The Recent Uranium and Current Mining Disputes within the Framework of Environmental Protest Waves in Finland Toni Eerola Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 96, 02150 Espoo, Finland; toni.eerola@gtk.fi Abstract. The recent uranium and current mining disputes in Finland are located within the context of the Finnish environmental protest waves. There were five main such mobilizations in Finland. The last one of these was the anti-globalization movement at the end of 1990’s and beginning of 2000’s. The anti-globalization movement struggled against global structures, neglecting Finland and the environment. After its end, the environmental movement lost its impetus that was followed by years of latency. The climate change debate buried other environmental questions and re-emerged nuclear energy. Uranium exploration re-started at 2005, what raise opposition. If the anti-globalization movement represented the "return of politics", the uranium dispute restored the environment back to Finland as a local question. It refreshed the environmental movement and opened up spaces for resistance in the countryside. However, it ceased rapidly when uranium exploration companies left Finland due to recession. The activists' attention shifted towards new mining and development projects. Environmental problems of the Talvivaara nickel mine increased opposition. A discussion on corporate social responsibility began and social scientists started to investigate mining. The Mining Act was renewed, the Finnish government is promoting responsible mining and the industry looks for the best practices and dialogue with its stakeholders. Keywords. environmental activism, mining, uranium, Finland 1 Introduction Social movements and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a crucial role in debate on corporate social responsibility and mobilization of environmental protests. They influence the natural resources policy in interaction with the state and corporations (Kröger 2014). Environmental NGOs (ENGOs) have the power to promote or difficult the natural resource extraction. The ENGOs are also one of the most pro-eminent agents in criticism towards the mining industry and one of its very important stakeholder groups, whose influence has a local to global dimension (Phillips 2002; Deegan and Blomqvist 2006; Eerola 2003; 2008; 2013; Prno 2013; Moffat and Zhang 2014; Parson et al. 2014, Nysten- Haarala et al. 2015). In other words, they might have an enormous impact on the social license to operate (SLO). Therefore, following of their activities, and understanding their nature and dynamics may be important for the mining industry. It can give clues on how the companies should approach them for a dialogue and eventual co- operation. Here we focus on environmental activism (especially the anti-mining) in Finland. In order to understand the Finnish environmental activism and its research, it is necessary to review its background and characteristics. The Finnish environmental activism has been traditionally conceived as a wavy movement (Rannikko 1994; 2003; Konttinen and Peltokoski 2004; Lindholm 2005). Every wave’s mobilization stage has been always triggered by some key event. It raises wide questions for the public debate. A wave is followed by latency. According with Rannikko (1995), this Finnish wave-like environmental protest phenomenon seems to be a quite unique in the world. There have been five environmental protest waves in Finland: 1. 1960’s-1970’s environmental awakening; 2. 1970’s-1980’s alternative way of life, the Koijärvi, and Green Movement; 3. 1980’s-1990’s forest conflicts; 4. 1990’s animal and radical activism; 5. 1990’s-2000’s anti-globalization movement. The succession of waves was followed by years of latency after the anti-globalization movement. The latency ended with disputes over uranium and old forests, followed now by the ongoing dispute over mining. Regarding the anti-mining activism in Finland, only the recent anti-uranium movement has been studied by some authors (Eerola 2008; Litmanen 2008; Karasti 2008; Sarpo 2008; Kainulainen 2011). The importance of environmental activism related to the ongoing mining dispute has not yet attracted attention at all. This might be explained by the fact that the whole subject of mining dispute is quite recent in Finland. The mining dispute raise together with the current mining boom (Eerola 2013; Nysten-Haarala et al. 2015). According to Kröger (2014), this contentious agency seems to be a quite normal and universal reaction for a change in environment and social space caused by increased natural resource extraction. This is observed also world-wide in the case of mining. Here we review the development of environmental activism in Finland since the anti-globalization movement from the beginning of 2000 until the recent uranium and ongoing mining disputes. Those disputes are described, and their space and place within the context of Finnish environmental protest waves are located. A special attention is given to an attempt to define if they form a new wave of environmental protest in Finland. 2 1990’s-2000’s: The anti-globalization movement At the end of 1990’s, the international anti-globalization movement started also in Finland. The “End of History", neo-liberalism and multinational corporations were questioned and challenged (Eerola 2003; Konttinen and Peltokoski 2004; Lindholm 2005; Ylä-Anttila 2010). Finnish activists participated in protests against World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in Göteborg, Genova, Prague and Seattle. Sustainable mining and environmental issues 1515