Adopting an enabling legal framework

In order to grant the management responsibility to a local entity, a new legal framework had to be created. The Laponia Ordinance is the only legislation applying to a World Heritage Site in Sweden. It enables the County Administrative Board and the Environmental Protection Agency to hand over responsibilities to Laponiatjuottjudus. In normal cases it is the municipalities or the County Administrative Board that administrate a new World Heritage Site.

  • A willingness from the authorities to try new solutions in management.
  • Not to be afraid to think outside the box.
  • A willingness to compromise.

It is really hard to give recommendations how stakeholders in other countries should work with a similar process, because so much depends upon the situation in the country, how the relationship between the different stakeholders, inhabitants in the area, is. It is necessary to understand well which possibilities the government, authorities, and local people have to participate in a process such as the Laponia Process.  

It is fundamental to know what is possible to do with the legal framework because the proposal must be compatible with the rest of the country’s legal framework.