Summer greetings to all.
In May the visits from Turvaurgin obschina and Kolymskaya from Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia went well. Plans for 2009-2010 cooperation were made and visits to Finnish and Saami communities done. The local Chukchi in Kolyma area plan for a Chukchi Conference in April 2010 and we will share information about this as it becomes available.
In May 22nd to 24th a successful workshop with the Kola Saami reindeer herders, Skolt Saami, researchers and Saami Council was held in Sevettijärvi. Land use documentation, natural resources extraction and climate change became the biggest topics to be discussed during this 4 day event which was co-sponsored by the Barents Secretariat as well. Results of this workshop and the follow up events in Kola will be shared in the Autumn.
June 15th, 2009 a new Snowchange publication titled “It Has Been In Our Blood For Years and Years that We are Salmon Fishermen – A Oral History Book of Unalakleet, Alaska, USA” was released.
This 64-page book is the result of a 7 year cooperation between Snowchange and the Unalakleet Tribal Council. It contains interviews and oral histories with 17 Elders, youth, fishermen, hunters, women and residents of Unalakleet, Alaska. Topics include traditional knowledge, subsistence rights, climate change among other things. Please contact us if you wish to learn more about this work.
More news will be here in August for the Autumn 2009 work with Snowchange.
Tero Mustonen