THE SKOLT SÁMI PROVIDE FIRST NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE NÄÄTÄMÖ WATERSHED AND ATLANTIC SALMON IN FINLAND

On 25^th April 2013, a new collaborative management plan for the Näätämö/Neiden river will be released in Sevettijärvi, Finland. Majority of the Skolt Sámi people live in this community. The Neiden river flows from Finland to Norway and contains internationally significant population of the Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar).

The co-management plan contains results of a project “Skolt Sámi Survival in the Middle of Rapid Change” that worked from 2009 to 2013, with various manifestations, in the Neiden watershed. It was a cooperation between the Skolt Sámi and other Eastern Sámi communities, the Saa’mi Nu’ett cultural organization and the Snowchange Cooperative. Partners also included the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Assessment – IPCCA, United Nations University – Traditional Knowledge Initiative and the Sámi Council. The project is part of the international Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Assessment (IPCCA) initiative that is being developed and coordinated by a Peru-based indigenous non-profit organization, ANDES, and supported by UNU.

By applying the IPCCA methodology of community-led self-reflection, evaluation, and future-visioning based on local worldviews and traditional knowledge, the Sevettijärvi Skolt developed a community-based climate change adaptation plan. Out of this process a collective consensus has emerged that the climate change challenges faced by the reindeer, while significant, are manageable given the present-day nature of reindeer herding. Instead, the Skolt Sámi identified their customary salmon fishery, the other half of their traditional subsistence and cultural identity, as a much greater concern.

The co-management plan will be first of its kind in Finland and in the region. It was already partially implemented regarding traditional knowledge observations in summer 2012. The plan includes wide-reaching reforms to the management and harvest of salmon. It also includes the Kven and other local people of the watershed in an unprecedented way – thus the plan is also a renewable resource conflict-resolution tool. Additionally, the work was expanded with the co-funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers to cover additional workshops in the Neiden watershed and the Ponoi watershed in the Murmansk region, Russia. Ponoi is a significant salmon river in the region. As Finland has not ratified Sámi rights to lands or waters despite its international commitments, this Plan is relevant in providing steps in a practical context for the solution of the simmering, on-going conflict using community-based and –relevant tools.

Further details and to order copies of the plan:

Tero Mustonen, Ph D, President, Snowchange Cooperative, Finland, email: tero@snowchange.org, tel. + 358 407372424

Location: Reindeer farm Toini Sanila, Kirakkajärvi, Sevettijärvi, Finland

A seminar will be organised to release the Neiden River Collaborative Management Plan. This Plan includes far-reaching recommendations and reforms to the administration and future development of Neiden River and the salmon. Report is based on science and the Indigenous and local peoples’ knowledge from the watershed. It builds on a process that begun in 2007 between the Skolt Sámi and other Eastern Sámi peoples (Saa’mi Nu’ett, Skolt Village Council), Snowchange Cooperative, United Nations, Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Assessment, Sámi Council, Nordic Council of Ministers, Murmansk State Technical University, KOLARCTIC-science project and others. Process has been primarily funded by the United Nations and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Lunch will be served during event. Please register by 20th April 2013 to (tero@snowchange.org, + 358407372424). After the event a village meeting will start at 18.00 to share the results with the Sevettijärvi and Neiden villagers, who cannot take part in the event. Translations organised as needed.

Read the article here.

Snowchange also wishes to remember the passing of Innokentii Matchitov
from the Institute of the Indigenous Peoples in Yakutsk, Sakha-Yakutia,
Russia. Kesha, as he was fondly known to friends and colleagues, worked
with us from 2004 to 2010 as a research assistant and interpreter. Much of
his work was devoted to being the personal assistant to the eminent leader
of the Institute, Professor Vasilii Robbek who passed on in 2010.
Snowchange Co-op joins friends and family of mr. Innokentii Matchitov in
celebrating his life work and accomplishments and offers condolences to
the surviving family and colleagues. Mr. Innokentii Matchitov was buried
in Yakutsk on 29th January 2013.

Organisers: Snowchange Cooperative and United Nations Association of
Finland in cooperation with the Nordregio, and local Sámi organisations
and individuals
Place:  Sparbanken Hall, Ajtte Sámi Museum, Jokkmokk, Sweden
Languages: English, Sámi and Swedish when appropriate
1. Themes and Contents of Second Workshop on Sámi Oral Histories from
Jokkmokk, Sweden
This second workshop devoted to the Sámi oral history materials collected
from Jokkmokk and adjacent regions in Swedish part of Sápmi is devoted to
reviewing and discussing the upcoming scholarly book on the issues to be
released in Autumn 2013. After brief opening statements the scope,
materials, traditional customary rights and respect for listening
Indigenous knowledge holders (in this case the reindeer herders and other
Sámi who have provided materials 2003-2012) will be discussed. We wish to
organise a low-key, welcoming and informal meeting but still with relevant
and important themes to make sure the upcoming publication in Autumn 2013
is done properly and all viewpoints are respected according to
international standards of free, informed and prior consent. Scientific
and NGO organisations who have made the process possible will take part in
the process too. The First Workshop with selected individuals who have
shared their knowledge was organised in June 2012 and a concluding event
will be organised in Autumn 2013 to coincide with the release of the book.

