Community Benefit Agreements in the Nordic mining context: Local opportunities for collaboration in Sodankylä, Finland

A changing operational environment and the growing opposition to mining in the Nordics, and more broadly in Europe, encourages the testing of new approaches to mineral resource governance. A Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) is an instrument based on local negotiations, which has been mostly utilized in indigenous contexts, but may hold promise in other societal contexts. However, a new context means different needs and concerns, requiring adjustments to existing models. In this article, we empirically analyze what factors drive local stakeholders toward collaboration over the impacts and benefits of mining and how a CBA could be realized in Sodankylä, Finland. The data consists of interviews and observations collected from a four-year period of action research. The findings validate the relevance of CBAs or similar arrangements in the Finnish mining context. Our study suggests that CBAs excel at addressing the challenges and opportunities that arise from the unique local social and environmental characteristics, which are difficult to address with non-local instruments. Our case shows that the municipality represents only part of the community's interests, which is impacted by mining in varying ways. The roles of local community groups and the municipality in a CBA are key considerations for implementation.