The Laponian area is a large mountainous wildlife area in the Lapland province in northern Sweden, more precisely in

Gällivare Municipality Gällivare Municipality ( sv, Gällivare kommun, fi, Jällivaaran kunta, no, Gällivare kommune, se, Jiellevárri gielda or ''Váhčira gielda'') is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is Gällivare. The municip ...

Arjeplog Municipality Arjeplog Municipality ( Swedish: ''Arjeplogs kommun'', sme, Arjepluovvi gielda; sje, Árjepluove komuvdna) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Arjeplog. The area, which now is Arjeplog Municipality, ...

and

Jokkmokk Municipality Jokkmokk Municipality (, fi, Jokimukan kunta, se, Johkamohkki gielda, fit, Jokinmukka) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Jokkmokk. The name ''Jokkmokk'' is Sami for the words "river" and "bend", ...

. It was made a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 1996; the bulk of it had enjoyed protected status since the early 20th century. The area was made a heritage site for both natural and cultural reasons. The total area is about , making it the world's largest unmodified nature area to be still cultured by natives—the natives in this case being the

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 sub ...

-herding Sami people. Only parts of the area is actually used for pasture by them. With such a large space, the geography of the area varies greatly; it is dominated by mountains, rivers and lakes. Each nature reserve and national park has its distinctive features. The amount of snow in winter and rain in summer is considerable. 95% of the area is protected as national parks or

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s. It consists of the national parks Muddus,

Sarek Sarek is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He is a Vulcan astrophysicist, the Vulcan ambassador to the United Federation of Planets, and father of Spock. The character was originally played by Mark Lenard in the e ...

, Padjelanta and Stora Sjöfallet, and the nature reserves Sjaunja and Stubba. The remaining 5% are located in the areas of Sulitelma, Tjuoltadalen, and Rapadalen (part of which is in the Sarek park). The village of

Porjus Porjus is a locality situated in Jokkmokk Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 328 inhabitants in 2010. Geographically it is situated by the shores of Lule River at 499 meter height. Porjus is known for having one of the oldest hydropo ...

is a natural point of entry to the Laponian area and has recently opened an information center. The Laponia area also contains three major hydropower stations with belonging basins and a big expansion of 100

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

stations inside the world heritage area is planned. The highest mountain of the area is Sarektjåhkkå, at .

Gallery

File:2010 Aug. laponia beauty from above.JPG, View from above, Laponia File:Laponia, Sweden - panoramio.jpg, Panoramic view File:Laponia, Sweden - panoramio (1).jpg, Panoramic view File:Kårtejaure from treeline.jpg, Lake Kårtejaure and the stream Njabbejåkkå, in Stora Sjöfallet National Park File:Sapmi Lappland.jpg, Landscape near Jokkmokk, Lappland File:Sjaunja-Ritelpakte.jpg, Sjaunja natural reserve Mourki.jpg, Mourki, Sjaunja natural reserve

References

External links

Unesco site

Swedish National Heritage Board site
{{authority control World Heritage Sites in Sweden Lapland (Sweden) National parks of Sweden Geography of Norrbotten County Gällivare Municipality

Gallery

See also

References

External links