2. Tentative Programme of the Second Workshop on Sámi Oral Histories from
Jokkmokk, Sweden – 5th March 2013 Tuesday
10.00 Opening of the Workshop: Researchers Tero Mustonen and Eija
Syrjämäki, Snowchange Co-op, Finland
10.10 – 11.00 Opening Statements (10 minutes each) from local Sámi and
other organisations. The purpose of these views is to frame the discussion
into the contemporary context and relevance for the Jokkmokk region:
A. A View on the Process from the local Sámi Community: Jenni Laiti (To be
confirmed)
B. A Word from the Jokkmokk Municipality: Silva Herrmann (To be confirmed)
C. Laponiatjuottjudus World Heritage Park: Åsa N Jonsson, Director
D. United Nations Association of Finland: Project Coordinator Jenni Kauppila
E. WWF Sweden (to be confirmed) / Ajtte?
11.00 – 12.00 The Sámi Oral Histories from Jokkmokk, Sweden Project and
Arctic Biodiversity Assessment: Tero Mustonen, Head of International
Activities, Snowchange Cooperative, Finland [as well the Traditional
Knowledge Coordinator for Eurasia, Arctic Biodiversity Assessment, Arctic
Council]
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch Break
13.00 – 16.00 Free and open discussion on the themes of the day with
Coffee Breaks in-between
Snowchange Cooperative – www.snowchange.org

In January we will be compiling three watershed reports on traditional
knowledge, co-management and knowledge:
-       Jukajärvi watershed, North Karelia, Finland
-       Neiden, Finland / Norway
-       Ponoi, Murmansk, Russia

These reports will become available here during the spring 2013.
All other work proceeds too, with many trips, events and publications
looming in 2013 – check back often!
With this, we wish best of Christmas and Happy New Year 2013 to all our
partners and friends!
Tero Mustonen, Snowchange

Secondly in the ecosystem restoration project for Jukajärvi and Jukajoki watershed over 30 oral history interviews have been completed. Preparation of co-management
and restoration report is underway, expected to be completed in spring.
Simultaneously, the co-management and traditional knowledge work for
Neiden and Ponoi river watersheds in Finland, Norway and Russia proceeds -
in November archival materials on the climate records, engagement with the
salmon tourist companies in Murmansk and analysis of interviews was
carried out.

Snowchange Cooperative joins ranks with the Arctic Council, Sámi
organisations and other international and national bodies to voice our
concern for the clamp-down on the Russian Association of Indigenous
Peoples of the North, Far East and Siberia. We hope both the internal
disputes of the organisation and the state pressures can be quickly solved
and our cooperation continue.

Work has actively also taken place in the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment -
both on the Traditional Knowledge Compendium and the science report
itself, due out in 2013 or early 2014. Additionally preparatory work for
Indigenous knowledge inclusion into the Arctic Resilience Report has
begun.
Solar Panel project continues with additional funds being sought out.
take contact if questions.
tero

Simultaneously over 55 people were interviewed along the Ponoi river in Murmansk Region on their views of biodiversity and climate change – this included faraway villages of Sosnovka, Krasnochelye and Kanevka.                                                                               First results of this summer documentation will be released in a community workshop in Lovozero, Murmansk, Russia in late September. Visit to Sevettijärvi and Neiden, Norway will be made too.

In August Chris Madine from the Arkleton Trust and Snowchange
representatives travelled over 1400 kilometrest along the East Siberia Sea
and Kolyma rivers to assess the success of the solar panel project and
initiatives for nomadic education with Turvaurgin, Nutendli and Podhovsk
communities in the Nizni Kolyma region, Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, Russia.
Visit to Iengra, Evenk village in Southern Saha was made too. Plans to
release the Atlas of the Evenk Peoples were made for 2013-2014.

Domestically work in improvement of the Jukajoki watershed was conducted
in North Karelia, Finland. Seining took place in Muuratjärvi, Central
Finland.

4th September 2012 Snowchange Cooperative celebrates the long-standing
career of Eero Murtomäki, one of the resident Elders in the Co-op, by
organising a book launch event and a seminar in ”Metso”, in Tampere,
Finland. ”Kaarne – tietolintu”, a career-spanning book on the role and
beings of raven in the Finnish and Saami culture including several oral
and optic histories will be released too. Photographic materials are
derived from 1950s to 2010s.

Meanwhile preparations for the book on Jokkmokk Saami oral histories and
other materials in the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment process continues.
Take contact if questions.
Tero Mustonen