Between 2023-2024, INTERPRT in collaboration Climate Rights are producing evidence to assist the Jillen-Njaarke reindeer herding community in their legal struggle against the Øyfjellet wind power plant. Norway’s largest onshore wind power plant was built without Sámi consent, directly on migration routes and grazing lands essential to reindeer herding.
At the core of our approach are collaborative investigative practices centered on Sámi knowledge of reindeer, landscape, and herding traditions. Two-dimensional maps used in the case were inadequate for explaining the complexities of reindeer herding in mountainous terrain. To address this, we built a 3D environment in Unreal Engine integrating spatial and environmental data, testimonies, and multimedia evidence into a model that enables seamless movement between places, events and data. Participatory modelling workshops with Jillen-Njaarke herders ensured the evidence reflected lived experience and traditional knowledge, while aerial videography by Ole Henrik Kappfjell validated the digital reconstruction
At the request of the legal team, we produced a counter-analysis of GPS data to challenge company-commissioned reports, and video analysis of spring migration to support Torstein Appfjell’s testimony, and expose distortions in Øyfjellet Wind’s submissions to court.