The leader of the board is elected by the Sami Parliament and the County Council in alternating years.
The background for the Finnmark Act is the Sámi people's fight for their rights to manage their land and culture.
In 1978 the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate published a plan that called for the construction of a dam and hydroelectric power plant that would create an artificial lake and inundate the Sami village of Máze.
The convention states that rights for the indigenous peoples to land and natural resources are recognized as central for their material and cultural survival.
Traditionally the Norwegian authorities had a view that the nomadic Sámi use of land, water and natural resources did not establish any formal legal rights.