Indigenous cultures must not be forced to bear the brunt of global climate adaptation

Forcing already endangered cultures to accept disruptive activities in the name of mitigating climate change amounts to a new form of colonialism.

As I write this, I am sitting by Várjjatvuotna; this is the name for Varangerfjord in my native Sámi language, once the only language spoken here. The sun is still below the horizon, but it casts a strong orange light in a strip between the mountains in the south and the dark clouds. It is January, and the temperature fluctuates between minus 20 degrees Celsius one moment and zero the next. When I was growing up in the  1970s, freezing cold was common at this time.