápmi (the non-adminstrative name for the homeland of the Saami), her sub-project will focus on questions like:
1. How are the institutional local players (organisations) connected to the process of region-building and regional development?
2. How does the participation of the Saami in the four states vary in this process?
3. How do the goals, objectives and resources of the various interest groups of the region differ, and how can they be mapped?
4. What are the elementary touching points for co-operation among different players and interest groups in Sápmi and BEAR, and which issues will most likely cause confrontation among them?
All of the above questions include the concerns of the Kola Saami as part of the larger cross-border area. In regional development, "ecologically sustainable development" is but one aspect. The demand for "socially sustainable development" should be added to cover the need for culturally and economically sustainable development. These dimensions should not be separated.