Sámi Indigenous Cultural Heritage as Capital for Resilience-Driven Sustainable Development in Fennoscandia

Research on cultural heritage, regional resilience and Indigenous rights remains insufficiently integrated at the level of regional policy. This article develops a resilience-driven framework for analysing when Sámi cultural heritage in Norway, Sweden and Finland can support sustainable regional development. The study uses a conceptual research design based on a structured critical synthesis of the literature, model building and an illustrative policy application. The framework links environmental, social–cultural, economic and institutional dimensions of heritage with risk prevention, vulnerability reduction, adaptive capacity, transformative capacity and development capital security. It identifies land access, self-determination, effective participation, benefit-sharing and community control over knowledge as conditions governing heritage-to-resilience pathways. The country comparison illustrates a recurring gap between cultural recognition and influence over land and development decisions, while selected European instruments offer supportive but limited implementation pathways. The article does not claim causal proof. Its contribution is a conditional analytical and policy-screening framework that generates testable propositions and community-validated indicators for future empirical research.