Snowchange delegates are headed over to the South Pacific for a widest ranging tour of the region in five years. Visits will include Indigenous Australian communities, Solomon Islands, Aotearoa and Taiwan. In Finland warm winter continues but seining is still going strong as the ice conditions are excellent.
March is here and the first Pacific tour in five years is on. Snowchange delegates will visit several strategically important locations to reflect and decide on the next priorities and steps in the region. The tour will commence in Wet Tropics of Australia with the Indigenous Australian partners from Firesticks.
Moving on to Solomon Islands a Snowchange meeting will be held with communities from Hawaii, Vanuatu, the Solomons on the priorities of the support for small island communities for the next while. A special focus will be on traditional navigation and revitalization of voyaging.
In Aotearoa visits will be made with the Maori first on the South Island. Then moving to Taranaki, we will discuss issues of ecosystem restoration and Maori knowledge and explore the next priority areas of the region. Steering Committee members will exchange on the future of the small grants program.
Heading to Taiwan we will visit a range of Indigenous coastal communities to review the steps for the 2026 Festival of Northern Fishing Traditions slated for the island. Discussions on collaborations of marine and fisheries traditions concludes the tour.
In Finland winter seining continues. Catches have been varied but next week its all-staff day on the ice with Swiss-French guests from the European ICCA network. Production of canned vendace is expected to commence in the next few weeks. As we head to boreal spring more updates in April on science, community work and rewilding sites.
Today all of Snowchange is in shock. Chief Edwin Ogar of Ekuri in Nigeria has passed away earlier today. We join the family and community in mourning this remarkable leader.
Snowchange and the Ekuri have been collaborating for over a decade. The original connection was formed at the World Parks Congress in Australia in 2014. Over the years Snowchange has been supporting community-based conservation, research and efforts to highlight the life work of Chief Ogar and protection of Ekuri forest.
In 2020 he led efforts to argue for community-based conservation in One Earth science article. This research work has close to 100 citations in scientific literature. Chief Ogar was recognized with several global awards for his lifework.
Snowchange conveys our condolences to the Ekuri community and Chirf Ogars family at this time of great loss.
Korppiaapa, an Arctic Circle peatland in Sodankylä, Finland
February has begun with a very large peatland-forest complex of Korppiaapa joining the Landscape Rewilding Programme. In other news microplastics work is in the news in the US, Tahltan Event Database is highlighted in the High North and seining continues. March will bring a Pacific tour.
Korppiaapa, a significant relatively intact peatland at the Arctic Circle region in Sodankylä, Finland joined the rewilding work in late January. It is a 347 hectare (850 acre) ecosystem significant for its biodiversity and other qualities. It will be one of the landscapes involved in the Climate Breakthrough work that commenced in January. Other important sites for January included peatlands in Sotkamo for support of the wild forest reindeer and Kuosku intact north boreal forest.
A set of news items has highlighted the science and Indigenous knowledge news – Mongabay the portal for environmental news recently summarized the microplastics work with the Skolt Sámi. High North News reported on the Tahltan Event Database.
Winter seining is under way in Puruvesi. In the Snowchange fisheries crew Karoliina Lehtimäki will assume leadership position from mid-February onwards. Looking towards rest of the winter and early spring, a tour of the Pacific will commence in March with visits across the region.
January is here. We have a release of the much-anticipated Tahltan Database, winter seining is under way under prime ice conditions and rewilding work focuses on the Sub-Arctic Peatlands.
As a part of the Arctic Passion EU Horizon project the Indigenous Event Databases were released in June 2024 but two of them took a bit longer. Today the Tahltan Database has been released – a much anticipated source of knowledge of issues from the Stikine River basin and coastal Pacific area.
Tahltan homelands in BC.
The database includes observations of climatic, ecological and cultural change from the Tahltan Nation. Tahltan researchers from Tu’dese’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development and the Snowchange Cooperative worked on a new database of Tahltan observations of climate, ecological and cultural change in the Canadian sub-Arctic for over three years.
Drawing on oral histories from Tahltan elders, as well as Tahltan science, self-documented videos and photos, the database is a vital effort to centre on-the-land, lived experiences of climatic change in efforts to tackle climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.
A photo of the sign when arriving in the traditional village of Tahltan on Stikine.
Tahltan territory spans 93,728.26 square km, larger than Hungary, and has a border that runs for 1,644.9 km. It is a dynamic place with many unique land and water features, including 2,536 glaciers and 123 volcanoes. The Database has sections on Indigenous histories and colonial damages, observations of change, oral histories and videos and sections on revitalization of knowledge and training of younger generations to Tahltan culture and lands. The database can be accessed directly from here or through Arctic Seas portal as all databases.
In Finland winter seining is under way. It started 8th January. Ice conditions are at their prime and stocks look promising. The seining season is expected to last until mid-April. In the Landscape Rewilding Programme January brings new sites in Kemijärvi and Sodankylä totaling around 500 hectares of forests, rivers and Arctic Circle peatlands. We look forwards to an active restoration season.
Thanks to all partners, friends, allies, foes and alike for a massive year! We wish all the best for 2025 and a great holiday season. We are back in action in early January.
