Linnunsuo at -32. Photo: Antoine Scherer
Record cold snaps in the US and cold for the Eurasian boreal continue. Poor ice conditions in winter seining have affected catches and sales of fish but new fisherman Lauri Hämäläinen has continued the Snowchange fishing unit work without pauses.
In other news we attended the Lead Author meeting of the IPCC and met at the same time with the Coastal Link Zulu fishermen over in Durban. Next Lead Author meeting will commence in July. Simultaneously work on the EU Kepler project has commenced with a kick off meeting in Oslo. Snowchange will scout needs, wishes and uses of remote sensing and satellite services amongst the wilderness villages and Sámi communities from Sweden, Finland to NW Russia. Regional coordinators have begun working and a workshop is slated for Inari in April. Traditional knowledge work is under way in Dease Lake with the Tū’dese̲’chō Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Society. Oral history documentation will commence later in February.
Landscape Restoration actions in Finland have proceeded with the securing of several sites, including largely intact Keljonsuo marshmire in Lieksa, OGF forests in Selkie and other sites under talks. On Jukajoki trout spawning areas are being prepared with the winter delivery of materials for summer work. Globally we have joined forces with the local El Molo fishermen in lake Turkana to voice concerns over the dam construction on the Ethiopian side affecting this lake and its socio-ecological systems. Stay tuned for more news over the next week!