The World Heritage area is also an important natural landscape with mountains, deltas,
virgin forests and hundreds of glaciers and Western Europe's largest marshlands. It is
also an area rich in animal and plant life that has several species on the verge of
extinction.
Both due
to the Sami culture and the natural value of the environment, this region merits its
inclusion in the World Heritage list. A world heritage area is a place of cultural or
natural importance, or both as in this case, which is of such value that its preservation
is a priority for the whole world. Laponia covers a surface of 9,400 km² and consists
mainly of two kinds of landscapes. To the east there is a flat area with enormous forests
and marshes while the western area is a mountain area which consists of a variety of
natural environments.
Area
9 400 km². It is 200 km from Laponia's westernmost border on the barren
mountain to the eastern border with coniferous forests and bogs. Between these two are a
number of different types of natural environments.
Location
The Laponia World Heritage Area is located within the districts of Jokkmokk and
Gällivare.
Extension
Laponia includes the following Saami villages (economic associations and
geographical areas where reindeer husbandry takes place): Báste (Mellanbyn), Sörkaitum,
Sirkas, Jåhkågasska, Tuorpon, Luokta-Mavas and the Gällivare forest Sami village.
Reindeer husbandry takes place throughout this region.
National parks: Stora Sjöfallet, Padjelanta, Sarek and Muddus.
Nature reserves: Sjaunja and Stubba.
Other areas: the delta of Rapa valley, Tjuoldavágge (Tjuolta valley) and Sulidälbmá
(Sulitelma).
The area includes two internationally important wetlands: the Sjaunja marshes and the
Rapa delta.
History
In December 1996 Laponia was named a World Heritage Site by the UN organ UNESCO.
Due to the cultural value and its ecological diversity this area is one of over 500 sites
in the world which enjoy the special protection of having the whole world watching. The
World Heritage Committee's motives for this recognition are:
"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 contains 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. It 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."
Concise facts about Laponia
- Western Europe's largest marsh area is found here, Sjaunjaape.
- The Sarek mountains are the most inaccessible mountain area in Scandinavia.
- The highest mountain within the World Heritage Area is Sarekjåhkkå, at 2,089 m.
- The largest moose in Europe live in Sarek.
- There is a living Sami culture in this area.
- There are areas of unspoiled nature, important for biological diversity.
- Laponia consists of marshlands and primeval forests, steep mountains and deep
valleys, lakes and rivers.
- The most ancient settlement which has been discovered is 7000 years old, and is
in Stora Sjöfallet.
- Hundreds of hunting pits in this area show the importance reindeer have had for
thousands of years.
- Reindeer herding is the most important source of livelihood within Laponia and is
dependent upon unspoiled areas.
- The people of seven different Sami villages live and work within Laponia.
- During the early summer, bird life is intensive in the marshes of Sjaunja and
Muddus.
- The lush high plateau of Padjelanta National Park exhibits a rich flora.
- It is the only combined cultural and natural world heritage area in northern
Europe.
